Press
Kommersant published an interview with Alexander Kuzmin, Chairman of the Council of Chief Architects of Russia, in which he talks about new approaches to shaping the image of Russian cities. At the last meeting in Voronezh, the Council prepared a resolution proposing to develop an all-Russian strategy “Concept of cities for life”. It should focus on preserving the identity of cities, as well as on "the use of modern construction technologies that create safety, comfort and beauty." Transformations at a lesser level are also important: when constructing buildings, “the lifespan of the building should be at the forefront,” “housing should not be affordable,” “it should be worthy” - this thesis is included in the title. Then the outflow of people from provinces to megacities will be stopped, small cities will finally become points of growth.
Evgenia Shanina, also at Kommersant, explores the topic of a comfortable environment using the example of St. Petersburg: everyone talks about it, but few see it. Among the problems hindering the improvement of the quality of the environment, the interviewed experts cite not so much the high cost as the lack of uniform requirements for the design and maintenance of the "comfortable environment" in the legislation, as well as low competition. Successful examples were also sounded in the northern capital: the Novoorlovsky residential complex, which has a landscaping project and a competent organization of public spaces; RC "Baltic Pearl", which stands out due to low-rise buildings and well-designed architecture; Residential complex "Vienna" with its bright accents in the form of conceptual painting; projects of the company "SPb Renovation".
The website of the Moscow Architectural Council narrows down the topic, describing in detail the project of the integrated residential development “Microcity“In the Forest”. One of the main objectives of this project was to return to residential development the concept of a private space - “one's own” house, yard, entrance.
Ekaterina Sakharova from Gazeta.ru cites the opinion of experts that high-rise construction will gradually go out of fashion in Moscow (and then, possibly, in other cities), low-rise buildings will become popular, including in the economy class segment.
Mitya Kharshak from ART1 continues to understand the problems of modern architecture in St. Petersburg. This time - with the help of Lev Lurie. The historian, like many others, believes that "Petersburg architects form a kind of mafia that does not really want to let not only foreigners, but also Muscovites into the city." However, the author is not sure that foreigners would have gotten something masterpiece here, in his opinion, "Venice is a model for St. Petersburg within the boundaries of the historic center." We just need to think carefully about how to use the luxurious architecture we have inherited.
The newspaper "Moi Rayon" spoke with Yuri Piryutko from the State Museum of Urban Sculpture in St. Petersburg about the role of sculpture in "revitalizing" urban space. According to Yuri, a small decorative sculpture should be involved in a lively, “carnival” city life, and the “sculpture gardens” created in one sitting are too monotonous.
The selection that Maria Elkina made for ART1 is definitely worth adding to your bookmarks: these are seven lectures by contemporary architects, accompanied by subtitles in Russian: Shigeru Bana, Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Heatherwick and others.
Blogs
The blog of the Rizoma School of Design at the HSE has published an overview of houses made of plastic in the 20th century, compiled by Artem Dezhurko. The selection came out unusual and surprisingly diverse: plastic houses were built all over the world from Brazil to Taiwan, they were conceived as housing, kiosks, pavilions, polar stations, there were even attempts to make entire villages. However, very few specimens have survived. But should we be in sorrow: the authors of the squatter, the collection of which is being collected by the blogger Ilya Varlamov, are also not lacking in imagination and ingenuity.
Varlamov also publishes two next projects to improve the electoral district of Maxim Katz: the Civil Architects architectural bureau showed how to turn Serebryany Bor into a comfortable beach, and the Megabudka bureau came up with the concept of a courtyard club that combines the functions of a lecture hall, library, coworking and play area … Varlamov also invites students, graduate students, and teachers of Moscow State University to participate in a survey that will help collect important ideas for the construction of a new university campus.
During the reconstruction of Chokana Valikhanov Street in Omsk, according to Varlamov, a gross mistake was made - the old ground crossing was replaced by an underground one. Why it is so scary is explained in a special video. Arkady Gershman is also dissatisfied with the Omsk street, he also mentions an underground passage, and also notes that there are no shops, several roads cross the street and the crossings are made incorrectly (not raised to the level of the sidewalk, surrounded by a fence).
Alexander Minakov published a project for the alternative development of the Obvodny Canal, which was prepared jointly with architects Ilya and Irina Filimonov from the 2xIF studio. According to the authors, the Obvodny Canal is turning from a gray belt into a growth point, and this should be used wisely. Industrial zones here are gradually giving way to housing, offices and shopping areas, a sufficient amount of historical architecture gives the place additional value. Obviously, the territory should be turned into a convenient space for living, recreation and movement, and not into a transport highway. All proposals will be sent to the Governor of St. Petersburg and the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure.
An interesting discussion on the subjectivity of the assessment of contemporary architectural works and the dependence of this assessment on the submission developed on Maria Elkina's Facebook page.
The Community of Architects tells how to calculate insolation for a large-scale residential complex using the graphic editor Grasshopper, and a photo of a paving slab laying machine appeared on Sergey Oreshkin's blog. The architect believes that Moscow cannot do without such a unit.
