The blogs are still expecting a lot from the international competition for the park in Zaryadye - as Alexander Mozhaev wrote in his magazine, “it’s like a wasteland, but it is breathtaking to think about how it could be here…”. However, the competitive practice so far has shown exactly the opposite result, therefore, among users, anxiety is slowly brewing, lest they ruin the park and miss an unprecedented event for Moscow. “A lot in Moscow depends on the future fate of Zaryadye,” Mozhaev writes. - Will it really be a living, interesting space or will it turn into a new absurdity like Poklonnaya Gora? Bloggers are especially worried about the concert hall planned in Zaryadye along Kitaysky passage, for which a separate competition will be held: "So, the passage to the river should be either underground, where the base of the wall lies, or above, and then the view of the Kremlin from the Moskvoretskaya embankment will be blocked.", - suggests Mozhaev.
According to Mikhail Belov, the concert building "will obviously eat up at least a third, or even the entire half of the territory of the future park, so they will probably try to sprinkle it on top with soil and green it fashionably." In this case, the architect notes, it would be more logical to decide first with him, and only then take care of the square. And Sergei Fokin writes on this score in his blog that "there is a tendency to 'torn apart' the unified space of the Zaryadye district into separate competition areas (park, parking, highway, hotel, philharmonic), which can be an extremely dangerous story for the district." In addition to this, already at the stage of the competition task, the author of the post found a whole range of problems: for example, the lack of the most important information on topography, archeology, engineering communications and dimensions of the stylobate still preserved from the hotel, after the dismantling of which “the pit formed will be larger than the foundation pit during the construction Manezhnaya Square,”writes Sergei Fokin. Nikolai Avvakumov adds to this the absence in the jury of representatives of the Historical Museum and the Museum of the History of Moscow with branches in Zaryadye, which were replaced by foreigners. Apparently, archeology again, as noted by Alexander Mozhaev, is not perceived as part of the future park.
Meanwhile, having fallen behind the fence, the bloggers discovered that behind it the old Church of the Conception of Anna and city squares adjoining the hotel on three sides were completely unreasonably hidden. Having moved the fence around the entire perimeter of the stylobate, it would have been possible to open access to them at the beginning of summer, considers, for example, Mozhaev Normal 0 false false false RU X-NONE X-NONE. And, according to ext_1658113, it would be possible to temporarily open also the observation deck on the stylobate, and the walking route along the top of the Kitaygorodskaya wall along the loopholes with a descent to the Moskvoretskaya embankment.
A study of the multipage tender documentation, meanwhile, prompted Mikhail Belov to resume his notes on Russian competitions. In one of the recent publications, the architect explained why he opposes modern portfolio competitions and does not intend to “play abroad” together with the rest: “What good is it if, among the typical shacks and wrecks, one shining, like in Bilbao, neat curve and oblique tower of innovative saw cut? We should hold meaningful contests for kindergartens, schools and low-rise economical housing, and bring them to mind, and build them. " Commenting on Belov, Grigory Revzin called kindergartens populism and explained that contests are held for unique objects. However, Belov points to other examples: “Sometime in the 70s the architects Larin, Ass and Volchek built a tiny kindergarten in Perovo, perhaps not from panels. And to this day, their professional reputation is firmly established in this facility. " The author in the comments is supported by Evgeny Zykov, according to which "Federal Law 94 puts a bold cross on any attempts to introduce any practice of selecting architectural solutions, except according to the criteria" who is faster "and" who is cheaper ".
Bloggers' dissatisfaction with Moscow's urban planning policy, meanwhile, is not limited to contests. Blogger newman believes that Sobyanin's team caused the main damage to the transport infrastructure of the capital. Well, the Muscovites themselves, according to the author, were literally robbed, having reduced the land plots belonging to the owners of apartment buildings by 30-40% as a result of illegal relocation; now roads, shopping centers, nightclubs and multi-level parking lots have been built on them. “Rough, but at the root,” Mikhail Belov comments on the post. - When I walked along the Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, freshly paved with coarsely cut granite in St. Petersburg, I recalled the pitiful Moscow concrete paving slabs soaked in a smelly jelly-like reagent. The comparison was weighty and visible."
As an alternative to the "Sobyaninsky General Plan going over the heads of Muscovites," newman welcomes the idea of building highways along railways and through industrial zones. “In normal countries, roads unite - a piece of iron and highways and communications often go together. Why put more stress on residential areas”, - supports the idea of tonyhofstra. The user voiceoftheworld proposes to "move away from the plane in 3D" and increase the "number of storeys" of transport. However, not everyone, according to winiakatarina, wants to live "with a highway under the window": "Roads are separate, streets with cafes and trees are separate!"
Another constant critic of the capital's administration, municipal deputy and blogger Maxim Katz, recently unexpectedly praised the mayor's office for the new pedestrian zones. “There is still a little lack of life, street musicians, cafes and various other points of attraction,” the author notes, but in his opinion, the advantages outweigh. What is the transformation of the Kuznetsky Bridge alone, where instead of thirty parking spaces and two lanes of passage, crowds of people appeared, Katz writes. However, the author does not limit himself to this and proposes to develop tram and pedestrian zones in the center. Most bloggers agreed that it became much more pleasant in such a center, however, occupying 70-80% of the sidewalk width with tents with tables is also too much, Seregarozhkov noted. There are also complaints about the quality: as alexjourba writes, "these zones themselves are technologically crooked and designed on the fly, and their coverage is of poor quality." On top of that, “the decision to organize these zones was as voluntary and undemocratic as the decision on the Northwest Expressway,” the blogger notes.
Stormy discussion in skaznov.livejournal.com magazine, in turn, was caused by shocking footage of "improvement" of Nizhny Novgorod. The city littered with dirty snow with half-rotten and crumbling buildings, some bloggers did not even immediately recognize. “How many such reports are needed to understand the need for substantial changes in the city, and not just“steal less and spend more on improvement,”commented Alexander Antonov on a post on the RUPA community page. “Find out the reasons first, before denouncing the consequences,” agrees apola. "It is impossible to demolish everything at once and build everything at once!" And, according to tere_photo, this report proves that residents are indifferent to the city: “Many of you came to defend the house on Ilyinka, for example? Will a lot of us come to protect Kulibin Park? Has anyone sent a statement to the traffic police on the pits that are in these pictures? I doubt it. We, residents, are satisfied with this state of affairs, since it is like that."
Finally, about St. Petersburg, where during these days they discussed the town-planning news that shocked many defenders of the heritage: a group of patrons and builders gathered at their own expense to erect a 168-meter bell tower of the Smolny Cathedral not built by Rastrelli. Activists who have only recently defended the city on the Neva from the Okhta Center suspected another attempt on the high-altitude regulations: "Initiatives like this only mask problems and are attempts, under the sweet babbling of mandolin, to push through another high-altitude regulations," writes, for example, kosh_ko."In the Academy of Arts, the layout is wonderful, but why touch the famous panorama," agrees ekorolev, "it looks like a watchtower." But in addition to the likelihood of getting another "ridiculous decoration", bloggers are also worried that the construction will immediately violate all laws on the protection of cultural heritage, including the historical Neva panorama protected by UNESCO. However, there is another opinion on the network - that the Smolny bell tower will be organic in the modern landscape, as, according to Vlad Batou, this happened with the volume of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
