On Friday, the recently reconstructed Balchug Hotel hosted the presentation of the electronic issue of speech: Materiality. The presentation was held in the format of a discussion, to which architects, developers, manufacturers and suppliers of building materials were invited. The topic of discussion was the prospects for import substitution of building and finishing materials in Russia.
As the editor-in-chief of the magazine Anna Martovitskaya explained, the re-issue of the issue is connected, firstly, with the relevance of the topic touched on in it, and secondly, with an almost instantaneous shortage of the printed version - the circulation immediately sold out to subscribers and buyers, and today the magazine is almost impossible to acquire. … The same thing happened with other issues, which gave rise to the idea of the speech: digital project. Four issues have already been issued in electronic format. Let's remind that the printed version of the magazine "Materiality" was published in 2009. It touched upon the issues of reliability, durability, tactility of architecture on the example of iconic buildings made of natural materials. The digital version is supplemented with a detailed overview of the most interesting projects that have appeared in recent years.
Little was said about the magazine itself and its contents that evening. The main character of the discussion was natural stone - the material that most fully reveals the stated topic. The participants in the discussion tried to answer the question of what the facade of a modern building should be and whether it is possible to achieve a high-quality architectural solution using domestic materials. The discussion, which took place in a lively and active format, was divided into two parts. The first featured speakers who conditionally support the idea of import substitution, the second - those who do not believe in it.
Vyacheslav Komarov, representative of Stone Wells Management, the general partner of the event, expressed the opinion that today the industry of extraction and production of natural stone in Russia is on the rise. After the complete neglect associated with the collapse of the USSR, careers began to be developed again in Karelia, Yakutia, in the Leningrad Region, in the Caucasus and the Urals. Many of the extracted samples, according to Komarov, in terms of external and quality characteristics, are quite comparable with foreign counterparts. In addition, domestic products noticeably gain in price, do not depend on fluctuating exchange rates, and are also much more convenient in terms of logistics. Of the obvious shortcomings, Vyacheslav Komarov noted the limited color range of Russian stone and the underdevelopment of production capacities: most of the factories operate on Chinese equipment.
Alas, very few people shared the colleague's optimism - even among the positive-minded speakers. Thus, Alexander Tanaskovich, director of construction economics at MR Group, recalled the numerous problems associated with the delivery of Russian stone and its inconsistency with the declared quality. “So far, it is easier and more reliable to put a foreign stone than a domestic one,” Tanaskovich is sure. A similar opinion was expressed by the head of the architectural bureau T + T Architects Sergei Trukhanov, who, at the insistence of customers, had more than once worked with Russian stone. Finding a good and reliable manufacturer and supplier within the country in all cases proved to be very difficult. As a result, the quality of construction and the appearance of buildings inevitably suffered.
Sergey Kryuchkov, design director of ROSE GROUP, although he agreed that the very trend in the development of this industry in the country is very positive, nevertheless, he noted the complete lack of specialists capable of developing it. Therefore, while the direction is at the initial and primitive level: "there are no patents, no know-how, no own software …". Good dynamics of development, according to Kryuchkov, is observed, perhaps, only in the field of rough finishing materials and interior ceramics, which cannot be said about the finishing of facades.
If the first group of speakers at least somehow admitted the possibility of replacing imported raw materials with domestic ones, then in the second part of the discussion the opinion was absolutely categorical: it is impossible to replace marble, limestone, or travertine with Russian counterparts. There are simply no such deposits in Russia as, say, in Italy, Spain or Portugal. But even the stone that is mined in Russian quarries is often inferior in terms of frost resistance and durability. In addition, there is no opportunity to work with large-sized and non-standard slabs, they are simply not produced in our country. Moreover, according to Sergei Kudryavtsev, managing partner of PRIDEX, with completely incomparable quality criteria, the cost of Russian stone, like other building materials, hardly differs from the average market value. The benefits are minimal and the losses are huge.
As a result, the audience came to the conclusion that it is impossible to replace reliable and proven material for the sake of temporary political trends, thereby limiting architects in the choice and freedom of creativity, and the city in the ability to receive decent and durable buildings. Replacement is possible only with a significant loss in range and quality. But even with such a disappointing assessment, the meeting participants agreed that there are prospects for the development of the industry - albeit very distant.
The digital version of speech: Materiality is available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play applications.
