The Arteza company was founded in 2002 and from the very beginning of its existence has specialized in landscape architecture. We talked with the heads of the company about the peculiarities of their work, the youth of landscape architecture in Russia, the specifics of foreign experience, new trends and much more. General Director of the company Dmitry Onishchenko and its artistic director Sergey Kurdyukov are answering the questions of Archi.ru.
Archi.ru:
- The Arteza company has existed for over ten years. How and by whom was it created?
Dmitry Onishchenko: The backbone of our team was formed even before starting our own business. All of us - me, Sergey and our leading landscape architect Alexey Pertsukhov - worked in the same company, in the landscape design department. At some point, we realized that the opportunities that were offered to us no longer satisfy us. Then the desire arose to open my own workshop. Our friend Denis Kusenkov, an economist by education, offered to organize a company and with his participation everything became real.
Sergey Kurdyukov: In that company, landscape design was not a mainstream, so we had to do additional and not very interesting work for us. We thought that if you focus only on landscape design, you can achieve much more. And they were not mistaken.
BEFORE.: Even then, it was obvious to us that landscape design is an independent and promising direction. At that time, Sergei had 12 years of experience in this area, so we knew how to move on. At the same time, we all remember what the market for architecture, and even more so for landscape design, was like in the 1990s. Landscape architecture in our country still lags significantly behind the volumetric design. But then it did not scare us at all: contacts were established, there was good practical experience and, most importantly, confidence in our abilities.
How did you start?
BEFORE.: During the first year of independent practice, we completed more projects than during the entire period of work in the previous company. It was invaluable experience in performing a full cycle of work from design to implementation. In a short time, an expansion of the staff was required. There were almost no professional landscape architects in the country at that time, and now there are very few of them. So the team was nurtured by themselves, through a careful selection of talented young people.
- How are roles distributed between you within the company?
BEFORE.: Sergey is our teacher and mentor. Thanks to his experience, we manage to implement the most complex projects and tasks. Education and training of talented youth within the company is one of his tasks. Alexey is a leading landscape architect, developing top projects. I am the general director, I am mainly engaged in management, although, like the entire management team of the company, I have a specialized education - I graduated from the Forestry Institute. I am sure that it is this university that provides the most comprehensive education for a landscape painter. Today, although I myself no longer design, I actively participate in the discussion of all projects.
S. K.: I learned more in practice, although at one time I graduated from the school of decorative gardening. Today this school no longer exists. But I can say that the educational process there was very clearly and correctly built: everything that we studied in theory was immediately mastered in practice. We literally did everything with our own hands. As a result, from the very beginning I perfectly understood my tasks and the degree of their complexity. Together with my classmates, I managed to work in all the major parks of the capital - in VDNKh, Gorky Park, Sokolniki, etc.
- Could you outline the main milestones in the development of the company?
BEFORE.: I would single out three stages: the stage of formation, the stage of training and team formation, and, finally, the stage at which we are now, when the scope of our activity is actively expanding.
Formation stage - the first 3-5 years of independent practice. We grew, gained experience, established contacts and gradually replenished our portfolio with interesting completed works. It was extremely important for us to establish contacts with architectural firms, since the success of a project depends not only on a landscape architect. It is important here that the wishes of the client, the nature of the place, and, of course, the architecture of the building around which the garden is designed, converge in one line. Already during this period we collaborated with quite famous and very talented architects. For example, we had a lot of experience working with Vadim Grekov, the head of the Kamen art group. This cooperation allowed us to participate in large and extraordinary projects. There were also interesting joint projects with Alexander Brodsky and Totan Kuzembaev.
At the second stage, in addition to private orders, projects related to the development of public spaces appear. And here we were not limited to the improvement of urban areas, thanks to many years of cooperation with the Krost company, a lot of interesting projects became possible: from a garden on the 16th floor and numerous winter gardens to joint projects with leading European landscape architects. Projects in Walton Park, Union Park, I still consider the most important for us. And after that, they began to invite us to cooperate as specialists in working with public areas. We worked with the Don-Stroy company on the improvement of a residential complex on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
At the third stage, after eight years of intensive work, we were suddenly happy to discover that Russian architecture had finally “fired”. A new format of activity also appeared - the design of private estates, estates, limited not by hundreds, but by hectares of land, which made it possible to solve the territory with large strokes. We also began to actively work with public areas. There were interesting projects on the territory of Krasny Oktyabr and the Art-Play center, terraces of the Italian Quarter, the concept of the Northern Tushino Park and Zagorodny Quarter in Khimki, which is currently being implemented, we are participating in the competition for the development of the concept of Zaryadye Park as part of the DillerScofidio + Renfro team. Also, specialists of our company took part in the development of a project for the improvement of the territory of a house on Mosfilmovskaya according to the concept of the architectural bureau of Sergei Skuratov.
