Archi.ru:
Almost two years have passed since the anniversary exhibition dedicated to the tenth anniversary of Architecturium. What are you working on now?
Vladimir Bindeman:
- Today we are mainly dealing with concepts and completing the construction of the Novogorsk cluster. Due to the economic situation, the number of investors who are ready to move from concepts to implementations has sharply decreased, but trial attempts are still being made. The construction of the Andersen district in New Moscow is now being completed, and the Opalikha-Village mid-rise residential complex in Krasnogorsk is under construction.
How is the situation in the field of suburban housing construction changing now? What are the new challenges facing the designers?
- The conjuncture, as one would expect, dictates a reduction in price and, accordingly, a simplification. Developers are trying to compensate for objective losses by reducing the cost of construction as much as possible. At the same time, the urban planning situation in the Moscow region, which in recent years has deteriorated under the pressure of unbalanced mass housing construction, has today reached critical levels in many respects, mainly in the transport and social aspects. The decision of the government of the Moscow region on a moratorium on residential development in Balashikha, Korolev and its suspension in Khimki speaks of a really crisis state of affairs. As for the tasks, it is somehow inconvenient to talk about new ones. In our urban planning, we should first fulfill the old ones - to compensate for the “contractual voids” of recent years in kindergartens, schools, public facilities, parking lots, which are relied on according to the standards and the meaning of life itself, but which were safely forgotten after the sale of residential real estate. The only question is who, where and, most importantly, at whose expense will it do this? In 2016, the government of the Moscow region must approve 238 territorial planning documents, while in about 300 constituent entities, general plans have not yet been adopted. The final adoption of master plans for settlements, of course, should objectively consolidate the functional zoning and prevent further transfers of land from "agricultural" and "industrial" to housing and back, but from good intentions to practical results, as we know, the path is not short.
What are the main difficulties you have to face when designing suburban settlements? How is communication with customers built, with which most often you have to fight?
- The customer always wants to "sew seven hats from a sheep." This is an objective reality, there are practically no exceptions. References to standards and even more so such an ephemeral concept as composition are successfully overcome by the will of a collective body (technical council, board of directors, shareholders' meeting). An obstacle can only be the refusal of the approving authorities. Realizing that, unfortunately, we are not able to overcome this situation, we nevertheless fight for public spaces and functions in every project, trying to create boulevards, squares, squares.
Nature itself helps. Most of our projects have been carried out on sites along rivers or lakes that have a legally secured coastline zone where construction is not allowed. Therefore, it is possible to create embankments with recreational facilities and public areas. Where this is not the case, we offer “green gaps” in buildings, where we orientate as many apartments as possible. It is clear that the economic situation is difficult, but the housing market is overheated. To gain a competitive advantage, a developer must take care of the factors of housing attractiveness, create an environment suitable for living not only in the apartment, but also outside it.
If townhouses, as you have said more than once, have passed the stage for you, then what typology of residential buildings are you most interested in today and why?
- We are engaged in projects of integrated development of territories, because this is what interests us. The prevailing multi-storey typology in construction is undoubtedly dictated by the market. We are much closer to low- and medium-rise residential formations, especially in the Moscow region, where most of the plots for new development border on "low-rise" - summer cottages or cottages. The optimal residential area near Moscow, in our opinion, should have from three to six floors. Maximum eight. Of course, in a specific urban planning situation, the appearance of high-rise dominants as landscape markers is even necessary. But this is completely different from 17-storey closed courtyards-wells with an impersonal typical courtyard interior. If, nevertheless, return to the topic of townhouses, then it is quite possible that developers will again show interest in them, but in a different format. Of course, nobody will build today sections of 250-300 square meters, but alternative to the usual city apartments, "apartments on the ground" with an area of up to 100 square meters is quite possible. And such attempts are already being made.
What are your style preferences and is it always possible to link them with the context?
- The most difficult question for an architect is "What style do you work in?" Especially today. We do not accept vulgar stylizations, we make modern architecture and try to do it expressively. For our context, it is mainly the natural environment, so we try to make decisions that allow us to fit into the landscape as organically as possible.
