To be precise, this is the third edition about Ostozhenka over the past six years: in 2006 the first issue of TATLIN MONO was published, and in 2010 Andrei Gnezdilov published the book “Architectural Bureau. Ostozhenka. XX years . The new collection includes works of recent years, performed in Moscow and abroad: in Vidnoye, Odintsovo, Balashikha, Mytishchi, Lyubertsy. These are not only buildings, but also projects, as well as bids, including the project of Greater Moscow for the recent competition for a concept for the development of the Moscow agglomeration. It is also important that now not only Muscovites will be able to get acquainted with the works of Ostozhenka - on the website of the publishing house a new book can be ordered in any region of Russia or downloaded in electronic form.
The presentation of the book took place on December 6 in one of the buildings of the Provision Warehouses complex, which now houses the Museum of Moscow. At the entrance, guests were greeted by the workshop's manifesto, formulated by its permanent leader Alexander Skokan.
The event organically blended into the exposition of the museum and the interior of the architectural monument. Which once again confirmed that Ostozhenka respects the context in everything, even in festivities. It is also interesting that the main platform for the presentation was a rather steep, right-angled ramp, which informed the ongoing intrigue and additional perspective.
Opening the evening, the head of the Ostozhenka bureau, Alexander Skokan, thanked the administration of the museum for giving the bureau the opportunity to present its new book in “the most beautiful architectural structure in Moscow”. “I think that we are appropriate here - we are neighbors and have always attached great importance to the fact that we are from Ostozhenka,” said the architect.
That evening, the whitewashed brick walls of the "Provision Warehouses" served as movie screens on which shots from the life of the architectural bureau were broadcast. And not staged, but filmed with a stationary camera, which the employees did not know about or the coexistence of which they forgot, and therefore behaved very naturally. As Aleksandr Skokan noted: “It can be seen that people are not doing anything, that people are messing around. This became clear to us only here and now. But within these centuries-old walls, even such fragments of daily life seem significant."
Ilya Lezhava, whom the bureau considers to be its "spiritual and physical father", wished the Ostozhenka team to pass without loss the present "terrible time for Moscow architecture, and when it is over, sail further along the warm and gentle seas." Hearing such parting words, many of those present were worried, but Lezhava reassured them: "To sail - in a good way, to sail like a big ocean liner."
Andrei Gnezdilov drew attention to the fact that the presentation of the book proceeds in the same way as the entire work of the bureau is organized: “It seemed that it was impossible to put tables and arrange food on this steep ramp, but we did it impossible. And the new book is just about what is impossible. It is strange that every time we are unsure of ourselves, of what we will succeed in - but every time everything works out. I think this is because there are many talented and warm-hearted people involved. Therefore, we are lucky."
Yuri Gnedovsky congratulated everyone on the release of the new collection and noted that the highest level that Ostozhenka sets with its work from the day of its foundation cannot but rejoice and "inspires optimism for the future."
At the end of the official part of the presentation, the President of the Union of Architects of Russia Andrei Bokov made a speech. He admitted that, in his opinion, the bureau's team “has become more Ostozhenka than the street of the same name,” and noted that its main value is in how consistently, seamlessly and confidently this team works.“This book is filled not only with architecture, but also with marvelous reflections embodied in an exquisite graphic language,” Andrei Vladimirovich noted, wishing Ostozhenka to gather friends as soon as possible about the release of one more, or even several new books.
