The first day. Architecture for the masses
The main news for us for many decades to come is the renovation in the city of Moscow. Everyone expected that the results of the competition for the first five sites would be announced at the urban planning section "Creative Environment and Urbanism". But the event was postponed because, according to Chief Architect Sergei Kuznetsov, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin proposed to first hold public discussions of the concepts. This will be done in the next two months. Anyone will be able to get acquainted with the projects and express their comments and wishes. A professional jury will name the winners at the beginning of 2018. In an interview with Archi.ru (see below) Sergey Kuznetsov described the renovation projects and told us what awaits us.
The topic of mass housing did not arise by chance in the centenary of the Russian revolution of 1917 (sinister images of which could be seen at the exhibition in the Hermitage). The twentieth century is called the century of the masses, one would like to hope that it ended not only in terms of the calendar, but also in meaning, and the next century will avoid the excesses of inhumanity. Sergey Kuznetsov in his speech assured that, starting the renovation, they studied many cities, and that the most comfortable according to the rating Tokyo, Berlin and Vienna have different heights. And although he promised the human environment and told about its rules and principles, he said that it is necessary to build a lot and quickly. Which is a little alarming. He showed a picture of an improved panel housing: a block of different heights with a facade painted in a pixel style. The environment of five-story buildings was declared obsolete and criminogenic, at that moment a cat and a garbage dump were shown on the screen. The density of various housing was announced: 22 thousand per hectare - in Stalin's quarters, 9 thousand - in Khrushchev, and 33 thousand - in "Microgorod in the forest", a project that Sergei Tchoban and Sergei Kuznetsov did when the chief architect of Moscow was still worked in the bureau SPEECH. The search for the optimal density continues.
Most of the speeches were short, lively, and memorable. All the speakers gave out a certain formula of architecture for the masses. The chief architect of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Grigoriev, said that architecture for the masses is the Hermitage. St. Petersburg housing, according to Grigoriev, was of high quality until 1955, before Khrushchev's excesses decree. The Golden City A-Len and KCAP + Orange, the Smolny Park of Zemtsov and Kondiain, the area on the alluvial Vasilievsky Island of Studio-44, were named as examples of successful modern projects. Grigoriev said that on behalf of Poltavchenko, they are now looking for a Petersburg style of the 21st century, for which a competition of the same name has been announced.
Architect Yevgeny Gerasimov showed faceless panel areas from the 1970s to our time and summed up his speech by saying that no one will get apartments in the center with 4.5 m ceilings. Chilean architect Pedro Alonso traced the path of the "panel" from France to the USSR, to Cuba and then to Chile. Architect Fadi Jabri showed a cartoon about a 70 m2 Japanese bachelor's apartment, in which all the walls move when the composition of the family changes, but there are things that are immutable - the toilet and bathroom are always separated. Markus Apenzeller called for diversity, for example, combining high-rise buildings with townhouses in one complex, because "in the USSR, all housing was the same, and now" the possession of an iPhone or a car speaks of our individuality."
Chino Dzukki, head of his own bureau and professor of architecture, became the champion in the aphorisms of philosophers in his speech and the lecture that followed. So, the world today lives according to Wittgenstein: "The problem is not how to solve the problem, but what game to play." Some aphorisms Chino Dzukki suggested himself: "Today's house is not a car for living, but a platform for life." Or: "The facade is the interface of what is happening in the building."The Italian architect urged his colleagues to think about feedback, because Corbusier did not think about combining Chandigarh with the local culture, and now the city looks unpresentable. In general, Corbusier, according to Dzucca, would have turned over in his grave if he had seen modern eclectic style outlets. But they make us think that the shell is more important than the function. Diocletian's Palace lives for 2000 years, changing functions, and the shopping malls are demolished in 30 years. In the end, Dzukki called for a transition from functionalism, sharpened for speed and function, to rationalism, which "seeks a way to satisfy the greatest number of needs." ***
Second day. Public spaces as educators of society
At the beginning of the discussion about public spaces, moderated by Mikhail Shvydkoi, Sergei Kuznetsov recalled that the topic is connected with the revolution, that the peaceful function of public spaces a hundred years ago became the basis of dramatic events. Therefore, when designing a city for the public, the authorities are concerned with how to channel the energy of the people in a peaceful direction. If Gorky Park in the 1930s or VDNKh in the 1950s is a city for the enthusiastic masses, the 1990s is the kingdom of markets, and the 2000s are shopping centers, then the spaces of the 2010s are more individualized. Swings, bike paths, nature, sports, dance floors - everyone has a place and business. Sergey Kuznetsov recalled the publishing program urbanbooks.ru, within the framework of which books on urban planning are published.
