At the international festival "Zodchestvo" -2015, within the framework of the "New Urban Planning" competition, the PANACOM architectural bureau presents to the jury a project of suburban housing development along Novorizhskoe highway. For Arseniy Leonovich, chief architect of PANACOM, participation in the competition is a reason for reflection on the topic of urban planning projects and housing construction in an era of economic crisis. Arseny Leonovich speaks:
Architects, builders, developers
I would call our time an era of paradoxes. For example, despite the economic and social crisis, a lot of housing is being built in our country. Of course, most of the active objects are at the stage of completion of construction, but there are many new projects that are just entering their active stage.
Here is a paradox for you: it would seem that everything should freeze, curl up, but nothing of the kind. Both old and new teams enter the market. And they all push each other. Competition is intensifying. Everyone understands that if you relax now, tomorrow they will take your place. We are all like in war or in sports. Architects and developers are forced to react to the changing market situation, to adapt to new conditions, albeit hard and traumatic.
The criterion for evaluating projects is the novelty and quality of the architectural product. The behavior of developers has also changed. It is obvious that even a few years ago it was much easier to make money in this market. The developers took the sites, which by definition were "trump cards" (and then there were still many of them) and threw in whatever they wanted. And "place and place again" gave indulgence to all architectural and other blunders: typological, spatial, figurative and artistic, in the end. Therefore, "these very places" justified everything: "if you want to live on Smolenka, so live." But today there are almost no such profitable sites left, and the city needs to grow and develop in all respects. Therefore, both building regulations and the regulatory framework are changing, which are largely outdated, and the urban environment is already making new demands. Today everyone wants to have a sufficient number of parking spaces and greenery, playgrounds and recreational areas. Moreover, the social organization of territories is now significantly influenced by various media and social networks. It used to be: built, sold, goodbye … And today there is constant feedback, if something is wrong, then everything is immediately known. Therefore, it is quite natural that development companies are becoming more transparent and socially responsible.
Customers and consumers
If it is aloof to contemplate the “crisis” situation through the eyes of the consumer, then he will immediately see how they are fighting for him. Marketing gets complicated. Whole studies are being prepared before the launch of a project, which reflects everything from the target audience to the types of plants in the yard. Nowadays, simple concrete square meters, unlike the recent past, cannot be built - and they will not give it, and there are few buyers. Now it is necessary to make excellent sweets in wrappers from this sugar and pack them in beautiful boxes, be sure to attach the original history and mythology of the place. As a result, the client receives a whole range of services, which includes the format of life (suburban or urban), an adequate social environment, appropriate infrastructure, landscaping and design of the territory. So if before only the square meter ruled, now it is a "way of life" that a person will adhere to at a certain period of his life. Therefore, the choice has become much more meaningful than 15–20 years ago.
New formats and offers
In general, there have been much more proposals, formats and typologies of apartments themselves in recent years. Take, for example, the basic option - economy class housing. Not so long ago, it was immediately followed by the "business" format, and that was already cool, and after the "business" was followed by the coveted "elite". In recent years, "comfort" and "comfort plus" have appeared, "business" is becoming more modest next to the "business plus" class. The "premium class" has appeared. That is, the general increase in the class of housing entailed stricter quality requirements in each segment.
The architects have new tasks: the search for original solutions in the new tough conditions of market segregation. The whole apartment has been shaken up: the standard set of odnushki, kopeck pieces, three-ruble bills is no longer satisfactory for anyone. Now there should be a lot of them and different ones. Our customers have experience, not only Soviet, but also post-perestroika. Now, if a person buys a new one-room apartment, then it is certainly a big and special, standard one already. Now he needs either a corner, or with a bunch of niches, or a loft. Therefore, the buyer, in accordance with his budget, can clearly navigate and consciously plan his future life. He has a choice: get an offer for 50m2 studio apartments in a loft, work a lot and come there only to sleep or live with a family on the same 50m2 in a multi-format kopeck piece or three-ruble note.
On the other hand, the choice is still limited. For example, if you set yourself the goal of compiling a complete register of the types of apartments that exist in European countries, you will get several weighty volumes, and in the case of the Russian experience, a thin brochure. And everyone understands that we live with different regulatory frameworks, so our ideas about how good, beautiful and useful are different. The number of unreasonable rigid and outdated norms does not correspond to today's realities, which ultimately affects the choice."
