Press / Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin
The winner of the competition for the development of a new architectural concept for the reconstruction of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. “Kommersant” quotes the director of the museum Marina Loshak: “The subject of this competition was not working drawings. We had to choose a person whose figurative and plastic understanding of space would be closest to our understanding. " Such a person turned out to be Yuri Grigoryan from Meganom, who managed to bypass the studio of Sergei Skuratov and TPO Reserve thanks to a careful approach to preserving monuments and antiquity: not a single building will be demolished on the territory of the museum town. Vedomosti also notes other advantages of the winner's work: a tactful attitude to the urban context and a general plastic solution that binds the entire museum complex together. Even Arkhnadzor gave a positive assessment of the project. However, the winning concept will be refined, and the jury hopes that Grigoryan will use the strengths of Skuratov's projects and TPO "Reserve". Our portal wrote about them in more detail.
Gazeta.ru writes about the changes that await the museum town, accompanying the story with comments by Anna Bronovitskaya. The legendary gas station will turn into a kind of pavilion, and a small parking lot will be built under it. The only new building ("Agora") will appear on a vacant lot behind the front facades of Volkhonka: it will house a much-needed depository and restoration center. A library will be opened in the Sutulovs' house instead of the museum administration. Kolymazhny and Maly Znamensky lanes will be pedestrianized. In general, the territory of the town should turn into a cozy space where you can come and just take a walk and drink coffee.
Santiago Calatrava
Last weekend at Strelka Institute I drew and gave a lecture by Santiago Calatrava. The institute compares the architect's performance to a rock star's concert: 1.5 thousand people came to listen to him. After a while, a video recording of the lecture will appear, but for now there is a small plot of the Kultura TV channel and several interviews.
Alexander Ostrogorsky, during a conversation for Interview Russia magazine, asked the architect provocative questions: about self-repetitions, budget overruns and construction shortcomings. Calatrava talked about the essence of beauty, tranquility, service to people and responsibility to future generations. The Spaniard told Citibum about the beauty of Russian domed architecture, the passion for pencil drawing and the loneliness of the architect. Calatrava shares his impressions of his stay in Moscow: the city has changed a lot, the Kremlin and VDNKh made an indelible impression.
The portal of the Moscow Archives Council spoke about the joint visit of Santiago Calatrava and Sergei Kuznetsov to the exhibition of architectural graphics "Only Italy!" in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
Petersburg
Petersburgers do not know fatigue in the struggle with modern architects for the inviolability of the historic center. Following in the footsteps of the XII Architectural Yearbook, Mikhail Zolotonosov from Gorod812 traveled around the sites of completed or future projects in order to understand trends and note future scandals. Of the 13 projects, he positively assesses only one - the administrative and residential complex in Kovensky Lane ("Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners"), which behaves quite modestly in relation to the neighboring monument of federal significance - the Roman Catholic Church of Notre Dame de France. The most scandalous example is the development of a land plot at 8 Paradnaya Street (Liteinaya Chast-91, R. Dayanov and others), for the sake of which, apparently, a complex of buildings of the early XX century will be demolished. Another interesting position from the collection is the restoration of the facades of the infamous Rogov house in Shcherbakov Lane - with the addition of a 2-storey attic. As a result, Zolotonosov compares Petersburg architects with children: "good, while they sleep." The same author writes about the exhibition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the architect Sergei Speransky, in which he finds another reason for sadness.
The list of discordant objects approved by the Ministry of Culture also does not let architects sleep peacefully. "Fontanka" informs that the St. Petersburg Union of Architects intends to apply to the Ministry of Culture, the city parliament and KGIOP with a request not to adopt the 820th Law on Protection Zones together with the mentioned list. They call it "taste", "stupidity" and a provocation of city defenders. The law gives the following definition of discordant buildings: "buildings located in the existing historical environment and do not correspond to its characteristics in terms of their parameters or architectural decision on the conclusion of the State Historical and Cultural Expertise." Also described are measures aimed at eliminating discordant objects: demolition, dismantling of several floors or planting trees that block the house. Delovoy Petersburg publishes all 77 objects with photographs.
Heritage
The Moscow authorities will not understand what Muscovites think about the plans to reconstruct the Shukhov Tower, Gazeta.ru writes. So they decided to vote using the Active Citizen smartphone app. There are three options to choose from: to strengthen and announce an open competition for the restoration project; disassemble, restore and install in a new place; disassemble, restore and install in a historical place. According to a number of experts, there is "another imitation of revealing the opinion of citizens", since not everyone has smartphones. The head of the Moscow City Heritage Site, Alexander Kibovsky, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that in the first two days it became clear that most Muscovites did not sympathize with the idea of moving the tower.
Kommersant reports good news: the architectural complex of the ancient Bolgar is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as evidence of the "relationship and historical mutual enrichment of cultural traditions" of the Turks, Finno-Ugrians and Slavs since the era of the Volga Bulgaria. Now in Russia there are 27 monuments included in the UNESCO list - just one less than that of Great Britain.
A detailed conversation turned out at the Citibum portal with the chairman of the Moscow Region VOOPIiK Evgeny Sosedov: he spoke about how valuable estates can be saved from destruction and fire.
Blogs
An unusually large number of comments was collected by the post-reaction of Arkhnadzor to the decision of the authorities to determine the fate of the Shukhov Tower using voting via smartphones. Readers are trying to understand whether such a vote is necessary and whether it is legitimate, whether the results will be falsified. On Facebook, Evgeny Sosedov writes that "there is nothing more heinous than all this current e-democracy."
A new version of the “Principles of a Good City”, originally formulated by Alexander Antonov, was published in the RUPA community for discussion, and Alexander Zagoruiko posted a video presentation of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. Its total length will be 19 kilometers; both cars and railways will be able to use the bridge. In the comments, they are killed about the boring architectural solution and the lack of stripes.
The Inhabited Island community writes that in the Troparevo region in western Moscow, work has finally begun on the reconstruction of the main pedestrian boulevard. The trouble is that a project was taken as a basis, which does not take into account the wishes of local residents: it threatens with almost complete destruction of both the boulevard itself and the green meadow beloved by the townspeople. Activists believe that there is still a chance to change the situation, and ask those who are not indifferent to join.
Fedor Novikov prepared a detailed report for the UrbanUrban portal about his experience of studying as an urbanist at NYU Graduate School of Public Service: from choosing a curriculum to what to do with the experience gained in Russia. And Eduard Hayman talks about the unique School of Architecture and Design "DA-DA" for children, founded by his parents in Naberezhnye Chelny, which is now under threat of collapse.
