Exhibition Ideal and Norm » will come to Moscow from St. Petersburg. What is its concept?
Vladimir Frolov: The exhibition was held in August as part of the annual festival «Cities of the Future / The Future of Cities”(see details here). This time the project was focused on a specific topic. We asked several architectural firms to comment on what they mean by the norm and ideal in urban planning and architecture. The question was posed in an abstract way, but the answers were quite specific and, most importantly, different. Someone focused on fixing the existing state of affairs and opposing the ideal picture to it. In this way, for example, Sergei Tchoban spoke. He showed not the most optimistic state of affairs in a modern metropolis, depicting a densely populated space with huge houses. And as an ideal, he showed the historical city of human-scale architecture. Representatives of the MLA + bureau, having investigated in their work the idea of an ideal city, on the contrary, proposed the compaction of buildings for the most efficient use of territories.
What is the relevance of talking about the ideal today?
Over the past hundred years, city management has relied on a large number of different regulatory documents. It is the legal acts that govern the space and our behavior in it. The further, the more the regulation concerns the appearance of buildings, that is, the architecture itself. As a consequence, the concept of the ideal in the Platonic sense is more and more difficult to apply to the realities of urban space. The role of the professional's imaginative thinking, according to whom the city was previously designed, is decreasing. How can I save it? We reflect on this in our exhibition. For example, in the work of Stepan Lipgart, the emphasis is on finding the ideal shape for a dream city.
How does the concept of the exhibition correlate with the central theme of Architecture “RECONTEXT »?
The exhibition turned out to be quite interesting, and it is certainly interesting for us to show it in Moscow. And although we acted within the framework of our own project dedicated to the future of cities, the organizing committee «Zodchestvo”thought that we fit perfectly into the format of the festival. Topic «RECONTEXT”is associated with the rethinking of the city, which also reflects the theme of the works of the exhibition. First of all, the work of MLA + - they are just trying to understand how you can radically transform the urban environment, deliberately provoking public discussion. The Do's and Don'ts conversation touches on norms in an urban context.
What will the round table be devoted to under your moderation at the festival?
Together with the exhibitors and some Moscow experts, we will discuss the process of active transformation of the capital's urban space, which we observe from St. Petersburg and which can really be called a re-context, but not only. Urban space is normalized and normalized, brought into line with international formats, with a certain global concept of the city, and what does not correspond to it is gradually eliminated. What kind of city is formed as a result of this process, how can you influence it? Is the concept of utopia or ideal still relevant today? In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it.”
You mentioned the structure of the “global city » … What are the values on which modern global rationing is based?
Due to the prevailing urbanistic ideas, comfort is at the head of the discourse today. Manifestations of this trend can be observed in Moscow as well. Meanwhile, this is a somewhat utopian position - comfort is never fully attainable. It is simply impossible for participants in urban space with different interests to come to an agreement. Even if we assume that in five years, self-driving cars with intelligent «filling will appear in mass use, breakdowns, collisions and accidents cannot be avoided. Nevertheless, the concept of a comfortable environment is taken as a basis today.
Of course, the history of urban development has known other ideals. All Western European architecture is built on aesthetic principles, which gave rise to such phenomena as St. Petersburg - a city far from comfort.
Is the project interesting only to the professional community or to a wide audience as well?
Exhibition «Ideal and Norm”was held in St. Petersburg in the public space of the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater, where anyone could go. Certainly, given the current obsession with urban development, such discussions spark the curiosity of a wide range of people.
However, when inviting to the discussion of architecture, one inevitably poses questions: who are the judges? How to involve the citizen in decision making? To what extent does the openness of discussions affect the quality of architecture in the city? Although in Moscow a lot is being done to attract non-professionals to the discussion of urban planning issues. Perhaps, for interactivity, a different format is needed, different from the Zodchestvo format, which we still value precisely as a professional all-Russian forum.
Are there any successful world examples of the popularization of architecture?
The whole world, proceeding from the paradigm of a comfortable city, seeks to create psychological comfort for residents of megalopolises. It cannot be imagined without the influence, albeit within certain limits, of residents on the real urban space. For this, there are special urbanistic institutions, as well as programs that take into account the results of voting and competitions. Much also depends on what issue is brought up for discussion. A good example of such interactivity, which can be observed right now, is the open competition for the creation of objects of small architectural forms, held by the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture of St. Petersburg. Internet voting allows us to reveal the opinion of the townspeople about the submitted works, let's see if this opinion coincides with the decision of the jury. In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it.”
The question remains - how to turn the ideal into a norm, and not into a utopia …
Utopia, as we know from history, can be realized - only is it worth it? The ideal in our project is not understood as a utopia, it is a kind of aesthetic and ethical prototype, the compliance with which is worth striving for. It is extremely difficult to create something ideal in a real world full of global problems and normalizing influences. And nevertheless, in the past, with a favorable coincidence of circumstances, such objects and spaces appeared, which we still enjoy and perceive as a reference point.
