In Nizhny Novgorod, there used to be two councils: closed to the public - architectural, by status - under the regional Department of Urban Development, and Urban Planning, the regulations of which are determined by the governor, but open to everyone.
More than a year after the change of the governor, the town planning council did not meet, although the order of the predecessor on the work of this body was not canceled. The council included, in addition to architects, officials and even the head of the local branch of the Union of Artists. Without tears of affection, one can recall that the discussions were prepared according to a given scenario, with clearly defined roles, no one assessed the degree of sincerity and falsity, realizing that the production is designed to give legitimacy to certain decisions. True, there were cases when decisions were formed or chosen precisely during the discussion, but this, as everyone knows, means that exceptions only confirm the rules. The town planning council minutes did not appear earlier than a week later, it was sent to all participants.
The Architectural Council is a closed club, whose members have not changed for the third decade, the authors of projects can be accompanied by customers. The discussion is recorded manually - accents, the degree of reliability depend on the experience of the stenographer, but there is no need to worry: the body is advisory, the opinions of officials may not coincide with the opinions of the council members, and there are wordings for any case - “agree / reject, taking into account the wishes”. The department publishes the minutes on the website, the councils are held regularly.
The new format is “an expanded meeting of the Architectural Council under the Department of Urban Planning and Development of Agglomerations of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, chaired by Acting Deputy Governor, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region S. E. Morozov ", - they gathered suddenly, literally in a day. At the table, to the members of the Ordinary Arch Council were added officials involved in the landing of the ice arena on Strelka, the rector of the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, two deputies of the Legislative Assembly, a lady - the chairman of the public chamber of the city. "Social activists" (the definition sounded from the Soviet vocabulary) and just curious citizens were sitting in the hall.
In general, judging by the arrangement, the format is the same: a U-shaped table near the screen, microphones only for those at the table, those sitting behind them see the screen, but do not have microphones. At the same time, the responsibility for the decision, in fact, is shared by everyone, even if they do not know about it. Not everyone was given a guess: not everyone received a written invitation, therefore not everyone saw that it was a question of "the final decision on the landing site of the ice palace on Strelka" - purely geometric exercises were proposed for discussion.
About landing
The wording of the topic "discussion and acceptance" is indicated absolutely precisely. We are not talking about “fitting”, which is boring for everyone, adaptation to the context, but about landing like a flying saucer. And it is no coincidence that in his very first report, the chief architect of the region, Sergei Popov, showing what a huge amount of work has been done by the department, named more than ten sites where landing was also tried on, but everywhere the arena was tight. In different parts of the city. But it was only possible to discuss one, the choice had already been made before the enlarged Arch Council.
Indeed, in Nizhny, they have long been talking about the need for a new ice palace - to replace the Soviet model Sports Palace, built in 1966. There was also a project: it was supposed to put an arena in the area of Komsomolskaya Square - the geometric center of the city, but the former mayor of the city, who is now under investigation, has already built a block of high-rise buildings here. Housing significantly influenced the size of the site - now the palace cannot be "planted" there. Moreover, to strengthen the bank of the Oka, to drag out communications and, in general, to systematically and seriously develop the embankment of the trans-river part of the city is too much, not affordable, and the palace is desperately needed! Now it can be built with federal money, but subject to completion in 2021.
In his presentation, Arena representative Alexei Orlov showed which functional blocks set the parameters of the ice rink, explaining that all this inevitably follows from the requirements for modern sports facilities. That is, suppose it is impossible to remove the curling so that the palace sat on the banks of the Oka near Komsomolskaya Square, because the KHL will not like it?
The most famous Nizhny Novgorod architect Yevgeny Pestov admitted that he "personally absolutely does not like the project in the form in which it is now presented." Pestov believes that "it is necessary to dismember the object - it is large enough for this territory, comparable to the mass of the stadium, despite the fact that the stadium has a neutral architecture, and this one looks even larger than the stadium due to a single roof."
Professor Alexander Khudin commented on this situation as follows: “The approaches that the designer is proposing to us today are conceptually incorrect: once again, the building is placed in free space, as was the case with the stadium. From my point of view, the arena cannot be viewed as an object that we put in an open field. It should not be a separate building, it should be a block imitating urban development. And, of course, the grid of streets itself should be preserved as a long-established natural structure that came to us from the time of the Nizhny Novgorod fair."
Khudin was supported by a colleague - Alexander Dekhtyar. He drew attention to the fact that the facades of the palace should be unequal, have different proportions from the side of large buildings and small ones; new facades, he said, should be the background in the panorama with valuable, symbolic objects.
About money
“We have limited tasks: to build an ice stadium by 2021. So let's consider, just take the Arrow out of consideration, this is unique territory. First, you need to make a concept for the entire territory, and then choose how to develop it,”- the first radical doubts were voiced at the arch council from the deputy of the legislative assembly Alexander Sharonov.
He said: “The arguments that were presented to us are extremely unconvincing … The argument that other sites were eliminated due to the rights of third parties is not accepted, because during the construction of the Nizhny Novgorod stadium, this did not bother anyone at all. It's okay! All property rights were purchased, including for regional money. More than 7 billion was spent on these purposes … Arguments that the federals will give us money and we need to quickly - again, it is not good to apply to Strelka."
The deputy recalled that they also talked about the construction of the stadium - "with federal money", but soon 20 billion rubles, an analogue of the allocated for the construction of the stadium, was removed from the construction of the metro, depriving the city of five new stations in the upland part of Nizhny Novgorod. “We are still being told,” Sharonov continued, “here’s a gift for several billion federal money, if we don’t have time to do it like this on Strelka, then we won’t have time in any way! Better then, let's put it off. Nothing wrong! We'll build it a little later."
Yulia Kruse, Chairperson of the Public Chamber of Nizhny Novgorod, compared the decision to hurriedly land the ice arena on Strelka with the fast food format.
The final protocol has not yet appeared, but it will surely appear. Indeed, by February "Arena", which won the design tender only on December 15, must submit the project for examination.