Are there any among your projects that could be called favorite, iconic?
- During the "cottage" period, I built the "Yacht House" and "Red Wedge", as well as a terrace boarding house in Sochi in 2004. These projects were noticed and noted. They had interesting customers, decision-makers. Of the current works, I consider it significant
The Novogorsk project and the Andersen residential complex, where, although not without losses, we were able to implement the idea of blocks with diverse architecture. Having developed 9 typical layouts of residential sections, we complicated the task and introduced the variability of their facades in relation to the quarter in which a particular section is used. So in Andersen, on an area of 19 hectares, “red”, “white”, “mosaic”, “striped” quarters and several more combinations of them appeared.
What, in your opinion, is the specificity of work in the regions? How does the proximity of one or another regional center affect the decision of the project?
- It seems to me that the concept of "region" in the era of information openness has practically lost its former meaning. None of the architects takes into account the remoteness from the center, deciding to make it easier here, more complicated there. This is what developers are guilty of, by standardly defining the class of a particular project (cheaper or more expensive). Good architecture is always "appropriate", it takes into account the local peculiarities, and it is good among other things and therefore.
Sestroretsk, for example, is now included in the city limits of St. Petersburg, and we treated the project as a task of creating a comfortable European suburb. We wanted to show how you can make a cozy building out of urban-type townhouses - two-storey block houses without individual plots, forming quarters of various planning and architecture. We also included the city square, decorated with a public shopping center and a school building, into the regular planning grid typical for St. Petersburg. A small “Summer Garden” was set up next to the school. In the structure of the building there was a place for two quarters of "city" cottages with small plots of land (but without fences!). Rows of spherical lime trees have been planted along the streets, separating parallel parking lots from bike paths … In general, a dream, a low-rise city with cobbled sidewalks and "corners" - shops or cafes at the corners of neighborhoods. But the dream is still a dream, apparently, the city is not yet ready for such projects.
How do you feel about architectural competitions?
- I have a good attitude, another thing is that there is rarely an opportunity to participate in them. This competition is interesting in that you do not have to worry about the opinion of the customer in the process. You make a project that reflects purely your professional point of view on the task, and you submit it to the competition, accompanied by all possible evidence of your innocence. And then it is a matter of chance, coincidence of circumstances, the proximity of the positions of the jury and the architect. Open tenders are a separate topic altogether. The position of the organizer and his true intentions are never fully understood, but you can practice from the heart and without looking back. But with closed ones, for which they pay, it is more difficult. In one of the latter, a condition was set for mandatory intermediate impressions for all participants and the coordination of intermediate stages, without which it was impossible to move on. The customer wanted to "keep his finger on the pulse" so as not to get an unpredictable result for his hard-earned money.
What interested you in the competition for the development of the territory in Nizhny Novgorod?
- First of all - the task at hand. At the first stage, it was necessary to propose a concept for the development of an area of 450 hectares in the southern part of the city. This is a very large area, and not only for Nizhny Novgorod. The task was complicated by the strongly pronounced relief and numerous power lines crossing the site. We proposed a planning structure formed by four large districts connected by city highways and arranged along two recreational-landscape axes. Each district had its own centers, a system of public green spaces, defined by the folds of the relief, was allocated. The urban planning paradigm is based on the principle of hierarchy - from the private space of the apartment to the neighboring space of the courtyard and further to the public space of the street, city square and park. In the second round of the competition, we proposed the development of these ideas on the example of one of the four quarters with a detailed design of residential and public facilities.
What is happening now at the facilities of the Olympic Village Novogorsk?
- Novogorsk is a cluster of three sites located in close proximity to each other. The main one, with which it all began, is already functioning. There are townhouses, two apartment buildings and a multifunctional social and sports center, which is currently finishing the interior decoration. The site downstream of the Skhodnya, which is called"
Olympic village Novogorsk. Apartments ", is also occupied, residents are engaged in finishing. We hope that in May the landscaping inside the quarter and along the embankment will be finally completed and the complex will acquire a finished look. And the third site is “Olympic Village Novogorsk. Resort "- is at the stage of installation of facades and improvement works.