It is always very interesting for us to come into contact with good architecture, which becomes the starting point for us in the development of a project. High-quality architecture takes our tasks to a new level. Therefore, we consider one of our main goals to be close cooperation with leading architectural firms. There is also a great interest in public spaces, because they allow the implementation of unusual and sometimes avant-garde solutions.
- Do you have to cooperate with foreign bureaus?
BEFORE.: Yes, for us joint work with foreign specialists has become the norm in recent years. I think that this is some kind of tribute to fashion. Only recently have we discussed with one large developer their desire to attract a western landscape architect for advertising purposes. We are, of course, interested in international experience, but there are also difficulties, their own specifics, differences in mentality and rules of work.
S. K.: We worked with Germans, Italians, French, Dutch, Poles. Cooperation with foreigners is a good school, acquaintance with international experience allows you to expand your horizons. But foreign colleagues do not always take into account Russian peculiarities and requirements. The specifics of our business require quick decisions. In addition, foreigners have no experience of working in a sharply continental climate. They often offer interesting solutions that, alas, are impossible to implement in our country.
- Moscow has changed a lot lately, especially in terms of public and park spaces. There are such illustrative examples as Gorky Park or the recently completed reconstruction of the Crimean embankment. How do you rate these changes?
BEFORE.: Today, a completely different attitude of the authorities towards the city has become obvious. Probably, thanks to the new leadership of Moscow should be said for this. If the city continues to develop in a given direction, it will soon be among the top capitals in the world in the field of urban space improvement. It's no secret that Moscow is one of the greenest megacities in the world, but a competent approach to its improvement is just beginning to come to a civilized form. And yes, we do our best to do our part.
I want to note one very important idea for me: we want our works to be used by the maximum number of people. Well-planned parks, beautiful, cozy, modern spaces of the city - everything is real. This is an excellent social mission of our business - to influence the city, its appearance, and the quality of life. Here, I am sure, architects working with urban objects will understand me.
As for the Crimean Embankment, we believe that the ideas from the WowHouse developers were very interesting, there are a lot of positive aspects - for example, the use of granite in paving, an attempt to breed visitor streams, the choice of perennial plants for landscaping - but, as is often the case, good ideas were spoiled by poor performance. The first glance rests against the ridiculous joints of the paving. Obviously, those lines that were smooth and curved in the project have turned into angular and curved in real life. The second thing that immediately attracts attention is the complete lack of logic in dividing the flow of visitors. The route for cyclists is laid so that it intersects with pedestrian flows, which inevitably leads to a collision. Russia is not Holland, where the share of cyclists in relation to pedestrians is huge, and where every child knows the rules of cycling from birth. Looking at how the rollers behaved, it became obvious that such public recreation areas require clearly defined rules of behavior, which must be followed.
- What global trends in the field of landscape design and arrangement of public spaces is Arteza guided by?
S. K.: As for private territories, we have long ago mastered the world experience. The Russian private market offers fantastic opportunities for Russian designers in comparison with Western practice. There is no such large-scale garden construction with such areas of landscaped areas as in Russia now, probably nowhere else. Urban spaces are another matter. The opposite is true. We are lagging far behind in this direction - and not because we lack skills and abilities, but because, until recently, such tasks were simply not set for us. The topic of the development of public spaces became relevant in our country just a couple of years ago, and this is extremely interesting.
BEFORE.: In the Arteza practice, we often refer to American trends. At this stage, their experience is most relevant to us. The USA is a large country with different climatic zones and varied landscapes. This is why they are close to us. Everyone knows their eco-parks, New York High Line, Chicago Park.
In addition, we are very interested in the trend of symbiosis between landscape and art. In Europe, and in recent years in our country, the experience of saturating the natural landscape with a variety of art objects has become very common. For example, while working on the Golden Ring resort project, we became friends with Totan Kuzembaev, who, in addition to large forms, comes up with absolutely incredible art objects that enrich the landscape. Such elements form the basis of a design that retains its appearance even in winter, when there is almost no greenery. Landscape architecture is not always green spaces, often it is a "solution" of space by architectural techniques.