The rest of the discussion participants presented projects of the public spaces themselves, foreign and Russian, capital and peripheral. Among them were such hits as New Holland (presented by the Dutch architect Adrian Gese) and Zaryadye Park (separately presented at an afternoon session, including the completed ice cave of Alexei Kozyr and Alexander Ponomarev), New York Governors Island by the same Adrian Gese and High Line Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Assistant to the President of Tatarstan Natalya Fishman, who has been implementing the program of public spaces throughout the republic for three years - at the moment 264 territories are ready, - shared how great the return from the population is when embankments and parks in villages and towns are being landscaped. How people change (they stopped walking in galoshes), how they value illuminated places with paving, a stage, benches that give them a sense of the city. In Tatarstan, improvement not only affects society, but also gives an opportunity to prove themselves to young architects, whom Natalia Fishman actively uses. By the way, regarding the youth architecture biennale recently held in Kazan, the theme of which was the quarter, Natalya Fishman said in a commentary to archi.ru that the winners, the Moscow bureau Citizenstudio, had already received an order in Naberezhnye Chelny, and now negotiations are underway on the Voronezh bureau 2Portal », Which won the prize of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Elena Gonzalez described in her speech the experience of participation in the design of public spaces in Satka and Izhevsk, organized by the MARSHLAB she leads. Architects design together with future users, and this brings the population together: 60 percent of the volunteers met at workshops. All this was supported by quotes from Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin and Vyacheslav Glazychev.
Day three. What can be built in St. Petersburg?
This hot topic, which sounds more streamlined in the program - “Modern architecture: victories and deficits. A View from the Side,”Sergei Tchoban undertook to moderate. From the discussion it was possible to find out what people of other creative professions, non-architects, think about modern architecture: director Alexei German, production designer Elena Okopnaya, artistic director of Helikon-opera Dmitry Bertman and others. Among the architects, Oleg Shapiro and Christos Passas took part in the conversation. Sergei Tchoban literally stunned his interlocutors with questions like: "Do you welcome if neoclassical architecture of the early 20th century appeared on the site of Kupchino, like on the Petrograd side?" Opinions were divided.
Elena Okopnaya was in favor, because the most terrible thing is faceless architecture, and Oleg Shapiro was against it. Dmitry Bertman also showed an avant-garde attitude, who said that the former owner of the mansion where the Helikon-opera is now (the Glebovsky-Shakhovsky estates - ed.), A picky lady who changed many architects during the construction process, appeared to him in a dream and demanded to build from glass and metal. To the provocative question of how those present would react to the construction of a hundred skyscrapers in central London, the reaction was relatively calm. All were not against, however, and London - not Petersburg. Oleg Shapiro scolded the badly aging Parisian La Defense and praised wooden architecture, which is hard to disagree with. At the same time, the restored Schlüter Castle in the center of Berlin, as well as the works of the Russian classical school, Oleg Shapiro considered imitation. He was objected by Igor Vodopyanov, managing partner of Teorema Management Company - in the sense that the whole of St. Petersburg as a whole, and St. Isaac's Cathedral in particular, built according to earlier models, is nothing more than an imitation. And it worked out well. Sergei Tchoban also recalled the sensitive thinker Peter Zumthor, who, giving examples of tactility in architecture, refers not to contemporary authors, but to the square in Bologna and Russell Pope.
At the closing session, Sergei Tchoban presented his joint book with Professor Vladimir Sedov “30:70. Architecture as a Balance of Power”, in which there are answers to many of the questions raised during the discussion.
