The theme of the upcoming festival is “Space later”. The curators developed the theme of last year, but radicalized it: following the example of the Shanghai Biennale "Zodchestvo" will now be held not on the traditional glamorous exhibition area, but will serve as a tool for reorganizing the industrial zone - in this case, Trekhgornaya Manufactory, which is located on the embankment of the Moskva River between the White House and Moscow City. The exhibition should help Trekhgorka, which seems to have been going to be reconstructed, but still in no way, to look for ways of its development and transformation. But above all, draw everyone's attention to it. Until now, Trekhgorka has served primarily as an office space, keeping even a little production. Some of the buildings were not used.
As Andrei and Nikita Asadov, who have been curators of Zodchestvo for the third time, explained, they are considering the declared topic widely, including the spatial development of not only cities, but also the country as a whole. On the other hand, the topic is partly provocative, because if there is “later”, then what was “first”? The festival will try to answer questions about the conditions for the emergence of high-quality architecture, about how the profession should respond to modern challenges and what it can offer society in general. And, finally, another meaning of the declared theme is the renovation of heritage, ways of revitalizing abandoned spaces, turning them into points of growth for the new urban economy.
A very early presentation of the festival, which will take place in October, began on a sunny day, April 14, with a tour of the territory of Trekhgornaya manufactory. The curators demonstrated its main platforms, two weaving buildings, one of which is an architectural monument. They promised to leave the factory spaces untouched, semi-abandoned, highlighting the beauty of the halls with high ceilings and rows of slender columns with lighting and laconic design. The one-story building of 1905, illuminated through shed lights on the roof, will house the stands of regions, architectural workshops, development companies and material suppliers. In the high building, built in 1897, number five, the exhibitions will occupy several floors - according to a special project on each.
The courtyards and squares of the manufactory will turn, according to the curators, into "city living rooms" - public spaces that are planned to be created with the participation of suppliers and manufacturers of building materials, and which will remain after the end of the festival, becoming the first step towards the renovation of Trekhgorka.
Many educational projects and workshops are planned: the central conference on new formats for the development of territories will be held by Jemal Surmanidze, the curator of educational programs will be Oskar Mamleev, who promised to attract the best architectural schools of the country. The MARSH school and Nikita Tokarev will prepare their educational program: it will be held in a discussion format. Anna Medleva, architect of the VDNKh development project, plans to revive the Avangard prize for young architects within the framework of Zodchestvo. Sergey Kuznetsov, the chief architect of Moscow, oversees the Moscow pavilion, which will tell about the main renovation projects in the capital. Eduard Kubensky, director of the Tatlin publishing house, is preparing a series of special projects dedicated to the Soviet architectural heritage. Architect Ilya Zalivukhin will continue last year's theme of an efficient city. Nikolay Palazhchenko, curator of many art projects, plans to involve representatives of contemporary art in the festival. Erken Kagarov and Artemy Lebedev's studio are thinking about a possible special project on the design of the urban environment. And the founders of the Living Cities community Lev Gordon, Nikolai Novichkov, Valeria Terentyeva, Sergey Samartsev and others will raise the topic of the comprehensive development of cities and towns.
An important part of the festival will be a workshop competition for young architects on the concept of development and improvement of the territory of the former manufacture, which is planned to be announced in the near future. The TOR of the competition will be written by Narine Tyutcheva, whose Rozhdestvenka bureau has developed a concept for the development of the factory's territory. The first stage in the selection of participants is by portfolio. At the second stage, the participants will be offered technical specifications and the wishes of the customer, on the basis of which public spaces will be developed. The final part of the competition will be held in the format of a workshop on the days of Zodchestvo. On the last day of the festival, open defense of the final projects is planned. The winning projects promise to be implemented.
In addition to the territory of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory, the festival will cover two more sites - the territory of HPP-1 on Raushskaya Embankment and a weaving factory in Ozyory.
Andrey Asadov - about the transformations of the festival
specially for Archi.ru
“The festival is seriously changing its format, becoming not just an exhibition and lecture platform, but a real tool, an engine for the development of the territory. Last year, the topic of territorial development with the help of new industries was announced. The best Russian examples of territory renovation were collected, conferences, lectures and master classes from leading experts were held. This year the festival takes the next step and becomes a workshop, a factory of thought, a real initiative project, in which not only architects are involved, but also all persons interested in the development of the city.
The idea of such a format was in some way "spied" from our Chinese colleagues. It all started when the Union of Architects was invited to supervise the Russian pavilion at the Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture in Shenzhen. There we were surprised to discover how simple and effective a festival can be when it itself becomes a tool for the development of a territory. It was the sixth biennial in China, which was held each time at a new industrial site. In the process of preparing the festival on the territory of the industrial zone, the participants and organizers managed to create a high-quality infrastructure, which later remained on the territory of the factory, turning it into a ready-made cultural cluster.
We were very inspired by this experience, so we decided to hold a competition among Moscow industrial sites and quickly entered Trekhgornaya Manufactory. In Moscow, there are not many territories located in the city center and having serious historical and cultural value. Then we discussed with the management company what they would like to get from the festival. Thus, the idea of holding a competition for the concept of public spaces arose. The competition will be launched in the near future, and by the beginning of Zodchestvo we plan to get intermediate results. In addition, we decided to attract manufacturers in the field of urban furniture and street design, who, together with architects, can create interesting landscaped spaces as exhibition examples of good urban design. This would be a significant contribution to the development of the territory.
That is why, in order to attract a large number of interested parties, we announce the festival in advance: this is not a week-long event, but a long-term project stretched out over time. We also attracted a large and multifaceted team of curators, some of whom will continue their ideas from last year, others will prepare new special projects. At the same time, we are open to any interesting ideas within the framework of a common topic.
In parallel, the events of the festival will take place at two more venues. HPP-1 on Raushskaya Embankment will host a workshop on the development of the territory, which will soon change its function. Our goal is to understand the direction of development and to identify the connection with the environment, including the Zaryadye park. Another site is a weaving factory in the town of Ozery, a twin of the Trekhgornaya manufactory. This site has a huge potential for development and every chance to become a key point of attraction in the city. We will try to understand what functions it should be filled with. A separate research workshop in the format of a summer school will be devoted to this topic.
If this year's experience and experiment turns out to be successful and fruitful, I hope that the next festival will retain its role as an engine and tool for the development of the urban environment. Perhaps, new sites will be involved, and not only Moscow ones. After all, "Zodchestvo" is a festival that covers the whole country. We are open for regional events, mini-festivals that could take place throughout the year in different parts of Russia. I understand that it is much more difficult to implement renovation projects in the regions. But for each territory, you can find a new and effective format of use. Last year we showed a whole collection of venues undergoing transformation. The proposed scenario of renovating the territory with the help of the festival, it seems to me, may turn out to be extremely beneficial both for enterprises and for the cities themselves: in addition to attracting attention, wide public discussion, the festival brings real results at relatively low costs.
An extensive team of like-minded people has already gathered around the ideas for the development of the territories affected by Zodchestvo last year, among which I would highlight the Live Cities expert group. This is a community of experts from various professions who together form a new vision of the development of Russian cities in the 21st century. I hope that the end result of our joint efforts will be a gradual and consistent transformation of the country through simple but precise injections of quality urban environment and architecture."
