The Project Russia magazine published a cry from the soul of the writer and artist Maxim Kantor, who made a sharp statement that over the past 25 years, "Moscow was killed by the combined efforts of progressive humanity and architects." The writer condemned those architects who at one time followed the lead of wealthy customers, and as a result, the capital was built up with "obscene privileged housing." Kantor bitterly stated that Moscow has turned from being special, beautiful and friendly into an uncomfortable city that is difficult to love.
Meanwhile, this week, the Moscow 24 portal talked with Sergei Tchoban about what kind of architecture the capital needs now. According to the architect, the main problem of the modern appearance of the city is the heterogeneity and fragmentation of the environment. Tchoban believes that the capital "does not need large architectural gestures within the framework of ordinary development, but it needs buildings that would create a harmonious, well-aging environment."
Continuing the theme of the urban environment: in Moscow this week the winners of the competition for the projects of the museum cluster, organized by the Museum of Architecture, were announced. The participants of the competition were tasked with transforming the territory of the Moscow center near the Kremlin into a single cultural and, moreover, comfortable urban pedestrian space. Afisha reported that out of 30 projects, three were awarded the first prize, and three more - special, and also briefly told about each of the six winners.
And The Village this week introduced readers to six ideas from young foreign architects who participated in the Archiprix workshop organized by Strelka. The guys were thinking about how to solve the problem of ineffective use of the capital's urban spaces: for example, military facilities closed to citizens or uncomfortable green areas.
Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, within the framework of a round table dedicated to the development of the city, Jamel Clouche, director of the French urban planning bureau L'AUC, spoke to local urbanists and developers. According to the portal "Kvadrat.ru", the expert outlined a scheme for replanning a monocentric city into a polycentric one. However, Russian experts were skeptical about this way of transforming St. Petersburg. First, because of the high cost of the project. Secondly, due to the absence in world practice of examples of the transformation of a monocentric city into a polycentric one. And, finally, due to the peculiarities of Russian legislation, which currently does not even contain the term “agglomeration”.
By the way, an interesting interview with a former architect and now an urbanist was published by Archipil. Yaroslav Kovalchuk told how he retrained from an architect to an urbanist, and explained why the term "urban planner" is outdated, "urbanist" has become unsuccessful, and "city planner" is just right.
In the meantime, a layer of urban planners in Russia is just beginning to form, cities in one way or another have to look for solutions to painful problems. So, during the week "Nevskoe Vremya" explored the topic of uncontrolled development of view areas on the embankments of St. Petersburg. And "Argumenty i Fakty" talked with the doctor of architecture about the problem of building regulation in the historical center of Voronezh.
And in conclusion, one cannot fail to mention the new destruction of Moscow monuments, highlighted in the press this week. On the pages of Yopolis, the coordinator of "Arkhnadzor" Marina Khrustaleva reported that the Foundry Shop, a monument of industrial architecture of 1916, was quietly, quickly and imperceptibly demolished on the territory of ZIL. Moreover, the demolition was carried out a few days before the round table, where the fate of the historical buildings of ZIL was discussed.
Another loss was the destruction of almost half of the building of the Circular Depot in Moscow, a monument of architecture and technology of the mid-19th century. The fact that "Russian Railways" began the demolition of the building, "Arkhnadzor" announced at the beginning of the week. Then, thanks to the efforts of city rights activists and law enforcement agencies, the destruction of the monument was stopped. However, demolition resumed at the end of the week. As a result, as Gazeta.ru reported, the Circular Depot has lost almost 40% of its volume, and, according to city rights activists, it is no longer possible to restore it to its original form.
