In my entire life as a writer, compiling a list of five favorite objects has proven to be the most difficult task. I always have a very personal approach to each of my articles and in general to everything that I do, and for me, creativity, people, emotions, cities are very closely related to each other. So today I will share with you not just things that are interesting from my point of view, but a part of myself.
1. Hotel Sofitel Stephansdom in Vienna
Architect Jean Nouvel, painter Pipilotti Rist.
This was my "first Vienna". One hour flight from Milan by invitation to a symposium on Soviet modernism. There was still a day before the symposium, which I expected to spend exploring a new city for myself. In Vienna, a friend of our family, a Russian architect, was already waiting for me, who, in fact, insisted on my arrival at the symposium. And so the first thing I heard on my cell phone, landing at 8 am at the airport, was “I have already ordered vodka and caviar here, are you hungry?”. I quickly checked into my hotel, and we, having met him on the banks of the Danube, went to acquaint me with the Austrian capital. He casually said that he had been to Vienna eleven times already, and there was nothing to surprise him here. And then I thought that I will never get tired of being surprised by this city.
The architect told me about Hollein and showed me chic Baroque churches, the Museum Quarter, the Secession building and other sights. And late in the evening we returned to the Danube embankment and saw the new hotel Sofitel Stephansdom, designed by Jean Nouvel. Her building almost disappeared against the background of the dark sky: only a few stripes of light from the windows were visible. As we walked around it, it became clear why the hotel was named after the main Viennese cathedral - part of the Sofitel roof exactly repeats the ornament of the roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Then we tried to get to the bar on the top floor of the hotel, because we really wanted to see the ceilings by the artist Pipilotti Rist. We were asked to wait as all seats were reserved: the bar turned out to be terribly trendy among the local population. I had to explain with sad eyes that we are Russian architects and if we do not see the interior of the bar right now, our sense of beauty will not survive it. A few minutes later a free table was found for us. It was beautiful: the windows overlooked the whole of Vienna, autumn leaves "fell" from the ceiling and a big eye blinked. Nouvel likes to say: "If there is no magic in architecture, he is not interested in it." Here this magic was: the magic of the theater, a well-thought-out performance, where each actor is in his place and plays his role in a talented and professional manner. And Vienna was the prima ballerina, which was golden that evening to match the autumn leaves on the ceiling.
The next day I went to take pictures of the hotel in the sunlight. She looked simple and elegant, no longer dissolving in the environment, but gleaming silver against the background of the morning sky.
At the symposium, tired of discussing Soviet modernism, we quietly shared our impressions of Sofitel. And my companion, very sadly, even gloomily, said that there were many similar ideas, but with such customers as ours, how can they be implemented? They do not understand that there should be magic in architecture, and how can this be explained to them?
2. Portello Park in Milan.
Landscape Architects Charles Jencks and LAND Bureau.
It was unbearable: to see the renders of the beautiful park - the work of Charles Jenks and the Milan studio LAND and to know that construction will not be completed soon and the park will open, at best, in six months, and at the same time feel its close proximity and even see partially realized plots through lattice of the fence. I was a cat, and this park was an unattainable sour cream that haunted me.
One early Sunday morning I made a strong-willed decision to get into the park by all means. I climbed safely over the fence and was surrounded by beauty. I stayed in the park for about an hour: I climbed artificial hills, looked at the panorama of Milan with its factories, cars rushing at great speed, ancient cathedrals and a few greenery. I walked on a soft floor with grass, looked at the "frog pond" and more and more understood the meaning of the phrase "artificially created natural environment."
This park, now open, is an introvert, like most things in Milan. It is located away from the beaten track of hiking trails, not too close to the center, next to a very simple area that is just beginning to become fashionable, and this park has an extremely "indistinct" entrance that not everyone can find. But, if you nevertheless got there, then, I am sure, you will understand me and love this place because it is simply impossible not to love it.
