Evgeniy Ass: “We Wanted To Make This Historical Architecture Very Modern”

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Evgeniy Ass: “We Wanted To Make This Historical Architecture Very Modern”
Evgeniy Ass: “We Wanted To Make This Historical Architecture Very Modern”

Video: Evgeniy Ass: “We Wanted To Make This Historical Architecture Very Modern”

Video: Evgeniy Ass: “We Wanted To Make This Historical Architecture Very Modern”
Video: Павлов-Андреевич – из телевизора в акционизм (English subs) 2024, March
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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Arsenal has been owned by the Volga branch of the National Center for Contemporary Art since 2003, the first part of the building was opened two years ago after reconstruction. At the end of the last century, the architect Evgeny Ass and his colleagues were creating a concept for adapting the federal monument to the needs of contemporary art, and what they have managed to do over the years has already been highly appreciated. We congratulated the architects on the award and turned to Evgeny Ass with a request to tell us about the features of the reconstruction of the monument in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.

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Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Здание Арсенала в Нижегородском Кремле. Первая очередь строительства. 2011 год Фотография © Марина Игнатушко
Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Здание Арсенала в Нижегородском Кремле. Первая очередь строительства. 2011 год Фотография © Марина Игнатушко
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Evgeny Viktorovich, what is the main thing for you in this project?

- Probably, the main thing was the desire to reveal the internal energy of the historical building, to reveal its anatomy, to reveal the structure and material. And, at the same time, to make the monument open to today's culture, so that modern life and contemporary art could organically integrate into it.

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How is this project different from your other projects?

- Well, at least the fact that I have never been involved in reconstruction before! It turned out to be a very exciting job. In contrast to the author's design, when you talk, in general, with yourself, there is always an infinitely distant and often unpredictable interlocutor with whom you are in continuous dialogue. And it is very important to find the correct intonation of this dialogue. From the very beginning, we wanted to make this historical architecture very modern. That is, we did not want to historicize, to try to reproduce the lost aesthetics of the construction era in the interiors, although it was possible. I wanted to make history speak in some modern language, so that the architecture of the middle of the 19th century would become relevant. I think it worked out.

It's an amazing feeling when you see an old building: with restored details, clean plaster, but you go inside - and modern codes are included in this old one. How this happens is subtle for the visitor, one feels that it is subtly orchestrated

- Thank. If so, then we have achieved what we were striving for.

Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Первая очередь строительства. Кабинет директора © Архитекторы Асс
Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Первая очередь строительства. Кабинет директора © Архитекторы Асс
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Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Фрагмент кирпичной кладки. После реконструкции © Архитекторы Асс
Филиал ГЦСИ в здании Арсенала в Нижнем Новгороде. Фрагмент кирпичной кладки. После реконструкции © Архитекторы Асс
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You have received a prestigious award. And the project is already widely known, although so far only 1/3 of the Arsenal is open to the public. Are you not afraid that in the next stages something will go wrong, or is it impossible?

- Everything is possible. Still, there is still a lot to be done. It is very important that builders do not lose the good quality momentum built up in the first phase.

There are also problems to be solved. For example, in the second stage, everything is much more complicated with engineering systems, and we have a lot of work ahead of integrating all engineering into the reconstruction space. Our "unpredictable interlocutor" also throws up some problems - here suddenly during excavations it was discovered that the foundations of the supports in the risalit are much larger than we expected. We have to change layouts on the go.

I have some disappointments, there are things that, unfortunately, could not be done. I could not persuade the customer to make an overhead light in the central hall. This is a huge three-height space, with open wooden trusses under the roof. There, according to the project, there were skylights, and this space was to be filled with natural light. Unfortunately, the customer was relentless and now instead there will be only artificial lighting. I don't even know how to illuminate this space so that it is adequately perceived.

In the second stage, a lot of interesting things and spatial intrigues appear. If all this is implemented as planned, and we hope that it will be so, then many surprises await you. For example, in the office part of the building, we have built intermediate floors and glazed mezzanines will appear there. The entrance should be pretty funny. And a lot of all sorts of details have been invented that, from our point of view, will give this historical building some kind of new spirit and make it relevant.

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The restoration of the monument and its adaptation to modern functions is a hot topic for many cities. Nizhny Novgorod, of course, was lucky - both with the monument and with its new content. However, it seems that the story with Arsenal is somewhat delayed

- It seems to me that everything depends on the energy of the customer and on the possibilities of financing. For example, very similar to our gigantic reconstruction project for the center of modern art of the old customs office of Punta della Dogana in Venice. The volume there is certainly not less than in the Arsenal - and they made it completely in 2 years! And we started our project back in 1999. The project, which is now being implemented, was approved at the concept stage in 2004, that is, for 8 years already … This has nothing to do with any special difficulties of reconstruction work, but is connected only with the problem of financing and the inability to deploy the work in full like this as we would like. All this could have been done faster, it's just a matter of desire and money.

Разрез 3-3. Иллюстрация предоставлена бюро asse architects
Разрез 3-3. Иллюстрация предоставлена бюро asse architects
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Разрез 7-7. Иллюстрация предоставлена бюро asse architects
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Restorer architect Alexander Epifanov considers it fortunate that a monument of federal significance, adapted for the Center for Contemporary Art, has already become an independent object of perception. The painting of the facades has been recreated in its original form. All modern elements inside the interiors are emphatically separated from the historical ones.

According to the director of the Volga branch of the NCCA Anna Gore, three different processes are going on with the Arsenal at the same time: restoration, creation of a new structure and adaptation of the building to modern needs. Now the northern part of the building is functioning - next to the Powder Tower of the Kremlin. After the completion of all the work, the main entrance to the Arsenal will be on the opposite side - from the main entrance to the Kremlin, from the Dmitrievskaya Tower. But the main thing is that the Arsenal, a former warehouse, will receive all the necessary infrastructure that meets international standards for contemporary art centers, accessible to people with a wide variety of interests.

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