Press / Biennale
The main architectural event of the planet this week is covered by Kommersant, Lenta.ru, RIA Novosti, Gazeta.ru and many others. Maria Elkina of ART1 writes that under the leadership of Rem Koolhaas, the Biennale has become "an unprecedented excursion into the history of architecture." According to the publication, the 10 best national pavilions are also named there. So far, only Kommersant has written in detail about the “fair” pavilion of Russia, which received a special prize, while the portal of the Moscow Architectural Council offers to get acquainted with the exhibition project “Moscow: City Space”, which is shown at the Biennale as part of a parallel program. This exhibition at the Venetian Church of Santa Maria della Pieta tells about the evolution of Moscow's urban policy over the past century, from the construction of the Metropol Hotel to the Tsvetnoy department store and a series of recent architectural competitions. For those who have not made it to the Adriatic, there is an opportunity to see an exhibition in CSK Garage dedicated to the centenary of the Russian pavilion in Jarzhini, built, as you know, by A. V. Shchusev, reports Radio Kultura.
Urban planning
Alexey Shchukin writes in Expert-online about the shift in emphasis from micro-districts to quarters in Moscow's urban planning policy. He considers the first experiments not very successful: the project of the developer Terra Auri on Bazovskaya Street, Microcity in the Forest, City of Embankments, Iskra-Park, in essence, remain imitations of neighborhoods. A comfortable environment and active streets still do not appear in them.
The portal of the Moscow Architectural Council tells about the projects of kindergartens and schools based on the results of working reviews by the chief architect, and also publishes a selection of approved and partially implemented projects.
Hot spots of St. Petersburg
Work on the Nikolsky market, for which the whole city is experiencing, has been temporarily suspended: this is reported by "Moy District" and "Kommersant". After the activists reported that everything inside the complex was being destroyed except for the walls, the KGIOP was inspected, as a result of which it was ordered to stop the dismantling and strengthen the external facades. Caring citizens are trying to ensure that the works on the monument come under the control of the governor of the city, and the developer is fined.
Another moratorium has been imposed on the development of the Okhtinsky Cape. After the decision of the Supreme Court to cancel the order of the KGIOP, which a year ago allowed Gazprom to build up this territory, the city authorities met with representatives of Gazprom and archaeologists about the future fate of the site, and it was decided not to take any action until the end of all legal disputes. "Kommersant" and Gazeta.ru were looking for pitfalls in this situation.
For New Holland, the plan of the restoration and reconstruction project was adjusted. According to RIA Novosti, the territories along the Admiralty Canal and near the inner water area of the island will be turned into a park. At the same time, the building of the former smithy and the pond itself, where a skating rink will be arranged in winter, will be put into operation. Thanks to this decision, Petersburgers will be able to return to the island in 2015. Vedomosti adds that the famous Dutch bureau West 8, which specializes in landscape architecture and the creation of public spaces, will work on the park.
Blogs
Yevgeny Budnik writes about the barbaric improvement of Maroseyka and Pokrovka streets: a pedestrian zone has been equipped there since the end of May. Both streets are part of a specially protected historical zone, and one of the requirements of the Moscow City Heritage Site was to carry out archaeological work, as well as to comply with special conditions for performing work at the foundations of buildings - architectural monuments. In reality, the work is being done extremely roughly. Ilya Varlamov also drew attention to this problem. According to him, the workers are acting strangely: they drove in excavators and began to dig deep trenches, in which the remains of old houses, foundations, and pre-revolutionary tram rails were found. All Muscovites have the opportunity to "play archaeologists": the sites are open, and there will probably be no official work, as the pedestrian zone must be completed by the day of the city.
Alexander Minakov talks about the amendments that the initiative group of the Yekateringof Canal proposed to introduce into the General Plan of the city regarding the situation with the Obvodny Canal. Activists oppose the transformation of this important area of water, rich heritage and high population density into a continuous highway, and are proposing a tram there.
Arkady Gershman has prepared a selection of projects for the reconstruction of industrial territories in Moscow: the blog contains photographs and plans for the redevelopment of the Kristall and Sickle and Hammer factories, as well as ZIL.
In the blog of the ERA group, two posts were published at once, dedicated to the list of objects in St. Petersburg that are discordant with the environment. The author reflects on the fact that this list in the new version of the law No. 820-7 "On the boundaries of protection zones …" is put up for public discussion only with the aim of diverting the attention of specialists from the really illegal and controversial aspects of this document. In this regard, city rights activists demand to reject the law: for this they will go to single pickets.
