Modern practice
The portal of the Moscow Architectural Council tells in detail about the latest projects of residential buildings and quarters, which were discussed at working meetings by the chief architect of Moscow: on Malomoskovskaya and 2-ya Samarinskaya streets and in the village of Vnukovo. Despite the differences between the projects, the same criteria were used to evaluate them: a well-developed public function of the first floors, an adequate and landscaped courtyard area, and “cheerful” facades. The portal also writes about the capital's swimming pools, the number and quality of architecture of which is steadily growing.
Gazeta. Ru is trying to figure out who needs the program for the construction of 200 churches in Moscow: believers or hungry. According to experts, the city authorities are using the program as a cover for the development of green areas. Only recently was the order of the Moskomarkhitektura published on November 22, 2011, No. 21 "On the preparation of planning projects for the territories of the city of Moscow in order to locate Orthodox churches and temple complexes." It turned out that each of the 77 construction plots listed in the annex is located in a natural complex. The public is trying to challenge the order. RIA Novosti, meanwhile, writes that about 150 more churches can be erected on the territory of new Moscow.
RBC reports that a tender has been announced for the construction of a new building of the Tretyakov Gallery. Applications are accepted until May 30, the results will be summed up on June 6. The winner will receive almost 3 billion rubles for the construction of the new building; the work must be completed by the end of 2018.
"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" published the text of the draft document "Fundamentals of State Cultural Policy". RIA Novosti emphasizes the most important provisions: to support architectural creativity, restore the status of architecture as a socially significant art form, and make the state the main customer of modern Russian architecture.
Interview
Art1 publishes two big interviews at once. British architect Sunand Prasad spoke about his understanding of green and beautiful architecture, the historic center and modern outskirts, and how to write correctly about modern buildings. The second interlocutor of Maria Elkina was the Danish architect Arne Kvorning, who is engaged in the design of exhibition spaces from concept to lighting and type on labels. He talked about what makes museums interesting and why sometimes they can do without paintings.
The Theories and Practitioners spoke with urban evolutionist Marilyn Hamilton, who shared her thoughts on how to incorporate living people with history and meaning into urban research and development. And the project director of KB Strelka, Vera Leonova, reveals the secrets of successful participation in architectural competitions. Let us also remind that Strelka Institute published a summer program the other day.
Moskva 24 offers a video recording of an interview with the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov. He talks about the Dreamworks amusement park, which is to appear in the Nagatinskaya Poima in three years, as well as the fate of the Moscow City complex and other architectural projects of the capital.
Public initiative
New details have become known about the forum of Living Cities, which will be held very soon in Izhevsk. Udmurtskaya Pravda reports that the forum was conceived at a meeting with the President of Russia after the results of the Silver Archer competition for social initiatives were announced. The idea was expressed that the programs and projects of the competition should be exchanged between cities and regions. Since Izhevsk became one of the leaders of the competition, it was chosen as the venue for the forum. On the first day, the teams will present their projects, on the second day, they will jointly develop new ones. The third day of the forum will be devoted to solving "cases". It is planned, among other things, to develop a "Crimean case" - a model of the development of Sevastopol applicable to reality. The Susanin project writes that Sevastopol received an invitation to the forum among other 700 cities. Crimeans are planning to find answers to the development of tourism infrastructure and branding of the territory in Izhevsk.
For the third time, a foresight was launched in St. Petersburg under the auspices of the Future of St. Petersburg, RBC reports. This time, the participants will be modeling new spaces on Kozhevennaya Street (before that, their objects of attention were Obvodny Canal and Kanonersky Island).
The Urbanurban portal tells about the controversial urban experience of students of the Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University. On their own, they redesigned the alma mater courtyard: they found money, secured the consent of the university administration, equipped the courtyard with greenery, tables, a sports ground, a chalk board for drawings and announcements, and bicycle parking. But in the new academic year, the students discovered that all the objects they had built had been dismantled, and the courtyard was now guarded.
The newspaper "Moi District" has prepared an instruction with the help of which the townspeople will be able to influence the formation of a new master plan for St. Petersburg. From May 20 to June 4, public hearings will be held in the city administrations, all those who are not indifferent can make proposals and amendments.
Heritage
According to Portal 76.ru, the Yaroslavl branch of VOOPIiK opposed the new building regulations for the UNESCO zone in Yaroslavl. Opinions are expressed that they will lead to mass infill development, total building up of the center, to distortion of the historical appearance and scale of the center of Yaroslavl. More than two dozen comments were sent to the Ministry of Culture on the draft order. Following the fire in the Moscow estate of Dugino, the mansion of the merchant Bumagin in Vyritsa, Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad region, burned, writes IA REGNUM. Residents of the village suspect that the cause is arson, and intend to contact the appropriate authorities with a request to investigate the causes of the fire. Metro newspaper adds that this is not the first such case in a week: on May 9, an unused wooden building, which was an architectural monument of local importance, burned down on the territory of the Skvortsov-Stepanov psychiatric hospital on Fermskoye Shosse.
But there is good news as well. The Russian newspaper reports that the Kenozersky National Park is registered in the preliminary list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since 2004, it has already been recognized as a "biosphere reserve" by UNESCO (a specially protected natural area where people harmoniously interact with nature). IA REGNUM writes that the plan for the restoration of the complex of the Solovetsky Monastery has been approved. This year the Ministry of Culture plans to carry out design work on 14 objects of the archipelago, the total amount of financing is 800 million rubles.