- What projects from your own practice would you single out? Which ones define the face of the company?
BEFORE.: The most illustrative project is the gardens for the private residence "Gorki 2". We have been working on this project for many years, constantly supplementing and finalizing it, and providing care for the garden. This is a large-scale territory with an area of more than 10 hectares, which is constantly developing, there are gardens in gardens, interesting elements, islands of a Japanese garden and much more.
S. K.: The territory of the residence is divided into separate areas that practically do not interact with each other, therefore this project is a kind of encyclopedia of thematic gardens, indoor and outdoor spaces, plant diversity, richness of paving and small forms. I would single out another garden that has just begun to form. It is intimate and, according to the design of the designers, is divided into two parts: one is modern, in a modernist style (in support of the architecture of the house), the other is forest, natural, creating a feeling of untouched by human hand. When creating this project, we managed to develop the theme set by the architects.
- What are you working on today?
BEFORE.: Now we are actively working on the implementation of the Japanese Garden project in the Moscow region. This is a 1 hectare private residence. There are many private objects on the agenda. We continue to work on the Severnoye Tushino park, the Zagorodny Kvartal residential complex, developing the concept of the ArtPlay territory. And, as I said, we are fighting for the place of Russian landscape designers in the design of urban objects: we are participating in the competition for the project of the Khodynskoye Pole park, where we will present a very bold, creative solution. DillerScofidio + Renfro and RDI. In particular, I act as an expert in landscape design and plant selection.
- What criteria are decisive for you in the development of each new project: environmental friendliness, efficiency, aesthetic solutions?
S. K.: For me, aesthetics is very important, there is a special interest in tying many tasks into one beautiful knot. The question of efficiency always depends on the customer. We, of course, do not have the task of using the most expensive materials, on the contrary, we always meet halfway, find alternative and economical solutions that do not distort the idea of the project. There are times when the architecture itself determines the need to use expensive materials, and here we simply have no right to use, for example, cheap paving slabs. This is not a question of price, it is a matter of perception, decisions must be justified, functional and rational.
BEFORE.: As for environmental friendliness, we are guided by this criterion, we will never use concrete if technology allows us not to do so. And, of course, ergonomics is important to us. Our projects are always focused on ease of use.
- You named several very large and serious projects, the implementation of which requires huge, including professional resources. How many designers work at Artez?
BEFORE.: Today we are one of the largest landscape design bureaus in Moscow. Now there are 14 designers in our team. There is also a sales department and a care department in the company structure. Over the years of work on the market, we have acquired permanent partners and subcontractors, whom we fully trust.
S. K.: The care department monitors the operation of the completed objects and maintains their condition at an appropriate level. The problem is that in our country there is no institute of skilled garden workers, so there is an acute shortage of personnel. Owners do not always succeed in maintaining the garden on their own. We offer our clients qualified care. This is no less, and perhaps more important, than the high-quality implementation of the project.
- It turns out that you have a fairly large staff. Does this scheme of work pay off? What are its advantages?
BEFORE.: The staff includes more than 40 employees. This allows us to offer high quality services at a reasonable price. Our advantages are competent professional design, engineering support, the ability to work correctly from start to finish, and the ability to work in a team. The complexity of the services provided guarantees the quality of the product. Therefore, of course, such a scheme of work is the most optimal for us.
S. K.: We offer an integrated approach, but this is not the main thing. The main thing is the ability to speak different design languages. There are some very good companies, but their work is very monotonous. They work in the same style, which means they can only interact with a specific type of customer and with a specific architecture. We are creating absolutely different-style gardens, it is interesting for us. Of course, our employees have personal preferences, but this helps us to correctly distribute orders within the company.
- You have repeatedly stressed that only highly qualified specialists work at Artez. Where do you get your footage from? And what about professional education today?
S. K.: Most of our employees from the design department are graduates of Moscow State University Forests, there are good specialists from the regions, several employees came to us from Novosibirsk, where a wonderful school of landscape painters has existed for a long time. There are other universities, but each has its own bias: at the Moscow Architectural Institute, more emphasis is placed on architecture, at the Timiryazev Institute they give a good understanding of plants, but the architectural part is rather poorly taught. And at MSU Forests, this is balanced. At the same time, we sometimes do not care what kind of education a person has. Often people do not have special education, but it is clear that they have been given it. Our company is in many ways itself a source of personnel.
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