The curator of the architectural competition is a controversial figure in the entire competition process: he is not an expert whose opinion can affect the result to one degree or another, not a jury member who makes a decision in favor of one or another participant. Most likely, he is a co-author who works with all participants at the same time, because the accuracy of all decisions depends on how carefully he prepared the materials and formulated the task.
Archi.ru:
– Ilya, tell us, please, what were your duties as a curator of competitions"
Russian character”and“Dynamo Park”?
Ilya Mukosey:
- In both cases, it was necessary to develop rules for the competition, as well as to collect and generalize the initial data for the design, to prepare an assignment for the participants. Already in the process I had to answer the questions of the contestants, and at the end - to carry out the procedure for accepting their works. In addition, my responsibilities included holding a seminar for the contestants (for Dynamo, since all the participants of this competition were in Moscow), conducting meetings of the expert council and jury, public discussions of competition projects and, to some extent, organizing their exhibition destiny.
I must say that these two contests, and now the third, I am doing in a duet with the agency of Yulia Zinkevich and Ekaterina Artemyeva "Communication Rules", and, in my opinion, we complement each other well.
– Can you name the exact time frame for making a decision on the "Russian character" competition today?
- Within three months after the announcement of the results, that is, by the end of September 2014, Morton Group of Companies must conclude an agreement on mutually beneficial terms with the winner, Megabudka Bureau. I think the chances of implementation are great, although the construction in the Butovo Park quarter should not be expected until next summer. If the contract is not concluded, "Megabudka" will receive monetary compensation.
At the same time, Morton has the right to implement - in its other quarters - and other competitive projects. The rules of the competition provide for a procedure for regulating the copyright and interests of the customer. [The interview took place in August 2014. At the moment (end of October 2014) the Megabudka bureau has signed an agreement with the Morton Group of Companies and is in dialogue with the general designer of the Butovo Park residential quarter - approx. Archi.ru].
– This fall, under your leadership, MARSH students will have to come up with
options for using the space between the Dynamo stadium and Leningradsky Prospekt. The winner will receive a prize from VTB Arena Park. Is the further implementation of the winning student project implied, or is someone doing a real project in parallel?
- The main goal of the contests held by VTB Arena is collecting ideas. For example, in the previous competition for the development of the concept of the park of physical culture and sports "Dynamo", in general, there were two winners: the Bureau "Praktika" and the duet of Alexander Konstantinov and Ilya Zalivukhin. Their ideas are the first in line for implementation. However, one should not forget that there is still a project by Sergei Tchoban, which unites a sports, business, residential area and a park. It is still difficult to say to what extent Tchoban's project will be implemented, and to what extent - the ideas of the winners of the competition, but the management of VTB Arena is not without enthusiasm for the results of the competition.
In a student competition, there is a higher risk of not getting interesting and at the same time realizable solutions. The participants are less responsible for the realism of the project (although in MARSH they make sure that the students design "seriously"). But such a moderate attachment to reality also gives the chance to get more original and unexpected solutions.
VTB Arena is trying different formats: last year's competition was closed for Moscow professionals. The current one will be student, in which it is not clear whether something interesting will turn out or not. For now, we can say that VTB is simply supporting the educational process. So we recruit a group of students and play the competition from different sides. First, at the research stage, the students themselves will collect the initial data, prepare the task, conditions - that is, they will work as the operator of the competition, and then the same students will switch to the role of participants, and within its framework they will carry out competition projects.
– Do not all these contests remind you of the next wave of "paper architecture"?
- The current competitive process, which began to a large extent with the arrival of Sergei Kuznetsov, still reminds her. Because none of the winning projects has yet been fully implemented. But there are also significant differences. The “paper architecture” of thirty years ago did not at all imply the practical side of the matter. Some of those projects could be attributed to contemporary art rather than architecture. And, of course, most of them were very literary, very dependent on the text. My favorite project - "The Inhabited Columbarium" by Utkin and Brodsky, perhaps without the text would have been incomplete.
– Is there any interaction of the curator of the competition with architects and clients after the selection of the winners?
- As they say, “the Moor did his job” … The curator has an absolutely clear range of duties, I fulfill them and leave. I will follow these stories out of simple curiosity. But I have no further authority.
As for VTB Arena, since I continue to cooperate with them, it is easier for me to follow the history of Dynamo.
– At one of your lectures, you talked about the so-called "painted" residential buildings in Ramenskoye. Do you really think that graffiti can save typical neighborhoods from facelessness?
