Alexander Skokan, head and chief architect of the Ostozhenka bureau
Alexander Skokan and the "Ostozhenka" bureau are long-standing and recognized authorities in the matter of delicate and thoughtful work with "urban fabric". Their sensitivity to scale, energy and the needs of the city, in fact, laid the foundation for the method of working in the historical environment and still serve as its standard in many ways. This year, Alexander Skokan received one of the most honorary badges of the Moscow professional community - “For Honor and Dignity”, the Golden Section Prize.
Below are the answers of Alexander Skokan to the main questions of our special project "Standard of Quality":
- What is quality in architecture for you?
- What are the key criteria?
- What do you pay special attention to in your projects?
- How can you achieve architectural quality in modern Russian conditions?
Video filming and editing: Sergey Kuzmin.
Alexander Skokan
head and chief architect of the Ostozhenka architectural bureau:
“What is quality? First, quality would be very easy if it could be measured. And how can quality be measured? It seems to me that when we talk about architecture, we need to divide it into separate substances: there is an architectural project and there is a process of its creation. And finally, there is an architectural object itself - a building, house, ensemble, complex or something else - other requirements are already imposed on it.
Let's start with a project. Quality "number one" - when the project is evaluated by the customer. He has his own criteria; especially if this is commercial real estate or housing, then a whole breed of girls has already appeared, who are called salesmen or something like that, and who know exactly what will and what will not be bought. They set the quality criteria. There are also city officials who have their own cockroaches in their heads. They, as a rule, are afraid of something, and want to make sure that they do not get caught up in it. These are yet another evaluators of our quality. There are also colleagues - the so-called reference group, whom we have assigned to ourselves as critics and subconsciously conduct a dialogue with them, we look, as it were, through their eyes, wondering what they would say to this.
Then there is such a category as design quality. The design process is, to some extent, a guarantee of the success of the entire project. It should start with analyzing the site, talking with local residents, studying the history of the site, clarifying and adjusting the terms of reference. And then - just the relationship within the team, if the team is built correctly and everyone works, everyone understands each other perfectly. Everyone has the feeling that he did it. The best assessment of the quality of this process is when everyone thinks that this is his project, that he came up with it.
Finally, the object itself. It is very important that it has such artisanal properties that one would like to come and touch it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of buildings, to which, relatively speaking, it is better not to approach closer than twenty meters. So an architectural object must also be a quality product.
Then individual assessments begin. For me architecture - in addition to these qualities, the fact that it should be well, neatly done - should also be appropriate. How does architecture differ from design, from a good engineering, design product? A design item is good everywhere, by itself: what's in this room, what's on the street, or somewhere else - because it's good in itself. And architecture is different in that it is suitable for a specific place. She possesses qualities, as it were, read from this place. So she fell into place, and when they say "as if it were so" - this is, in my opinion, the highest mark. I have been telling this story for a long time: when we built the International Moscow Bank - our first product for which we received a state prize - I say to my colleagues: “we managed to build a bank on the embankment, opposite the House of Artists”. They answer me: "but we didn't even notice." This was the best grade for me. When the house is very nice and of very high quality, it stands up and is not noticed. So he is for this place. There are a lot of architects - I think the majority of them - who do not share this position of mine. They believe that every piece of architecture is a phenomenon, an event, and it should become the main thing in this place. Which, in my opinion, is presumptuous, and, in principle, it is easy to expect that for this type of architects the opinion of others does not matter. They have their own idea and, in general, they don't care what others say about it, no matter what some context says about it. And it doesn't matter what kind of context: professional or ordinary people, or some other.
In Russia - as Gogol says somewhere - there are traces of sloppy work in Russian everywhere. In my opinion, you can't say better. We do not have time to finish anything, but move on. We do not have time to put things in order here, because we need to go further east or somewhere else, to annex new lands, although it will take another hundred years to sort out the old ones. In fact, this is flight and the realization of some kind of inability. We know that we can’t do something to the end, some defect is internal, our hands are growing a little out of there or not so. And therefore, knowing that we will not really finish anything to the end, we give it up and find some reason, we find some beautiful idea: either we are liberating Crimea, or somewhere else.
And architects are no exception in this regard. On the one hand, there are great architects, perfectionists. There are few such people in Russia, but there are some among the architects. And I must say, quite a few of them appeared after many of them practiced interiors in the 1990s. Because the interior still requires much more care and workmanship than just a huge house. When they came to great architecture, they brought this quality with them.
The quality of architecture in the professional sense is undoubtedly increasing. But as far as the material quality is concerned, I'm afraid it doesn't grow very much. Of course, now there are more advanced, technological materials that simply do not allow screwing up. It's like a screwdriver assembly. Of course, you can try to wrap something with the wrong side of the screwdriver, but most likely you will not succeed. The German tiles that this house is faced with, of course, are not perfect in Russian in the seams, but on the whole it is better than if, for example, we had plastered this house. So the quality is improved due to more advanced building technologies. But the client doesn't get more generous. We have an example - the Klenovy Dom residential complex, nearby here, on the embankment. It would seem - such a place, there are absolutely exorbitant prices per square meter. But we know what the quality was and how much hack was there, unfortunately. Even the high price does not guarantee salvation from this very "Russian-style sloppy work."
