This week, the Venice Architecture Biennale opened, featuring pavilions and projects from 69 countries, including Russia. There are many celebrity names among the participants of the Biennale - Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and many others. This year's theme for the Biennale is “Common Ground”. Its curator, British architect David Chipperfield, says that now, when architecture has reached the heights of ingenuity and originality, it is necessary to comprehend existing ideas, professional positions, "common cause." The biennial awards were also given to the best ideas, not projects. Thus, the Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza received the Golden Lion for his vital contribution to architecture. The best national pavilion was recognized as the Japanese exposition dedicated to the program to help those who lost their homes as a result of the 2011 tsunami. For the first time in the history of the Biennale, a special prize went to the Russian pavilion, the project of which was developed by Sergei Choban and Sergei Kuznetsov, the chief architect of Moscow; the idea of the exposition belongs to the pavilion commissioner, architectural critic Grigory Revzin. The i-land exhibition is located on the ground floor of the pavilion. The exposition is dedicated to Russian science cities - from the closed cities of the Soviet period to Skolkovo. The second floor of the pavilion is an empty space, the floor and walls of which are covered with ornaments made from QR codes. Any visitor can read the information and learn about the main stages of the creation of the Skolkovo innovation center. By the way, you can get a tablet directly at the entrance to the pavilion. “We considered that Skolkovo is a fundamentally new city, the very matter of which consists of innovations. The walls themselves, the texture of the city are all half real, half - a carrier of information. This is how the idea was born to make an entire exposition out of QR codes,”explained Revzin. He says that the pavilion is "a funny, deeply state project of a non-existent Russian state." The exposition, in his opinion, demonstrates that Russia that we did not find - “a very high-tech, very smart, educated European country, with Nobel laureates - residents of Skolkovo and Pritzker laureates - architects of Skolkovo, which takes science from the USSR, and not something other … ".
At the Venice Biennale, architect Sergei Tchoban gave an interview to Gazeta.ru, talking about the problems of megacities, including Moscow, about his favorite places in the capital, and much more. For example, he said that he would have banned the construction of buildings in Moscow from short-lived materials and the creation of architectural structures, knowingly doomed to a short life.
While Venice discussed architectural issues and awarded the best ideas, St. Petersburg lost another historic building of the 19th century - the Rogov House on Zagorodny Prospekt. The building was completely destroyed on Sunday, August 26, despite the fact that the governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko ordered not to demolish the buildings on weekends and holidays. This is how the tragic denouement of the five-year struggle of city defenders for this house came. The company-owner wanted to demolish the building two and a half years ago, then social activists defended it, writes Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The developer says that the house was demolished as part of counter-emergency measures, as it could have collapsed at any moment and was no longer subject to restoration. Gosstroynadzor specialists found out that the house was dismantled without the necessary documents. The developer faces a fine of up to one million rubles. But experts emphasize that if the building had not been demolished, the developer would have lost even more. Shortly before the demolition, the status of an identified cultural heritage site was removed from the house with the direct participation of KGIOP. Currently, the committee says it will take over the implementation of the developer's obligations to restore the exterior of the house. A business center is planned to be built on the site of the demolished building.
A similar situation occurred in Moscow: Melgunov's house was demolished on the Old Arbat in mid-August, and a multifunctional complex will appear in its place. True, construction has now been suspended due to cracks in the house of Bulat Okudzhava, which is located near the construction site. Before the resumption of work, the developer must conduct a survey of buildings that fall into the zone of influence of construction work, fix the damage to them, and also provide the Moscow City Heritage Agency with design solutions aimed at eliminating defects. Earlier, the Arkhnadzor public movement disseminated information that cracks appeared on Melnikov's house as well. Specialists of the Moscow City Heritage Agency, in turn, did not reveal the negative consequences of the impact of construction work on the architectural monument. Meanwhile, the developer expressed his readiness to investigate its structures at his own expense.
Another Moscow architectural monument, the Metropol Hotel, was sold for 8.874 billion rubles, Vesti reports. The hotel was acquired by Okhotny Ryad Deluxe LLC, controlled by the Metropol JV management company, which is controlled by the owner of the Azimut Hotels chain Alexander Klyachin. The new owner will have to fulfill the obligations to preserve the architectural monument. Antique furniture and paintings of the legendary hotel will remain the property of the state.
An institute of the chief engineer of the project and the chief architect of the project may appear in Russia, writes RIA Novosti. Together they will have to participate in the design and supervision of the construction of unique facilities, as well as industrial facilities. It is assumed that this will improve the status of the profession and toughen the requirements for persons performing these functions. The project developers hope that this will ultimately lead to an increase in the quality and safety of facilities.
You can view projects of concepts for the development of the Moscow metropolitan area in Gorky Park. An exhibition of works dedicated to Greater Moscow has opened there. Within the framework of the exhibition, each team of architects participating in the competition for the development of the agglomeration will present their project during September. "Most of the world's consultants, urbanists, architects propose solutions aimed at eliminating the problems that Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region face every day," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Channel One. Experts, in turn, complain that the contestants did not answer many questions in their projects. “We don't have affordable housing; health care is not all right. The topic of suburbanization is completely bypassed. Rublevka on the one hand, on the other - six acres without sewerage and water supply. We need to do something with them,”said Andrei Bokov, President of the Union of Architects of Russia. After the exhibition, three best projects will be announced based on the results of voting by the expert jury. The exhibition will run in Gorky Park until September 23.
