Press / Kremlin
The innovations that have already taken place and are expected on the territory of the Kremlin were most actively discussed this week. Arkhnadzor warmly supported those voiced by Vladimir Putin as "representing an important and positive project for a significant expansion of the Kremlin's public space." At the same time, the public organization proposes not to stop at these steps and go further - to make a visit to the Kremlin free of charge, to open not only the Spassky, but also the Nikolsky gates, to open access to the Amusing Palace and Taynitsky Garden and even the Great Kremlin Palace. Gazeta.ru publishes an interview with the coordinator of the movement, Rustam Rakhmatullin.
However, the idea of restoring the Miracles and the Ascension Monasteries (Novaya Gazeta tells about their significance) causes a lot of controversy. As RIA Novosti writes, Moscow architects unanimously approved the idea of demolishing the 14th administrative building of the Kremlin, but later their opinions diverged - some were against the "remake", others did not see anything bad in it. Rustam Rakhmatullin draws attention to the fact that there is still no information for the exact reconstruction of the monastic ensembles, and the architect Mikhail Khazanov suggests not to rush and create an archaeological park on this site with genuine fragments of the walls and foundations of the monasteries. In another article of the agency it is reported that under the Ivanovskaya Square of the Kremlin there are "huge volumes of archaeological materials dating back to at least the XIV century."
Radio Liberty believes that construction work should not begin soon: first, it is necessary to agree on plans with UNESCO, hold an architectural competition, and so on. If UNESCO refuses to demolish the 14th building, experts propose to reconstruct it as a museum of the Moscow Kremlin.
Oleg Kashin in the "Free Press" expresses the hope that despite the obvious disadvantages of the project - the money spent, the demolition of the Stalinist building and the inadmissibility of the remake - the monasteries will still be built. In his opinion, “this event is at least political or cultural”, like the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, this is an important statement, but it is not yet clear what it is about. In any case: "something should remain from our time except for shopping centers and Kozhinsky fence on the Old Square."
75 years of VDNKh
It is already possible to sum up the first results of the reconstruction of VVTs-VDNKh. Afisha-Gorod and The village have prepared photo reports from the festival in honor of the 75th anniversary of the exhibition center, where you can see all the innovations.
Arkhnadzor reports that work is underway to include about 20 more VDNKh facilities in the register of cultural heritage, in connection with which the movement has prepared its proposals and comments.
According to RIA Novosti, during the reconstruction of the facades of the pavilions, specialists find unique architectural elements that were previously considered lost: mosaic panels, interior elements, wall paintings and paintings on canvases. All this will be presented in a restoration workshop located in pavilion 15. Also, the Moscow City Planning Policy Department announced a tender for the development of a concept and architectural and planning solutions for an exhibition center for the capital's urban development on the basis of pavilion 70: it is planned to place a model of Moscow, a zone of a historical retrospective of city development, a zone of interactive games on the topic of urban planning, a section of current projects and a site for forums.
New construction
The site of the Moscow building complex publishes an interview with the president of the company "City" Dmitry Granov, in which he talks about the details of the construction and operation of skyscrapers "Moscow City".
Gazeta.ru analyzes the modern development of Moscow and comes to the conclusion that City is no longer so prominent. It is curious that in the business class the predominant share of buildings is built in the style of neoclassicism (33%), in second place is hi-tech (21%), followed by avant-garde (14%), minimalism (11%), constructivism (9%) and art deco (7%). Least of all objects in the neo-gothic style (2%). Donstroy and Capital Group are called the trendsetters for hi-tech.
The website of the Arch Council publishes another selection of projects from working reviews, this time dedicated to socially oriented buildings: a social service center in the Biryulevo district, a sports complex of an Olympic reserve school in the Severny district, a polyclinic on Burakova street, a children's and youth center in Mitino, as well as objects of New Moscow and temple complexes.
RBC informs about the laureates of the award presented to developers on behalf of the Governor at the 16th Construction Week of the Moscow Region (the winner was the City of Embankments by Maxim Atayants and the Urban Group and the Mebe One Khimki Plaza business center. The anti-award for the worst projects in the form of a cake was awarded to non-developers, and the head of the Krasnogorsk district Boris Rasskazov - for the Pavshinskaya floodplain. On the other hand, Yuri Bolotov in The Village names ten best, in the author's opinion, foreign buildings of the first half (!) of 2014.
Struggle for the legacy
The restoration of the Church of the Transfiguration from Kizhi, which had been planned for a long time, but now has been lifted on jacks and hung in some absolutely fantastic way, was logically awarded an article in the Popular Mechanics magazine. The operation should make it possible to "cure" the damaged areas of the building without disassembling it completely.
Finally, a sad message in "Nevsky Vremya" - Alexander Sokurov explains why he left the city planning council of St. Petersburg. He calls his city protection activities "a waste of time, energy and nerves." The reason was his request to assist in the reconsideration of the case of Denis Levkin, who was sentenced to four years in prison for protecting the monuments of the Varshavsky railway station: “This request of mine caused a disgusting, hysterical reaction from council members … by the way, it is responsible for many architectural failures in St. Petersburg."
Blogs
The head of the Yauzaproekt bureau, Ilya Zalivukhin, who recently proposed a global strategy for the development of Moscow, recently published on the network "The strategy of spatial development of Naro-Fominsk" - now the architect is engaged in the Moscow region. Naro-Fominsk is a dull city, and Ilya Zalivukhin has already published his project for the reconstruction of a silk-spinning mill in its center (the mill houses an entertainment and sports center and a multi-storey parking lot, and elite high-rise buildings in the spirit of generalized Art Deco are already being built on the sides).
Ilya Varlamov suggests turning VDNKh into a large theme park dedicated to the USSR. In his opinion, “the USSR is one of the most successful export brands with which our country is associated”, such an option is much more interesting and successful than the creation of a museum corresponding to its name in each pavilion.
Alexander Minakov talks about the results of the first actions of the "Peter without advertising" movement: on the section from the Baltic railway station to the building of the Central Post Office, activists removed more than 4 kg of announcements from poles and facades, stops and road signs, and sent them along with a letter to the governor, the answer has not yet been received …
The user babs71 publishes an interesting analysis of the merits and demerits of the monument to the Heroes of the First World War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, and also shares a set of photo cards “Lanterns of Leningrad”.
Arkady Gershman wrote about the new public zone near Winzavod near the Kursk railway station in Moscow. Readers believe that despite the pretense of a non-standard design, its main purpose is to scare off local vagabonds.
The Peace in a Tree community tells about the northernmost windmills in the village of Kimzha, Arkhangelsk Region. Two of the ten survived, all the features of the buildings can be seen in the photographs.
Onliner.by talks about the practice of copying world sights and entire cities in China - there are already French castles, Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, Venice, Paris, and even a fake Zaha Hadid. In 2001, a project called "One Metropolis - Nine Cities" began to be implemented in Shanghai: nine districts were erected on the outskirts, each of which resembles a country. This was achieved not only by stylization, but also by direct copying. There are many similar examples throughout China, but they all have one thing in common: these are desert ghost areas with no special signs of life. Real estate here is too expensive, the infrastructure does not develop due to the lack of residents, and residents do not travel due to the lack of infrastructure.
