Shukhov tower
As long as the fate of the Shukhov Tower remains unresolved, the public does not weaken control. Kommersant has detailed the history of the issue and the circumstances: who is the owner of the tower and is responsible for its safety, how much money was allocated for restoration, what research was carried out, whether the tower is threatening to fall and how valuable it is for us and the world community. In his commentary, Rainer Graefe, director of the Institute of Architecture at the University of Innsbruck, said that Shukhov is well known in Western Europe, his buildings are being investigated within the framework of an international project of the universities of Munich, Zurich and Innsbruck. Experts would like to see the Shukhov Museum next to the tower. In the appendix to the article, a list of the most famous works of the engineer is given (in total, he had a hand in more than a thousand objects). A more detailed guide to Shukhov was compiled by Afisha-Gorod. Information about the objects is accompanied by comments by Natalia Dushkina, Leonid Parfenov, Vladimir Shukhov (the great-grandson of the engineer), as well as architects and scientists.
The chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, talked about the rescue of the famous tower with the correspondent of RBC Real Estate. He believes that until the whole scheme of reconstruction of this city "icon" has been thought out, it is impossible to proceed with it. The management responsible for the restoration of the tower must understand where the funds for research and restoration will come from, provide a budget and a work plan, explain what the result will be, and find specialists to carry out the restoration work. As of today, there are no answers to these questions, which is why such heated discussions are going on.
Aleksey Polikovsky, a columnist for Novaya Gazeta, believes that the idea of demolishing the Shukhov tower could only have arisen in the head of a person who does not understand what a living city is and what Moscow is, because the tower is the center of the cultural landscape, where the 18th century is subtly intertwined with the 20th, that axis, around which the deep history of these places slowly revolves. "Expert online" calculated that if you remove the tower and skillfully "rustle" the adjacent plots, you can collect about two hectares for construction, which will bring the developer at least $ 3 billion. Izvestia is also sure that one of the capital's developers liked the site. Nevertheless, Alexander Privalov, the scientific editor of the Expert magazine, has enough optimism to assume that the dismantling project will not be signed due to the noise that has risen. But it is unlikely that instead of this act of vandalism, the government will attend to an international examination of the tower and allocate money for its restoration where it stands …
In an interview for radio Echo-Moskvy, Andrei Batalov, a member of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Council for the Protection of Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, expressed the opinion that the Shukhov Tower is worthy of being included in the list of cultural heritage sites of federal significance, how it happened with Melnikov's house: then it will be more difficult to destroy it. The history of obtaining federal status by the Melnikov house was described by Valentin Dyakonov on the pages of Kommersant. Also on March 27 at the Shabolovskaya metro station a picket was held against the dismantling of the tower, as reported by the Strana.ru magazine.
Pritzker Prize
The next winner of the Pritzker Prize is the 56-year-old Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, known for his humanitarian work and the use of the original eco-friendly material - cardboard pipes. Grigory Revzin wrote about his transformation into a fashionable representative of the architectural establishment at Kommersant. The critic believes that the architecture of Shigeru Bana is always very ugly, emphatically humble. It is deliberately non-authorial, in fact, it is antiarchitecture, "a protest against the transformation of the architectural avant-garde into luxury", which, however, "became the last search for glamor." Maria Elkina of Art1 believes that the presentation of the Shigeru Ban Prize means recognition that “the world is tired of architecture firmly on its feet, of gigantic, bizarre stadiums and original skyscrapers,” and this time the jury chose the individuality of total globalization.
Shigeru Ban is the only Pritzker laureate who has a building on the territory of Russia - this is the exhibition hall of the CSK "Garage" in the Park im. Gorky. Russian architects have never received this award yet. However, Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Prize, believes that in the future we will see Russian laureates whose works will, in accordance with the main requirement of the award, "make a significant contribution to the development of mankind." In her opinion, the world now especially needs the emergence of architecture "with different DNA" associated with the context.
The future of Moscow
Alexandra Sytnikova, head of the General Plan of Moscow, told the newspaper Moskovskaya Perspektiva about the work on the new General Plan of Moscow. One of its main directions is the creation of a polycentric city structure. Priority development areas will be identified - the so-called growth points that will help relieve the pressure from the city center by identifying new zones of activity both on the periphery and in the annexed territories. Within the boundaries of old Moscow, these zones include the financial center in Rublevo-Arkhangelsk, Skolkovo, as well as the territory of the former ZIL plant, which will be renovated within 10 years. The investor for the reconstruction of the industrial zone will become known before May 7, RBC reports, now 11 developers are interested in construction. 12 similar development centers have been identified in New Moscow. A concept for the development of the embankments is also being created.
Crimean heritage
Gazeta.ru writes that in March 2014 Russia regained a whole cultural "continent". The author rightly believes that there are no places like Crimea in the entire space of the former USSR, and in Europe, few regions can compare with it in terms of the diversity and versatility of cultural wealth. The Crimean heritage is about 10 thousand (in all of Russia there are 140 thousand registered) monuments of archeology, history, architecture. Some are thousands of years old. The historical and cultural potential of the Crimea, together with the natural one, in the future is able to turn the peninsula into a world-class tourist center. In the near future, archaeological research will continue on the peninsula, the registers of cultural heritage sites will be studied and a program for their protection and restoration will be developed.
Also, the Presidential Property Management Department will soon conduct an audit of all state facilities, residences and hotels located on the territory of Crimea, Izvestia reports. After that, a decision will be made whether it is worth taking them to the balance and how to use them. And a number of Russian companies have already come up with an initiative to build something in Crimea. According to Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Rustam Temirgaliev, local authorities expect that the peninsula will turn into a large construction site. “We are inspired by the example of Sochi,” he adds.
Stadiums
The completion of the construction of the St. Petersburg Zenit-Arena is postponed again, and the budget is increasing, writes Kommersant. An additional 3.1 billion rubles will be allocated from the city budget for the improvement of the area around the stadium. Thus, the total cost of the complex will amount to 38 billion rubles. Officials promise that the main work will be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, the initial cost of the VTB Arena football project was cut in half, to € 500 million. This is due to the fact that its capacity will decrease: the stadium will not host matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as previously planned. Luzhniki will take on this role. The German bureau gmp, which is carrying out the reconstruction of the stadium, will have to prove that it can meet FIFA requirements, ITAR-TASS writes. In the course of the work, the facade and roof of the Luzhniki stadium will be preserved, replacing only the stadium bowl.
