The St. Petersburg continuation of the exhibition “Russian Architecture. The Newest Era - a large-scale attempt to comprehend what has happened in Russian architecture over the past 30 years. The main project was initiated by architects Andrey and Nikita Asadov and critics Elena Petukhova and Yulia Shishalova - we talked about it, and also published some details of the organization and collection of information. The St. Petersburg version was prepared for the opening of the VIII Cultural Forum by Vladimir Frolov, editor-in-chief of Project Baltia magazine.
The local exposition is called “Space and Context”. The common "river of time" - the work of Moscow colleagues - with the main events, people and buildings leads to the entrance to the exhibition hall, where it is complemented by the St. Petersburg "influx": stands with collages of buildings and projects, as well as important, according to the curator, milestones and trends … Most of the exposition is still made up of models, but the degree of seriousness is reduced by an interesting presentation and installations from young architects. It is around them that you want to linger: play associations, shake the snow globe, film how the triumphal arch rotates. Not seriously? Probably. But lately, I would like to see a little bit of lyrics in an architect tired of fighting with norms and social activists.
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zooming 1/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 2/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 3/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 4/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 5/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 6/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 7/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version at the ArtPlay Center Photo by Alena Kuznetsova
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zooming 8/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 9/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version at the ArtPlay Center Photo by Alena Kuznetsova
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zooming 10/10 Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version at the ArtPlay Center Photo by Alena Kuznetsova
The exhibition also has a couple of measurements. In the back of the hall is a piece of the library with table lamps, prints of important articles by critics and journalists, shelves and books. At the entrance there is a symbol of consolidation and change of panoramas: a wall of foam blocks, behind which, with an effort, you can see the city. It is interesting to wander between the exhibits, they really paint the architectural image of the newest Petersburg. Judging by the responses, each has his own. A word to the curator and the participants, whom we asked to share their impressions of the exhibition, tell about their exhibit and significant events or buildings of recent years.
Vladimir Frolov
Editor-in-chief of Project Baltia magazine, curator of the exhibition
Bureaus were invited to participate in the exhibition, in whose work, in my curatorial opinion, there are objects corresponding to the theme “Space and Context”. It is not the scale of the office that is important, but rather the significance for the city, and first of all, I wanted to give a picture of the entire 30-year history. Of course, any exhibition is a selection, it is impossible to include everyone - the result will be an exhibition in the Soviet reporting format. Rather, what is important is typology, significant objects, stylistic diversity - and all this together gives an adequate and not biased picture.
What distinguishes us from the Moscow exhibition is the theme - there was “Utopia”, we have “Space and Context”. We also added a section "Library", where you can get acquainted with important critical texts on architecture, written during the period under review, starting with Likhachev. Another segment is about the context: the project of the historian Andrei Larionov and the photographer Alexei Bogolepov “Construction as destruction”. Finally, we made the St. Petersburg timeline - a sketch of the history of the architecture of the city on the Neva over 30 years, where more attention is paid to stylistic changes in architecture than in the all-Russian exhibition.
We worked in a very tight schedule with a narrow editorial team of the magazine, I will name here Evgeny Lobanov and Danil Ovcharenko, as well as Victoria Radaeva, who turned our discussions into visual material. Of course, there are many shortcomings, but we tried to catch the “spirit of the times”, and not give some kind of objective analysis. Now we are thinking about creating a book “Russian architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version”, in which they could turn a sketch made for the exhibition into a more elaborate historical canvas, taking into account a larger number of expert opinions and testimonies.
Our questions to the architects who participated in the exhibition were as follows:
- Tell us about your object selected for the exhibition.
- Did you like the exhibition, how fully does it reflect the local architectural process of the last thirty years?
- Your personal rating: the three most significant projects / events of the last 30 years for St. Petersburg architecture?
Nikita Yavein, Studio-44
1
In my opinion, the General Staff Building is a milestone thing, a landmark object both for St. Petersburg and, I think, for the country. He is known and discussed. Here we managed to reach a different scale of space and to a different level of work with the monument. The monument was not a burden for us, but, if I may say so, a bonus and a driver. We worked quite freely with the building, revealed its potential, and, I must say, there was no serious confrontation with either the city or the city defenders. The project met with fairly unanimous approval; Of course, there are always critics, but with regard to the General Staff, I felt that it was received by many and quite sincerely.
We managed to create a multi-scale public space there, from a cozy exhibition space in the upper floors to an "imperial" one downstairs. Huge and significant, both for the city and for the country. Everyone knows it, forums are held there, it constantly works as a center of cultural, and not only cultural, but also, in general, public life.
2
I'll tell you about the exhibition as a whole. The period is multi-vector and the exhibition is also multi-vector. Everything that is known and lay on the surface that was printed in magazines is shown with a dotted line. I think this is terribly useful and very good. Does it provide an image or a cut of the period? It is unlikely that this is not a slice, but a set of memorable objects. The cut would be different, it would, firstly, be worse, and secondly, perhaps there is a little lack of information on the regions. But in general - it's interesting, you remember your childhood, the magazines Project Russia of that time and so on. I walked through the exhibition with pleasure.
