Archi.ru:
- Your bureau deals with both architectural and urban planning projects. Is the approach to working on large areas different?
Xaver De Gaiter:
- For us, there is no fundamental difference in approach. Of course, there is a specificity of work at different scales. In the architectural design, the rules are set in advance, in the development of a large area this system of clear rules is absent, and decision-making comes from the field of politics and economics. For us, each project is a bombardment of different ideas, often opposite ones, but from this confrontation we extract knowledge about the project, which further leads to the justification of the project proposal.
What is the role of research in your practice?
- Each project for us is, in a sense, a study. We did purely research projects, for example, we published the book “After-Sprawl: Research on the contemporary city” - “The End of Expansion: Results of Research of a Modern City”, dedicated to the problems and potential of the periphery. This is a rather specific project aimed at finding opportunities, and subsequently it influenced our real projects. Speaking about the typology of urban spaces, two types of identities can be distinguished. There are historic cities with established public spaces that work in a certain way, but there are also peripheries - a disorganized form of urbanism where these rules do not apply. Such areas are the most problematic and require special attention.
You have worked for OMA for ten years. How did this experience influence your future work?
- I have worked on very different projects - from a small villa to large urban development projects. The most important was the work methodology that we still use today. The team generates a huge number of ideas, and from these ideas, gradually, in the process of debate, knowledge is formed, which logically leads to a common conclusion. In this case, the solution appears as if by itself, since one of the ideas best of all reveals the given problem and turns out to be stronger. This is a more objective way of working than making a decision alone.
- The competition for the International Financial Center is quite pragmatic. At the same time, if we consider the creation of the IFC as the construction of a new city, then this task is a challenge in the sense of conceptual thinking. What is the balance of pragmatic and conceptual in your work?
- Any urban planning project involves a number of aspects that cannot be described with precision at the beginning of work. A concept is a framework that allows things you don't know much about to happen. Therefore, it is very important to operate with concepts from the very beginning in order to maintain a clear vision that allows development over time. It is difficult to predict what will happen in 20 years. And a good concept should include this notion of uncertainty.
What are your impressions of the design site? What is most important in the development of new areas with a financial component?
- Many modern financial centers suffer from mono-functionality, so I think that approaching the MFC as a small city that includes all aspects of city life is the right strategy. The site has a number of undoubted advantages that must be used: the proximity to the river and the natural environment should be the most important elements of the future city.
As you may have noticed, the main problems of Greater Moscow are related to the transport situation. Are there any ways to solve such a large-scale task?
- In this case, the architect cannot solve everything. Such situations require political decisions - that is, it is practically a national issue. However, the problems we are seeing in Moscow are quite comparable to those faced by European cities. Many of these cities have found ways to reduce traffic congestion. For example, London pays great attention to the development of the public transport system, while in the city center there are restrictions on the access of private cars. There are far fewer cars in Paris now than there were 20 years ago. Cities are taking many measures to improve the situation: no one solution can save a metropolis from all transport problems.
How does the work to improve the transport situation begin?
- It is necessary to start with a serious investment in public transport. Moscow has a very beautiful metro, but it is underdeveloped. Another important thing is working with the mentality, working on changing the attitude towards urban issues. Political authorities should pay attention to broad coverage of problems, as well as opportunities for their solution. For example, in many European cities, store owners opposed the ban on traffic inside shopping streets, believing that they would lose customers. However, after a few years, they changed their minds as they saw that the lack of cars attracted more pedestrians and sales were increasing.
You once said that developers and governments are the players who most of all influence the construction industry. What is the role of the architect in this case?
- An architect is a generalist, a broad-based specialist who formulates general problems. Our ethical role is to protect the quality of urban life and to prove the importance of exchange between people in public space. The architect must convince the client of the need for this space in the city.
Interviewed by Anna Shevchenko, architect and journalist, employee of KB Strelka.
The International Financial Center in Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye is a project for the integrated development of the territory, which provides for the construction of offices, housing, hotels, commercial and social infrastructure. A plot with an approximate area of 460 hectares within the boundaries of New Moscow has been allotted for construction.
The purpose of creating the IFC is to build a high-tech financial market in Russia that is globally competitive. In the second half of 2013, it was decided to hold an international open competition for the architectural and urban planning concept of the territory of the future MFC. The customer of the competition is ZAO Rublevo-Arkhangelskoye, and its consultant is the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design.