3. Villa Rotunda in Vicenza
Architect Andrea Palladio
At the end of the 2nd course of the Moscow Architectural Institute, for a lesson on the basics of architectural design, we had to bring a layout and a booklet with analytical materials on our beloved residential building. Student laziness and the desire to do something "for love" fought in me. Laziness prompted you to choose some Japanese cube with square windows and finish this task in a couple of hours of dust-free work. Love demanded to make a layout and analysis of the Villa Foscari ("Malcontenta") Palladio, which already assumed a much greater amount of work. My rationality always left a lot to be desired, and love won. After a sleepless night, I excitedly told the teachers and classmates about the advantages of the villa and showed them on the model. I was happy and got my top ten.
A few years after that, I studied at the Milan Polytechnic and persuaded my Latvian friends who had a car to go and see Palladio's villas. During that season, Malcontenta was closed to the public, but the Rotunda and several others were open.
It was here, in the Rotunda, that I understood what architecture is and what it should be - no matter what style and era it belongs to. There was peace, greatness and eternity, frozen in the air. There was neither today, nor tomorrow, nor yesterday, but there was something special. Someone would call it the fourth dimension, but I think it was the soul.
4. Great Mosque of Hassan II in Casablanca
Michel Pinceau Architect
In Casablanca, they wear funny slippers with curved noses like Little Muk, terracotta jelabba robes with hoods, cook couscous in tagine and do very good modern architecture. The latter, by the way, came as an absolute surprise to me. Mainly French architects and Moroccans, who have gone through the French architectural school, work here.
For me, Morocco - a very traditional country - has become, oddly enough, an indicator that all boundaries in architecture can be overcome, even if they exist at all. Think for yourself: how could King Hassan II of Morocco order the construction of the largest mosque in the country to a French architect - not a Muslim Michel Pinceau? And how could he, an architect, feel so perfectly the traditions of culture and religion unfamiliar to him, to make an absolutely modern mosque on the water?
She is incredibly beautiful and must be seen with my own eyes. Therefore, I will not tell you in advance about the wonderful proportions of this building, the surrounding religious complex and the new square, their integration into the landscape, the mesmerizing ornaments made of Italian stone, the atmosphere created there. I will not because you must feel this place yourself, slowly approaching it from the center of Casablanca through the slums, breathing in the salty air of the ocean to the sound of waves and adhan
And more about the boundaries in architecture: Casablanca has a huge number of mosques for every taste, but hundreds of locals come here - to a modern mosque, created by an architect of another country and another faith, where it is so good that these details seem to be conventions.
5. Aldo Rossi.
Recently I was at a dinner with a Munich professor of architecture and his wife, an architect from Switzerland. Dinner took place in leisurely conversations about architecture, music, delicious food, and it was time for tea. And suddenly Aldo Rossi's tea set appeared on the table, and I had a feeling of absolute happiness.
The fifth item on my list is a person who for me was an entire era in architecture. I love his books. I love his philosophy. And I am terribly sorry that I will never have the opportunity to talk to him or listen to his lectures. I talked with his students, asked my Milanese professors about him, who were personally acquainted with him, I went to all exhibitions devoted to his work.
My parents, architects, told me from childhood that architecture is a complex profession that combines creativity, psychology, economics, management, philosophy and much more. Unfortunately, now these qualities are rarely combined in architecture and architects: there is always a feeling that one side or the other prevails. I would like to believe that in Russia all these aspects were combined harmoniously, but we will never know for sure about this - which, ultimately, may be for the better.
Elizaveta Klepanova graduated in 2013 from Moscow Architectural Institute (Faculty of Residential and Public Buildings; specialist in architecture) and the Polytechnic University of Milan (Master of Architecture).
In 2008–2011 - architect at AB “A. Klepanov A-S-D . In 2012–2013, he was the author of the Architectural Digest Russia Internet portal. Since 2013 - the author of the Internet portal Archi.ru. Since January 2014 - Architect at Peter Ebner and Friends (Munich).
