The exhibition, which was opened in Berlin last Friday by the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, is dedicated to two of the most high-profile architectural competitions of last year - for Zaryadye Park and the new building of the State Statistics Service.
Of the many competitions initiated by the Moscow government and the Moscow City Architecture Committee, these two were chosen precisely as the most resonant - having gathered a star cast of architects and consultants of the first rank, they clearly demonstrated to the whole world that Moscow is really changing. For example, it is becoming more open, including, finally, for modern Western architecture. And although the contests themselves are, by and large, just a declaration of intent (the real symbol of change, of course, will be the implementation of the winning projects), for a metropolis that has been brewing exclusively in its own juice for eighty years, this is a huge step forward. And this step arouses the indisputable interest of the European professional community, as evidenced by the very fact of inviting Moscow to Aedes, and the number of people gathered by the opening of this exhibition. The first hall of the gallery, which housed the capital's exposition, could hardly accommodate everyone: many guests could get to the tablets and models only after the official opening ceremony was over.
Taking into account the relatively small dimensions of the gallery, the contests are presented within the framework of the New Moscow exhibition rather compactly. The hall is conditionally divided into two parts by a central wide tablet, on which the finalist projects of both competitions are collected: all six concepts of Zaryadye Park are facing the street, and ten versions of the NCCA building are lined up on the back side. The main spaces enclosed by this “wall” are assigned to the winning projects: in addition to the most detailed tablets, they are represented by layouts and albums. Muscovites are already familiar with these materials from the Open City winter exhibition, but they aroused genuine interest among the German public.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition was moderated by Kristin Feireis, renowned architecture critic and co-founder of the Aedes architecture forum, who noted the high level of both competitions and the importance of their results for the further development of Moscow. Rainer Nagel, Chairman of the All-German Foundation for Culture of Building (Bundesstiftung Baukultur), also supported the new course of urban planning policy in Moscow, giving a speech about the importance of public spaces and cultural facilities in the structure of a modern metropolis. Sergei Kuznetsov, in his response speech, stressed that the competitions for Zaryadye and the NCCA represent not only the architectural, but also the social life of Moscow, showing that one of the main priorities in the development of the Russian capital today is a person. “Moscow deliberately creates all conditions for fruitful mutually beneficial cooperation with leading architects and urbanists, striving to turn the Russian capital into a city open for creativity, communication, work and recreation,” said the head of the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Construction.
The winning projects themselves were presented in more detail by their authors at the opening of the exhibition. Pyotr Kudryavtsev from Citymakers and Mary-Margaret Jones from Hargreaves associated bureau (part of the consortium of winners in the competition for Zaryadye Park) talked about what the first new generation park to be created in Moscow will be like, dwelling in maximum detail on its unique concept based on the principle of "natural urbanism". And Roijn Henegen, one of the founders of Heneghan peng architects, introduced the audience to the project for the new building of the National Center for Contemporary Arts.
The exhibition "New Moscow - New Moscow" will be held at the Berlin gallery Aedes until July 5.
