Archi.ru:
Ilya Valentinovich, what do you think about the past competition and its results?
Ilya Utkin:
- I don’t understand the results of this competition and I don’t understand why it was held at all. By agreeing to take part in it, I assumed that the customer, in the end, would not want to radically change anything in the existing project. By and large, he was satisfied with everything - they were satisfied with the volumes and dimensions of the building, the number of square meters, and the architecture against this background did not really matter. The architectural community, historians, experts wanted to get a new and understandable architectural and urban planning solution. They wanted to see a different architecture in this place. Apparently, that's why the competition took place. But its results with three winners will not give the project anything. In fact, this is absolutely stupid.
As for me personally, everyone knows the direction of my architecture. If I am invited to participate in this or that competition, it means that the organizers and customers are interested to know what I can say on a given topic, it means that they want to hear what Utkin thinks about it. And in this case, I just expressed my opinion.
What solution did you suggest for this site?
- Having studied the situation in detail, I proposed a composition that, in my opinion, is the most contextual and preserves the historically formed image of the place. The new complex should become the final element in the overall composition, form the final look of the quarter development of the Kokorevsky courtyard, from which little has survived today. This place has a complex history, buildings in different periods of time changed, rebuilt several times, much was destroyed and lost, arbitrary and inappropriate superstructures arose. I tried to collect and restore bit by bit the morphology of this area, find the basis of the composition and complete it with a powerful, festive and expressive "blow". The symmetric solution seems to me the most appropriate here, it answers all the tasks.
The solution is based on the traditional scheme of an expensive hotel from the beginning of the last century. It is an extended building with a central entrance accentuated by symmetrical facades of the side wings. In front of the main façade, there is a long courtyard flanked by three-storey buildings. From the side of Sofiyskaya embankment, I proposed to restore the historical perimeter buildings, and I decided to connect the courtyard spaces with ceremonial passages through double-height arched openings.
One can argue about the architecture of the complex. Someone says that my project is more like a train station or airport. In my opinion, this is far from the case. Any architectural detail can be revised, shifted to the left or to the right - this is not the main thing. The most important thing is to find the right volumetric-spatial and compositional solution. And this is exactly the essence of my project.
What style did you prefer in shaping the external appearance of the building?
- The style I have proposed in the solution of facades can be called eclecticism. This is a modern style that uses all the architectural techniques that exist in the world. This is a free compositional design using exclusively natural materials. The tectonics of the buildings existing on the site sets the rhythm of new construction. These are arched spans, and the use of brick, stone, ceramics and metal for facades. All the details of the project are dictated by the environment.
In addition, the image of architecture was determined by the proximity to the Kremlin Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and the Historical Museum. In my project, I took into account the architectural traditions of the late 19th century. This is a kind of compilation, a modern reading of the context.
One of the conditions of the competition was to preserve and improve the views of the Kremlin ensemble from the apartments. You can see the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed from the window of each apartment only using the classic bay window facade scheme or extended windows. Our proposal is based on a triangular bay window protruding one and a half meters from the plane of the wall.
All the main marks of the existing project, developed by Vyacheslav Osipov, have been preserved in my proposal, because they were obtained with blood during the three-year work of the workshop.
Do you plan to participate in the development of the project on the proposed terms?
- I am not yet aware of all the intricacies of the proposed implementation of the project, I have only heard out of the corner of my ear about the results of the competition and am even afraid to suggest how this project will develop further. I have not yet communicated with the customer on this topic either.
But this whole situation is called "swan, cancer and pike." And as we all remember, the heroes of this fable did not manage to budge the cart. Any project activity is always very centralized, it must be subordinate to a single think tank. There must be someone who is responsible for the fate of the building under construction, someone who is able to make the right decisions. When the boundaries of responsibility are blurred, and decisions are made by different people, it turns out that no one is responsible for the final result. This system is completely irresponsible. And to be frank, I would not want to prove something and pull the strap on myself in such a situation.