Sergei Kuznetsov: "We must not be afraid to do bold things." We speak with the chief architect of Moscow at the Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg. - At the session of the Cultural Forum, you said that issues related to human comfort in the city, the scale of streets and squares, the length of the facades, and their elaboration will be taken into account. But they showed only one version of the improved panel building. Will the spectrum be wider? At the biennial in Kazan, young architects presented both cutting-edge projects and traditional ones, with brick houses and pitched roofs. What else awaits us?
- The renovation is comparable in scale to the reconstruction of Paris by Baron Haussmann, so it frightens many with its grandeur. At the core is the task of making a high-quality urban environment, of course, with houses of a completely different quality level than what is now being built. It's like with self-driving cars: individual cars are being tested, but the system has not yet been created. For example, the ZIL district is under construction with might and main: more than twenty architects are working there, and really cool projects are being implemented. But ZIL does not directly relate to the renovation program, because it is being built from scratch, and at the renovation sites we will combine the new building with the old one. But in terms of the quality of housing and approaches to construction, they coincide.
In new districts, we plan to build perimeter buildings with a private courtyard free of cars. Due to this, it will be possible to reduce the number of floors - on average, there will be 10-12 floors, 14 floors are allowed for the dominants of the district. In general, these territories will become more permeable due to the redevelopment of the road network. Bringing in the best architects will allow you to combine thoughtful infrastructure design with interesting façade solutions. This will give a new quality of environment, which is a rarity for Moscow in the area of affordable housing.
– Is it possible to make facades more noble and more durable? Brick, for example?
- Modern technologies are moving towards optimizing prices and manufacturing processes. Brick is used differently today than it was in the 1930s. They do not build walls from it, but use brick tiles as cladding for a curtain facade. There are many other cladding materials that look great and age normally. The seams between the sections are gone, the colors are better. But the brick will be used very actively.
– You talked about developing new norms. Is it possible not to comply with outdated standards for insolation, fire passages?
- We will be issuing Regional City Standards for Moscow (RNGP), which will clarify what we are testing as a task for an architectural and urban planning competition for five experimental renovation sites. They do not apply to fire passages and insolation. But, of course, it is time to revise these norms. They make the territory out of scale for humans, not comfortable. Here you are in St. Petersburg, next to us is Nevsky Prospekt 37 meters wide. Nobody says that this is a bad street, on the contrary, it is prestigious to live and work here, everyone likes everything. Let us now take an ordinary street in the Butovo area. It is necessary to make a greening strip, lay nets, then a fire passage, make a parking strip, a lawn - and repeat all this on the other side. As a result, we get a street 100 m wide. It annoys everyone, but when we start talking about the norms, everyone protests: “How are we going to give up fire passages or sunlight? No you can not . And they continue to go to rest in the historical center, where the wind does not whistle between houses, where you do not have to walk a kilometer before crossing to cross the road.
– We have several neoclassical writers who are quite brilliant. They proved that order architecture is possible in low-cost housing. Will there be neoclassical quarters?
- I am not a supporter of this approach. What we like about the classics - the Winter Palace or the quarters in the center of Paris, cannot be built cheaply. A more modest environmental architecture is possible. If you look at the European experience, there are warm natural materials and wood construction. Wood is a material that deserves life and is the best answer to a wide range of questions. So far, the harmonization of norms is difficult due to fire safety, complex logistics and lack of experience in processing. The tree has many advantages: renewability, energy efficiency, huge timber reserves in Russia. In the active construction industry in Russia, we do not receive a lot of advantages due to archaic norms.
– What about our classical education? Do you need an additional institution?
- The classical school is livelier than all living things. Projects such as Tsarev's Garden and Sofiyskaya Embankment are a search for traditional architecture. But do not forget that the architecture, which has become a classic today, once appeared contrary to generally accepted tastes. What will our descendants be interested in from our life today? I'm on the extreme flank of the new architecture. In two months, 1.8 million people came to Zaryadye Park. People voted with their feet. There was no such thing on Manezhnaya Square, and in fact it is just an example of architectural fear. We must not be afraid to do bold things.
