- What will you show at the Zodchestvo festival -2016?
- We will present a project for the long-term redevelopment of Trekhgornaya Manufactory, which we have been developing and implementing over the past few years. We have developed an urban planning concept and projects for the reconstruction and restoration of key buildings of the factory. Materials of large research and design work, as well as a large model and video of the future Trekhgornaya Manufactory will be exhibited in one of the halls of the most iconic building of the manufactory. There will also be presented unique exhibits of the Trekhgorka Museum, for which the construction of a separate building is envisaged in the future. The project of the future museum will also be shown. It will be possible for the first time to see the fabrics created at the factory in different years, as well as archival documents related to the creators and employees of the factory.
In addition, as part of the Zodchestvo festival, we are holding a workshop, the theme of which is the creation of iconic objects that mark the entrances to the factory. The implementation of these objects should be the first step in redeveloping the territory and opening it to the city and townspeople.
Do you often come across similar projects? What is the main thing for you?
- During our practice, we have repeatedly encountered former industrial territories. The first object was the building of the Krasnaya Roza factory in 2001. Then, over the course of 15 years, our bureau has carried out a number of studies and projects of varying degrees of elaboration in many industrial areas. With a group of graduate students in 2008, we released a study and a number of projects on the "Rusty Ring" of Moscow, which presented a methodology for approaching such problems. We also carried out a lot of research and published a book of projects for the second site of Zodchestvo -2016 - HPP-1. The bureau's activities are largely devoted to the rehabilitation of neglected areas, which need to be breathed new life. Our task in this case is, on the one hand, to create a process of successful and effective use of the past - ruins, remnants of the industrial revolution, structures that have lost their original purpose, having gone through the path of renovation, receive new use and public recognition. On the other hand, we are trying to identify and launch infrastructural processes that will make the development of these territories sustainable in the future. It is important for us that these sites become new generators of activity. The territories of the former industrial enterprises in the post-industrial city have a unique historical, cultural and urban planning value, and are an important resource and potential for the development of the city.
The historical development of Moscow has led to the fact that within the old city (within the boundaries of the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val - the historical border of the city in the middle of the 19th century), many industrial enterprises were concentrated. They appeared in territories, the development of which at one time was difficult due to the peculiarities of the natural landscape or unfavorable social conditions. These factors did not allow the territories to become prestigious at the time of the development of industry in the city. Thus, today about 19% of the area of the old city is occupied by the closed territories of industrial enterprises. They occupy valuable lands, which today have great potential and significance, negatively affect the development of adjacent territories, create a negative environmental impact and disrupt transport and pedestrian connections. But, most importantly, they affect the extensive development of the urban environment next to them, leading to the upturning and replacement of valuable historical buildings.
What is this uniqueness?
First of all, it should be noted the volumetric-spatial layering of the composition of the territories. The industrial function, combining manufacturability, practicality, hand-made and logic, often neglecting the planning compositional laws, as a result led to the emergence of very dense and complex spatial structures, comparable to the structure of a medieval city. This is clearly seen when correlating plans of quarters on the same scale. In addition, constant additions and updates have resulted in a multi-layered physical framework. And if the individual objects themselves may not be unique, the combination of these volumes forms an environment of amazing scale. In addition, when looking at valuable objects of industrial architecture, we are faced not only with outstanding aesthetics, but also with unique building technologies. And the internal architecture of these objects makes it possible, with its typological rethinking, to create unique creative spaces.
What can such territories give to the city?
Trekhgornaya Manufactory and similar territories are a valuable resource for the development of the city. First of all, it is a cultural resource that carries unique information. Secondly, it is a territorial resource that makes it possible to improve and develop the urban fabric, making it more uniform in terms of the degree of activity. And, finally, it is a creative resource, since these territories presuppose an exclusively creative approach to development, in which the most unexpected solutions based on the past and aimed at the future can be proposed and implemented.
