The VII Biennale of Contemporary Architecture has started in St. Petersburg - traditionally among the columns and pilasters of the solemn Marble Hall in the Ethnographic Museum. The concept of the exhibition accompanying the event does not change from year to year - the same cell rooms, made up of tablets, on which the main workshops of the city show their best projects.
And one could say: everything is as usual, if not for the general impression that is created after getting to know the projects - more integral than usual. In addition, for the first time, a parallel exhibition was organized in the fashionable Golitsyn Loft - it is designed to attract more attention to the main event and to architecture in general. An interesting alternative could have turned out, on a new platform and with new participants - but alas. The most controversial still takes place in the gallery of the Marble Hall, where projects of students and bureaus that are not members of the Association of Architectural Workshops are exhibited.
Despite the fact that most of the exhibition stands are occupied by housing, another motive catches the attention -
competition projects of the Blockade Museum. Studio-44 dedicated all the space allotted to it to this project, which brought not only a victory in the competition, but also the prestigious WAF award. The stand differs from others - the walls are draped with dark fabric, the layout is complemented by illustrations with fragments of the building and a video presentation.
Mamoshin's architectural studio also gave its Blockade Museum a central place, slightly crowding out the project for the development of the Northern Dvina embankment in Arkhangelsk, which was awarded the main Zodchestvo prize. Two more Museums are owned by A. Lena and Zemtsov, Kondiain and Partners. This competition was indeed the most noticeable, but now, however, the project has been suspended.
Works for other competitions were also presented: several workshops showed their options for building up the alluvial territories of the Neva Bay, as well as residential areas for Minsk.
In the central part of the exhibition there is an exposition of the workshop "Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners". Six completed projects, each represented by photographs and mock-ups: three solid elite residential buildings on one side of the stand, Expoforum, the Avenue Apart hotel and the Europa-City residential complex on the other. It is noteworthy that this success story also pays attention to young architects who took part in the competition for the design of facades for Europa-City.
Examining housing projects at the stands of different workshops - expensive low-rise buildings, block buildings, multi-apartment high-rises - you can see that they have common features. Color and material, at least. More importantly, architects are finding ways to deal with the monotony of large planes that are no longer “pixels” or vibrant combinations. There is more plasticity, rhythm, details and ornamentation, while the final image is very restrained. Projects with such "excesses" and seriousness are made not only for the historical part of the city, but also for the outskirts and the region. Many demonstrate the ability to work “in styles” and create what can be conventionally called “background European architecture”. Perhaps modern Petersburg is finally getting its own style, which the chief architect of the city dreams of: over the past two years, the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture has held such competitions as
"St. Petersburg facades" and "Petersburg style of the XXI century", and also developed a palette of traditional colors. When talking about housing, it is also worth noting the spread of a new typology: apartments and long-stay hotels.
There are predictably few public buildings - mostly sports facilities, schools and medical facilities. The exhibition surprised by the almost complete absence of church architecture: only one project was found - and that one in the gallery, and even for Norway. There are also few works on restoration or reconstruction. The most important: the restoration of Nikolsky Ryadi and the tower of the thermal power plant of the Krasnoye Znamya factory from the Liteinaya Chast-91 bureau.
In the gallery of the Marble Hall there are stands of lesser-known architectural workshops, as well as student projects. And if the lower level, with its time-tested projects, city councils and developers, turned out to be respectable and important, then a kind of creative disorder reigns on the upper level. From which, for sure, something will be melted that will be allowed down to the masters. There is a student dreamy: a villa with the shadow of Zaha Hadid, quarters of low-rise houses with modules or pitched roofs, cultural centers and industrial objects that have received a new function. There is an obsolete: residential areas over 40 meters, standing in a stone forest, light green facades and glass "thermometers". Routine - "carpet" development of a large area near the metro station "Pionerskaya" and a school for a thousand people in a residential area. There are outlandish finds like a residential complex resembling a Swedish town for the village of Lisiy Nos from the workshop of Reinberg and Sharov. And many more that make up the architectural and construction process: metro station lobbies, a triumphal arch, BIM models and landscaping of protected natural areas. The general impression is that the process is going on, the thought is moving.
The parallel exhibition, which was called "Manifesto", turned out to be indistinct: it was supposed to show an alternative, more emotional view of architecture. It is not easy for an unprepared person to find it: in the tricky courtyard of the creative space "Golitsyn Loft" there are many doors, stairs and signs, but there is no necessary one. The exhibition occupies one of the halls of the former mansion and almost all of it fits in the photograph: these are two installations that report the flight of architectural thought, a high-rise modular building similar to the game "Jenga" and the graphic artist Oleg Manov. All side by side with a fireplace, motley chairs, a piano and garlands left over from the previous event. In general, a nice addition to the tablets that have set the teeth on edge, but falls short of the Manifesto: cute, but not enough and somewhat naive.
The Architectural Biennale will run until February 18, every day the exhibition is accompanied by lectures and round tables.
