Acceptance of applications for the architectural competition for "Tuchkov Buyan" began on the first day of the VIII St. Petersburg Cultural Forum, one of its sessions was fully devoted to discussing the future of public space. Experts figured out how not to break "another golden egg that was laid by a kind hen" - this is the expression of Sergei Kuznetsov - and opinions were often polar. The cinema hall of the Angleterre hotel, where the session was held, could not accommodate everyone - people stood and sat in the aisles, the discussion turned out to be sharp, not without St. Petersburg snobbery. Based on the results, it is obvious that there are many difficulties ahead, but the breadth of the discussion and the involvement of various people are encouraging.
Don't need Zaryadye
This is perhaps the only point on which everyone agreed. Chief Architect of Moscow Sergey Kuznetsov believes that "Tuchkov Buyan" can also become a turning point for the city, unexpected and daring - this is where the parallel should end. And the "companionship", according to him, scares: "you need to look for something new and individual, the park makes something interesting that people do not know and have not seen, otherwise there will be only ice rinks, lawns and cafes everywhere." Head of Studio-44 Nikita Yavein supported: “everyone has the image of Zaryadye, but everything that’s great there, we should not do in any case - the city will definitely not digest consoles, domes and slides”.
A little construction won't hurt
Architect Sergey Choban took the liberty of expressing not the most popular opinion: if it happened in Berlin, Wadden Island would rather turn into “
Embankment of Europe”than to the park. “Petersburg is a city of formulated closed spaces, it is important to restore their pulsation. The park is the king, but it is made by the retinue: the edges should be clear, like the Summer or Alexander Gardens, the Field of Mars. “Tuchkov Buyan” has no clear framework yet. “We got an indistinct town-planning situation, neither fish nor meat: the theater of Boris Eifman looks like a remnant, the western part of the park unconvincingly spills out towards Petrovsky Island.”
Sergei Tchoban, as a member of the jury, made an emphasis for future contestants: "the city is kept in its corset, and the space appears between the deliberately built facades." The architect considers the proposal of his partner Yevgeny Gerasimov a good decision: to leave the Supreme Court and the department on the island, which will support the theater and form the town-planning front.
The winner's project is being implemented. Or not?
Chief Architect of St. Petersburg Vladimir Grigoriev said: if the competition takes place and we choose the winner, the project will be implemented. Aide to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan strongly doubted this Natalia Fishman-Bekmambetovandinstantly charging the atmosphere. The appeal to the experience of the implementation of 300 public spaces of Tatarstan Vladimir Grigoriev did not convince: “we have the former capital of the Russian Empire, 1500 km2 territories, international competitions were held, their fate is interesting. Later, an urbanist at the MLA + design bureau Daniil Veretennikov cited statistics: after the collapse of the USSR, there were 80 competitions in the city, only six projects were implemented close to the applications of the winners. Sergei Choban noted that this figure is not as bad as it might seem at first glance.
Is the customer more important than the architect?
Natalia Fishman-Bekmambetova her presentation was dedicated to the importance of a qualified customer: he must find a way to accurately explain the context to external people. This requires a multidisciplinary team of local specialists who will formulate everything that is important and necessary for the participants to know. It would also be good at the current stage to determine the people who will lead the project, implement the park and, most importantly, manage it. But it is wrong to blame everything on architects, "they are not magicians, it is we, as customers, who must integrate everyone."
Head of JSB "Rozhdestvenka" and Rector of "RE-School" Narine Tyutcheva noted that the role of the architect is now changing dramatically: "he is the conductor of the orchestra, but he must understand each instrument and how many of them are needed for a particular score." A good architect asks questions correctly, answers some himself, invites specialists for others and creates a consortium. But the last word still remains with the architect. “Public space is always a strong statement, its content and form play the most important role. I would like it to be about a place, city and people. Not massive, but for you."
Citizens must be involved at all stages
Ambassador of the World Urban Parks Association Gil Peñyalosa was the only foreign expert at the session. And he spoke about the townspeople: they should tell what they want to do in the park, but you shouldn't ask them about specific functions and elements, this is already the business of professionals who will work with survey data.
Complicity is an unusual format for us, and perhaps a good precedent will be created here. So far, the residents of St. Petersburg have chosen the name for the park and voted for the filling; in parallel with the forum, public hearings were held. But Gil Peñyalosa, it seems, was talking about a different level, “not for show”: it is imperative to involve the elderly and children, arrange meetings at a convenient time in a convenient place, deliver information, hear, connect different specialists: anthropologists, sociologists. Based on the needs of the townspeople, experts will offer different options - the townspeople will choose. And so at all stages. Then it will be possible to create a unique place.
A platform for experiments
Architecture critic Maria Elkina believes: “in St. Petersburg, what is most afraid is not that investments will be lost, but that they will spoil the view”. This conservatism is one of the reasons why there is not enough good modern architecture in the city, says the critic. - And the park could provoke curiosity about new things. But it is important that this was not a head-on decision, but something more subtle, not Zaha Hadid, but Vinny Maas.
Director of the architectural and planning company MLA + in St. Petersburg Yana Golubeva says that along with the park, the city gained energy and faith in big changes, but so far it has to balance between hope and complete disappointment. “The park is now an arena of battle, but also an arena of experiments. It can become a starting point for comprehensive strategies: on urban planning policy, ecology, green frame, water areas."
Sergey Kuznetsov also urged not to be afraid of experiments and new people. He admitted that if New Holland had been made by great architects, it might not have been such a success with Zaryadye. "Tuchkov Buyan" may become a turning point in terms of the overall approach to design.
Where are the trees?
Coordinator of the Trees of Petersburg movement Maria Tinika asked a question from the audience: why among the experts there is not a single landscape architect or specialist associated with the operation? She also reminded: for 25 years since 1995, when the Park of the 300th Anniversary was laid, the city no longer appeared parks in an empty place - a former industrial territory or a vacant lot.
“We have absolutely no reverence for the landscape architect - this is some kind of outcast,” adds Maria Tinika. - The jury and expert council for the competition are unacceptably few "natural" specialists: ecologists, biologists, botanists, soil scientists, engineers of green infrastructure. It should not happen that when discussing the park, the word “trees” is never uttered."