- As one of the options - yes! Although this method is one of the most radical. If you paint all the typical areas this way, it will probably also be bad. I would like to ask the residents of Ramenskoye, do they get tired of the constant attack of strong bright colors? But, I think, they are already accustomed to and are even proud of their area.
– Then tell me, please, what possibilities of humanization of the urban environment do you think are optimal? Although graffiti is probably the cheapest way of all …
- I would not say that it is cheap to paint the facades of huge panel houses. I think this method is equivalent to many others in terms of cost. The main thing is to create an interesting environment. Once, when we (PlanAR studio) had just started working on a project for Marfino, we said in an interview that, in our opinion, “the space between buildings is sometimes more important than the buildings themselves”. Then it turned out that the same thing, word for word, was said by Ian Gail. It was nice to coincide with the famous urbanist on such a principled issue. It is in this conviction that we still remain. In order for the districts to cease to be faceless, it is necessary that each of them has its own methods: in Ramenskoye - some, in Marfino - others. And now, by the way, there is some movement in this direction.
– Tell me, is there, in your opinion, any country or place that can serve as an example for us?
- A curious example is the Superkilen Ethnic Park in Copenhagen, which BIG Architects, Topotek 1 landscape designers and Superflex artists implemented in a dysfunctional old suburb.
I also really respect the work of the Dutch bureau Carve, for which the organization of urban spaces, parks, sports and playgrounds is the main occupation.
– You are currently designing in the Zapadnoye Kuntsevo quarter, where the context is set by a five-story residential building. But your objects seem to form their own, new and independent environment. Will you somehow "tie" it to new residential buildings?
- Do you think that our decision does not fit the context? But context can be talked about when you are intervening in an existing development. And here, buildings are being erected simultaneously with the landscaping. It turns out that we, together with the authors of the houses, form this context. And I do not think that someone should adjust to someone else. In fact, a system that works as a single organism, including a collection of buildings and a landscape, does not have to be solved in one color scheme. You can also work on contrast. I do not have a feeling of some kind of contradiction, some kind of struggle between one and the other. Rather, it is a friendly competition.
– You are engaged in the design of residential buildings and business complexes, improving the space of the living environment. We have built a club-restaurant … Which of all this variety of forms of activity gives the greatest creative freedom?
- My partner, Natalia Voinova, and I, we try not to take on projects that leave no room for creative freedom. I cannot say that the soul lies more for something, and less for something. We are always looking for potential hidden in space. Therefore, in the interior, for example, we often have additional levels - something that the customer often does not expect, but which turns out to be very convenient and increases the area. In the "spaces between houses" we always try to use the potential of the relief, existing vegetation, etc.
It so happened that we did a very successful project, at least in terms of press coverage, for Marfino, and since then we regularly receive orders for landscaping. Willy-nilly, I had to deal with the landscape and small forms - and I think this is a very good exercise. Also in the sense that you can see its implementation relatively quickly. In Marfino, it took no more than a couple of months from the sketch of the gazebo to the first finished object.
In addition to the above, one of my new interests is exhibitions: this year I was engaged in the exposition "Competitions" at Arch Moscow, and then did "Secrets of Moscow Parks" for the Museum of Moscow. There, too, you see the result unusually quickly. But creative freedom is severely limited by the finances and technical capabilities of the site. However, I see no problem with the limitations. To a large extent, they are both ground underfoot and an incentive for creativity.
– Perhaps Moscow as a whole can be perceived as a large-scale exhibition space, where new objects constantly appear and disappear?
- Yes, that's a good idea. Small and temporary forms in an urban environment are such a model of large architecture, on which you can run in various techniques.
In Brecht's miniature “Architecture”, the hero communicates to a certain architect a wonderful thought: “Since the powerful development of the means of destruction, your buildings are just attempts, unimportant proposals. Visual material for public discussions”. In the case of temporary structures, the tragic connotation of this phrase disappears.
In New York, for example, if they want to try something, for example, a new pedestrian zone, they first block the street for a week, make markings, arrange some simple things, and see what happens. Experiment is everything. An experiment in this sense is better than a competition. Maybe it is worth doing more contests, the result of which will be such experiments, such trial balloons.
We had a similar idea about the design of Triumfalnaya Square. The bottom line was to turn this square in front of the Moskomarkhitektura into a test urban space: to exhibit new urban furniture, items for the improvement of the city, etc. People on the square could try everything, and it would be clear what is good and what is not very good. This is a way of public voting. City leaders could see what people like, and this experience could be extended to other areas. Such is the exhibition of achievements of urban improvement on Triumfalnaya. Maybe somewhere else it will be possible to do this.