Please tell us about the concept of the Villagio residential area
- We started this project with great enthusiasm, we have developed an excellent mutual understanding with the customer. As you know, "Villagio" is a village with fairly large cottages and townhouses. The same project envisaged the development of the territory adjacent to the Novorizhskoe highway for the development of mid-rise apartment buildings with infrastructure.
The proximity of the highway determined the main planning idea of the district - the protection of residential buildings from increased noise impact by placing linear infrastructure facilities along the Novorizhskoe highway: a shopping and office center and parking lots. These objects, in turn, are fenced off from houses by the main shopping and public street with a wide comfortable pedestrian boulevard. All residential buildings are divided into four quarters located at small angles to each other, resulting in the formation of "green wedges" - comfortable walking areas with gazebos, benches, flower beds and ponds. We have identified all the "correct" components of the block development - the main street with a system of small triangular squares, residential streets from which entrances to entrances and entrances to underground parking are organized, inter-block "green gaps", semi-closed landscaped courtyards without cars.
Looking at the plans of the settlements designed by your workshop, it can be assumed that you gravitated towards the quarterly principle long before it "became fashionable." Is it so?
- Yes, I have always believed that in a settlement of people (city, district, village) there should be a hierarchy of spaces, and hence their diversity. Quarter buildings have evolved over the centuries, bearing in themselves the specifics of their region: climatic, geographical, national. For example, in the ancient city of Priene, the official ancient Greek orthogonal layout is "stretched" over picturesque hills with a strongly pronounced relief. This is impressive even now, when only the foundations are left of the buildings. A similar example is San Francisco. The amorphousness of the microdistrict space has long outlived its usefulness, distorting such basic concepts as "courtyard", "street", "square" during the period of its domination. Here, unfortunately, we were "ahead of the rest of the planet", "gifting" the whole country with micro-district urban planning. I am glad that now the vector of development has changed. However, even in this new reality one cannot become a hostage of the "mainstream". A specific urban planning situation contains many factors that influence the choice of a solution and it is wrong to impose a quarterly principle everywhere and everywhere, without taking these factors into account.
Almost in each of your villages there is a certain bright object that can be called the hallmark of the project. What role does he play in the composition?
- It is the one you named - the business card. In "Novoarkhangelsky" and "Riga quarter" these are public centers with large-span arches. In Novogorsk, there is a multifunctional social and sports center with a wavy roof. In Sestroretsk, it was planned to build a "city tower" with a glass clock. Such objects are very important in residential formations, we always treat their design with special attention.
Do you think architecture can shape a way of life, and do you strive for this in your projects?
The Corbusse Question: "Architecture or Revolution". Market relations, of course, do not really fit in with the ideas of messianic life-building, but everyone knows that "being determines consciousness." What is a "lifestyle"? Simplified - this is a set of actions performed by a person daily, monthly, annually, and the emotions that he receives as a result of these actions. Do you take your child to school every morning for two hours through traffic jams, or does he go to school for ten minutes on a green boulevard? Are you looking out of the window of your 17-storey building at a 50-meter-high square space filled with cars, or at a landscaped courtyard without cars, three to five stories high, surrounded by houses like yours? Here are two different lifestyles - and, accordingly, different emotions. Architecture by its very nature is designed to be humane, this is taught in every architectural university. However, today it has become a practice for us to make defining urban planning decisions, if possible, without the participation of city planners and architects. Professionals are left with the role of "magicians" who can somehow organize everything accepted in a more or less intelligible expression, similar to town-planning norms and rules. The issues of transport accessibility, provision of social facilities and service infrastructure, job creation (a popular topic, but with a tinge of campaigning) - all this is very difficult to connect with both the old heritage and the "achievements" of the last two decades. Hence the current way of life, which can hardly be called satisfactory. Of course, we are not the only architects striving in their projects, nevertheless, to form a comfortable living environment and, accordingly, to influence in a positive direction the way of life of the people who inhabit it. This is the goal of every urbanist, architect. Does this goal coincide with the intentions of the developer? Great question.
