The concept of preserving the St. Petersburg monuments of wooden architecture "Studio-44" was commissioned by the city. The need for it is urgent: according to experts, it was necessary to closely deal with this part of the heritage the day before yesterday, every year the number of wooden buildings is rapidly decreasing. If we talk about the whole of Russia, then in 20 years about 400 monumental buildings have disappeared; for background development, these figures should be much higher. It is impossible not to recall the Church of the Assumption in Kondopoga, which burned down less than a year ago. In St. Petersburg, judging by the reports, something blazes almost every month.
Attempts to somehow influence the situation have already been made: a few years ago the Ministry of Culture ordered a similar concept for the whole of Russia, in St. Petersburg a concept for the development of the Kurortny District was developed, which included the preservation of wooden buildings. But none of them have been accepted for work.
"Studio-44" in its concept begins, it would seem, from a small - this is not even a concept, but rather a study, systematization of all existing data. But, probably, a detailed study from the first step is exactly what is required in order not to get confused before the scale of the task, to start doing something. The authors - a group of young architects-restorers under the leadership of Grigory Ivanov - were consulted by a member of the "Council of ICOMOS of St. Petersburg", candidate of architecture Boris Matveev. The reviewer for the defense of the concept was a member of the Council for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, the author of many books on the history of wooden architecture Mikhail Milchik.
So the first part is data collection. In total, there are 271 wooden buildings with a conservation status in St. Petersburg, almost half are located in the Kurortny and Petrodvortsovy districts, and literally a few have survived in the center. The restorers of "Studio 44" not only "raised" documents and archives, but also drove to each building in order to conduct field examinations, assess the condition, and take up-to-date photographs.
As a result, each building has a card that contains all the information available today. Such a "passport" can become a starting point for further work, since it gives an objective and sufficiently detailed portrait.
The card consists of seven blocks, the first four systematize the already accumulated information: general data, historical information - here the reconstruction of the building is listed, and an assessment of the authenticity is also given; the current state and the section with technical and economic indicators may be of interest to investors and developers.
The next three points are already "copyright": recommendations for preservation, an attachment with photos of 2018 and iconography, as well as an assessment sheet. The latter is especially important - this is the assessment of the monument according to the methodology developed by "Studio-44". Let's dwell on it in more detail.
For an objective assessment of the monument, the architects decided to derive two indices: the historical and cultural value and the current state, each is made up of the sum of certain indicators. Thus, the historical and cultural value of a monument is measured by its authenticity, memorial, architectural and historical value. Each of these four criteria is awarded points on a scale from 0 to 100, the value depends on a number of factors. For example, an overall assessment of “authenticity” is based on four dimensions accepted by UNESCO: authenticity of material, craftsmanship, original design and environment. The maximum for each of the criteria is 25 points. Further, the scores of each criterion are multiplied by its "weight". Authenticity has 40% of "shares" in the overall assessment, while the rest of the criteria have 20% each. In the index of the current state, 40% is given to the technical condition, 20% to the nature of operation, engineering support and availability.
The resulting indices determine the position of the monument in the coordinate axes, where x is the historical and cultural value, and y is its current state. How the spatial model visualizes the state of affairs with the preservation of monuments of wooden architecture can be seen on the example of the model for the Pushkin district. Four PDA groups are identified on it. In the first, both indicators (historical and cultural value and current state) are high - such monuments are doing well, they only need monitoring. In the third group, the technical condition of the monuments is good, but the value is low - here, too, urgent intervention is not required. In the fourth group, both indicators are low - the expediency of their restoration needs to be discussed. And finally, the second group requires the most attention, since the objects included in it with a sufficiently high value in terms of their technical condition are approaching the risk zone.
The model helps to determine the order of work, it is mobile, changing indicators changes the position of the monument in the general "grid". In accordance with these indicators, the architects have developed a block of recommendations for each monument, there are also interesting nuances here.
For example, it is proposed to introduce a new legal term: “a landmark object of the historical environment”. Such objects may include lost buildings, recommended for restoration or copies obtained as a result of such restoration. That is, in fact, "remakes". This will help to separate the authentic and the meaningful, but at the same time it will protect the “remakes”, the value of which is mainly in creating a background, a complex environment. Of course, in order to restore lost buildings, there must be strict regulations regarding their location, material, structures, appearance, etc.
According to one of the key developers of the concept, Ilya Sabantsev, it is possible to create a whole museum of wooden architecture in the open air in Lomonosov, near Yeleninskaya Street. There are as many as eight monuments, three of which have been lost and can be recreated using the available iconographic materials. There is also information about two lost houses that did not have the status of monuments, but they can be restored for "extras".
Another proposal of the concept is to improve legislation so that wooden monuments can be restored at the expense of private funds, to develop a system of benefits and incentives.
The work on the concept showed that almost half of the monuments are not used in any way, a quarter is close to loss, about 55 buildings require priority intervention.
The head of Studio-44, Nikita Yavein, calls the concept the first part of a large work, it is rather a study and systematization, the first tool for KGIOP, business, developers. He emphasizes that the developed methodology is suitable only for St. Petersburg, where there are no traditional monuments of wooden architecture, and the earliest building is the house of Peter I.
The concept was presented at the Council for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, where it was highly appreciated by experts and approved by the Acting Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov. The next stage is the development of specific programs based on the findings.
