On September 25, the results of an open competition for the development of an architectural concept for the Prostor Confectionery and Bakery Complex, announced at the end of May, became known (all competitive projects can be seen here). The first place was shared by the consortia of the teams "Archstroydesign ASD" + AB MANIPULAZIONEINTERNAZIONALE and "Progress" + "Mosproekt-2". Yuliy Borisov, one of the heads of the UNK project bureau, who was a member of the jury, shared with us his impressions of the tasks of the competition and the works of the participants.
Julius Borisov:
“I would like to note right away that all the works presented were very interesting from the architectural point of view. But I would divide them into three areas: scientific restoration; decorative and "second shell" (created mainly with nets or some kind of semi-permeable shells). Each of the directions had its own leader.
Unfortunately, many of the contestants did not hear the customer. The emphasis has been repeatedly made on
the need to modernize the existing industrial building, and not create a new monument of modern architecture. In short, they needed a beautiful, practical and not very expensive van for delivering bread, and they offered either perfectly restored old gazelles, or a Porshe with an upper rack. What was needed was a Mercedes Sprinter.
I am very close to the work of Mikhail Krymov (Arch Group bureau), which was the best in terms of artistic taste. But the use of grids causes many problems both in implementation and in operation. It can be cut, thereby ruining the facade. Which, of course, crippled the project. Although there are technologies that allow this idea to be realized (printing on glass, etc.).
The first place turned out to be divided between the two participants, since from the point of view of urban planning and architectural solutions in this context, both options are most appropriate. When we make a beautiful reconstruction of facades with an addition in the same style, it is very harmoniously combined with the whole area, that is, it does not distinguish the building. Such a normal contextual approach. And the opposite, mesmerizing option - when there is an explosion of color and a good creative idea with "cookies". Although there are a lot of technical implementation issues. In my opinion, the technology is not quite right, and there is a large field for activity. But, from the point of view of the solution of urban planning and philosophy, it is the most striking. And so both options can be.
Separately, I would like to note the improvement of the territory. Someone painted a beautiful landscape, planted a lot of bushes. But, again, from the point of view of real practice, this is strange. Few people have thought about parking lots where employees of the company can leave their vehicles. This is not a museum, not a park … This is a reconstruction of a working building. And in this case, there were two extremes - to plant bushes or a completely conceptual solution. Unfortunately, there is no middle ground.
If we talk about the tasks of the architectural jury, the main one was the assessment of the appropriateness of this solution for the city. The issue of manufacturability, practicality and feasibility is the function of the experts who gave the assessment. Particular attention was paid to the opinion of the customer, since, ultimately, it is up to him to make the decision. In general, all the works are very interesting and good. But, unfortunately, they showed the desire to self-actualize to a greater extent than was required."
