This week, several articles appeared in the St. Petersburg media at once dedicated to the discussion around the reconstruction of the Greek church of St. Demetrius of Thessalon, destroyed in 1962. The intrigue of the situation is that a business center is currently under construction on the site where the church was previously located. According to Art1, the Heritage Preservation Council approved the project for the restoration of the religious building. However, the publication asks the question, is it advisable to spend millions on the construction of a remake, while dozens of architectural monuments are being destroyed around? And "Novaya Gazeta" reminded readers of how the idea of rebuilding the church came about and why this most likely hides personal ambitions, but by no means the desire to restore historical justice.
This week it was also reported that Smolny might transfer Apraksin Dvor to not one, but several investors. The information has not yet been confirmed, however, Karpovka turned to experts with a request to comment on the situation: is it possible to transform the territory on the basis of a single concept in the presence of several investors.
Of course, the issues of preserving the architectural heritage for St. Petersburg are topical. All the more interesting is the exhibition “White City. Architecture of the Bauhaus in Tel Aviv ", which opened this week at the General Staff of the Hermitage. According to "St. Petersburg Vedomosti", the exposition acquaints visitors with the architecture of the 1930-1940s in Tel Aviv, created by the students of the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelssohn. In 2003, UNESCO included the "White City" - and this is the entire historical center, more than two thousand buildings - in the list of world cultural heritage sites. And now, according to Kommersant, memorial houses are being actively and successfully put in order and restored.
But no matter how interesting conversations about the legacy of past centuries are, the buildings built in our memory are already becoming history too. In the spirit of this topic, the Colta.ru portal offered readers a review of the recently published book "Mushrooms, Mutants and Others: Architecture of the Luzhkov Era", written by the Moscow architect Dasha Paramonova and representing a study of the phenomenon of "Luzhkov architecture". Paramonova was the first to attempt to classify this architecture, introducing a "terminological and theoretical apparatus." According to the author of the review, the book is worthy of all praise, and its shortcomings "are the continuation of its merits."
Speaking of the "book theme", it became known this week that a program has been prepared for the modernization of libraries in the capital, which should become important public spaces. Afisha said that Moscow libraries are planning to be transformed into media centers: “70 percent of the media library space will be free space for free circulation of books, and formalities will be minimized. Libraries will turn into city living rooms. " 5 pilot projects have already been prepared and will be implemented in different districts of the city.
Continuing the theme of projects in line with the spirit of the times: Colta.ru interviewed British futurist architect Liam Young. The conversation was about what the task of modern futurology is. And this, according to Young, is by no means predictions: “We are not trying to create an image of the only future where everyone should strive. On the contrary, we are trying to develop multiple, alternative scenarios to each other. We present different scenarios so that people from a wide audience can see the opportunities that are in these scenarios and begin to make conscious decisions.”The scientist also explained what the expanded role of architecture is and talked about the systems that generate the city.
But back to the present. Moskovskiye Novosti spoke with Andrey Gnezdilov, chief architect of the Research and Development Institute of the General Plan of Moscow, about when and why the balance of private and public was disturbed in Russia, who should protect public spaces and how he sees an ideal city.
Meanwhile, Cityboom announced that after the publication of the results of the study by foreign specialists of the projects for the reconstruction of Leninsky Prospekt and the construction of the North-West Expressway, Russian scientists are also planning to conduct an independent examination. The author of the article, transport expert Anton Buslov, was alarmed by the fact that "the work that took the best foreign specialists two months", their Russian colleagues are planning to do in a couple of weeks. So is the presence of the head of the contractor organization among the scientists of a significant part of the road construction projects in Moscow.
And in conclusion, a few words about the topic of heritage preservation. On the pages of Expert, the coordinator of Arkhnadzor Rustam Rakhmatullin talked about how much the situation with the preservation of historical monuments in Moscow has changed under Sergei Sobyanin: “The decision-making system in Sobyanin’s government is tailored for any turn of events. It is suitable for revenge against vandalism as well as for the celebration of conservation."
In addition, this week "Arkhnadzor" announced that by a court decision, work on "restoration and adaptation to modern use" of the Circular Depot was suspended. Unfortunately, by the time the court ruling was issued, Russian Railways had managed to destroy almost half of the monument. Nevertheless, most of it can still be saved, - reminds the expert Marina Khrustaleva on the pages of Cityboom.
