The topic of the breakfast was inflatable development in the city center, but the conversation quickly expanded to the mega-topic of all such breakfasts - the relationship between an architect and a developer. The chief architect insisted that the developer is the best customer, because it is he who pays, and not the urban community (which, by and large, does not exist yet), so one should not consider the developer evil and cynical and praise Western developers, whom Russian architects are still do not know, because the western market has not yet been captured. The rest of the architects who spoke later were more critical.
Developers played in the minority. Oleg Mamaev, President of Leader-Invest, on behalf of the developers, said that the developer's task is to find a balance. If the society requires an interesting architectural project, the developer makes it. Quality architecture would have appeared five years ago if society had been ready. So the “invisible hand of the market” is the whole story.
To Valeria Mozganova's acute question about the preservation of monuments in the city center, Sergei Kuznetsov replied that although from the point of view of lovers of antiquity everything is terrible, there are no obvious crimes. In general, the situation with historical buildings in Moscow is better than in other cities. As a blatant negative example, I recalled Vyshny Volochek. Then the chief architect left the event, and Evgeny Ass responded to Sergey Kuznetsov's remarks without him. The rector of MARCH noted that our society is not admitted to management, there are no municipalities as active architectural customers. As for the monuments in the center, Yevgeny Ass said that their disappearance, sometimes sudden, within one night, leads to the loss of the genome of the city's identity.
Then Sergei Skuratov took the floor - and he soloed from time to time throughout the discussion. Skuratov asked a rhetorical question whether the architect wants to make money, eat, drink and travel. He stated that he is able to realize himself and not make compromises. But I drew the attention of those present to the fact that the wonderful times that were between 2000 and 2008, “when we all wanted to live in this country, when there were non-greedy developers who wanted to leave a cultural mark,” these times are over. Now the market demands to build apartments with an area of 23 m2 100-120,000 rubles per square meter, and tomorrow the family will be able to buy an apartment 15 m2 60,000 rubles each per meter with a cost price of 40,000 rubles. per meter. But at the same time, the developer wants a clinker facade and French windows. And anthills are obtained, as in New Moscow. I don't go there, I protect my psyche, said Sergei Skuratov.
Yulia Zubarik, whose bureau MASTER'S PLAN is involved in the renovation, said that the main requirement of residents and the city is to minimize changes.
Alexey Ginzburg was more optimistic. He raised the topic of the responsibility of the participants in the architectural process. In the era of modernism, in his opinion, the life architect is responsible for everything. In the era of postmodernism, the ironic figure of an architect serving development appears. But now, according to Alexei Ginzburg, public opinion is beginning to influence the situation. For example, the House of People's Commissariat for Finance has not been restored in thirty years, since there was no conscious customer in the person of the state or a developer. But two years ago, the house received hope for a second life, when the number of excursions in Russian became more than in English, that is, public opinion turned to face the monument, and a worthy investor was found.
Dmitry Khalin, managing partner of Savills, shared some interesting figures. So, the cost of an apartment in the center is 60-70 million rubles. The supply exceeds the demand, it is possible to sell the constructed apartments within seven years. Houses are no longer sold out during the construction phase, which means that the quality of architecture plays a role about the most important role. "Good architecture can provide a premium to a project." The most popular development is the quarter of club mansions - it is preferred by 50% of buyers, point objects - 25%, club houses - 14%. In the decoration of facades, 40% of respondents like stone, brick - 36%, glass - 14%. The most favorite number of floors in a house is from 6 to 10, and most prefer to live (in the Central Administrative District) on 3-5 floors - in both cases, 50% of buyers.
Then Ilya Mashkov spoke. He said that all participants in the process see the situation differently. "These are all our projections onto the clouds: someone sees one animal, someone else." Ilya Mashkov also noted that compromise is a bad word, and good words that are understandable to an architect are limitations and adequacy.
Alexander Tsimailo was brief. An architect must be good, and what does that mean - a conversation for three months. It is good when the project has an intellectual component, said the architect, explaining that it is about the design of the project. And it makes no sense to discuss design (along the way, Alexander Tsimailo leveled the difference between design and architecture).
Oleg Mamaev said that it is necessary to build not only in the center, but also in other districts. Criticized block development on the grounds that a point object can quickly change the life of a district for the better than a bulky block.
To my question, why not build neighborhoods in residential areas in order to make the city polycentric and create new points of attraction, Sergey Skuratov answered again. He said that in the renovation project his workshop created just such “beauty not in the center” (for the poor district of Tsaritsyno - LK). They calculated the economy, figured out how to clear the porches of cat urine and make an environment so that there were no drunks, drug addicts and so that women would not be afraid to walk around the city at two in the morning. But all this is impracticable, because “people cannot be changed,” in the neighboring areas everything will remain the same. Along the way, Sergei Skuratov said that there is a large number of undeveloped territories in the center, which means that the architects have something to do.
Then Sergei Skuratov returned to the leading theme of the relationship between architect and developer. He advised on the fate of his projects: "We won five competitions, but not a single project will be implemented." Because the economy does not allow the developer to build a slender glass tower 300 m high, and even if copper and glass are replaced with aluminum, the price will still be twice as high as the developer wants. The architect called for the dismissal of the consultants - "these are C-grade students who themselves do not understand anything and, taking advantage of the incompetence of the main persons, persuade them to make wrong decisions." Superprofit is an objective evil, - such was the verdict of Sergei Skuratov.