3
You can't talk about yourself, so we'll omit the General Staff. I think, speaking in general about the phenomena for the whole country, then a new level of quality was set by Sergey Skuratov, but this is Moscow, luxury architecture, I think this does not threaten us in St. Petersburg, we do not have such customers and are unlikely to appear … I remember the Tsvetnoy shopping center Yuri Grigoryan, but rather in the project, in nature, he became more mainstream. I would also name the pavilion of Levon Airapetov at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai.
In St. Petersburg, we have a fairly high average level, but I would not name the best houses. I know that Yuri Zemtsov is often called, and this is correct, since he set a high standard for quality early on. Probably, Reinberg-Balls can also be included in such a list of phenomena that are worth noting … But I would not like to dwell on one or one person.
What do you think of the Lakhta Center?
Doubtful thing. If you look, say, from Peterhof, then it dramatically knocks down the scale of the entire Gulf of Finland. It was "… and we will lock in the open space"1, a huge space "window to Europe", and became the "Marquis puddle"2… Now you go out - and you start counting how many kilometers to the tower, comparing its height with the width of the Neva … Other thoughts now come to mind when looking at the panorama of the Gulf of Finland. And yet it must be admitted that it was possible to create a kind of futuristic space there.
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zooming 1/4 Architectural workshop "B2". The project for the development of the alluvial territory of Vasilievsky Island "Marine Facade". Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 2/4 Architectural DNA group. Roof reconstruction project for building B of the public and business space "Sevkabel Port". First Prize at the Horizon Competition. Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 3/4 Architectural bureau "ARKHATAKA". Roof reconstruction project for building B of the public and business space "Sevkabel Port". Honorary Mention by the Jury at the Horizon Competition. Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
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zooming 4/4 Architectural workshop Firsov House. Cottage "Parus". Exhibition “Russian Architecture. The newest era. Petersburg version "at the ArtPlay center Photo courtesy of the editorial staff of the" Project Baltia "magazine © Alisa Gil
Evgeny Gerasimov, "Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners"
1
The Nevskaya Town Hall is the result of an international competition won with Sergei Tchoban in 2008. To date, the first stage of the complex has been built, including the Administration building. Now we are working on the second stage, which will also be implemented. This is undoubtedly a landmark for the city, and important for us. Also at the exhibition there is our installation dedicated to the residential complex "House by the Sea". This is our first joint project with Sergei Tchoban, completed in 2008. Moreover, this is the first project of Sergei Tchoban in Russia.
2
In my opinion, the exhibition fully reflects the local architectural process of the last thirty years. The three most significant projects? Shopping center Vanity opera from AM "Reineberg and Sharov", Langenzipen by Sergei Tchoban and a house on Fontanka AB "Zemtsov, Kondiain and partners".
Stepan Lipgart, Liphart architects
1
At the exhibition we are showing a model of a residential building on Vasilievsky Island, which is currently under construction. Compared to the rest of the participants, the project is distinguished by its concreteness, perhaps slightly deliberate. This is no coincidence: as a rule, at such events we exhibited paper architecture that did not imply implementation, here it was important to show a real object designed for the historical center. We declare our house not as an extraordinary, flashy, bright solution, but on the contrary, as far as possible, correct to the context, restrained, harmonized.
2
The exhibition contains, in fact, the material of a rather large almanac on the history of Russian architecture in recent years, and here you can only admire the amount of work. Attention was drawn to a collage created from photographs of projects and buildings, with its colorful chaos demonstrating either a free search, or the confusion of the "New Era" left in the past.
3
The main conclusion of the exhibition is that the past decades have been extremely difficult for colleagues. In many ways, it was necessary to re-learn the profession, to move away from the Soviet design system, from past stereotypes of thinking, worldview, without losing oneself, both creatively and morally. Breakthroughs in this difficult "post-Leningrad" period are not so frequent, therefore they are especially noticeable. First of all, it seems to me that one should include the reconstruction of the General Staff by Studio-44. Thorough, long-term work on the re-equipment of the historical complex was crowned, in my opinion, with a world-class result, but that has grown on the St. Petersburg soil, unique, and not imported from outside.
I consider the “Four Horizons” residential building on the Sverdlovskaya embankment to be an absolute success for the city. His whole charismatic image, tinged with absolutely Petersburg romanticism, reveals professional confidence that seemed to have disappeared forever in the twentieth century: in techniques, proportions, silhouette, work with material. You compare this house with the surroundings that have grown on the Neva bank in recent years, and you capture a mixed feeling of awkwardness and bewilderment.
And the third object that forever changed the landscape of St. Petersburg, of course, is the Lakhta Center skyscraper. For me, this event is more likely with a minus sign: the most important view disclosures on the ensembles of the Stock Exchange and the Peter and Paul Fortress are distorted, the inviolability of the "heavenly line", so happily preserved throughout the 20th century, is trampled. I hope that the implementation of the tower will become not a precedent, but a warning, evidence of the falsity of the globalist approach to the precious spaces of St. Petersburg.
Sergey Mishin, Sergey Mishin studio
1
The theme of the exhibition is “Space and Context”, and our project is about working with context. This house is built into a spatial lacuna typical for Peter, an intricately organized void between houses of different eras. This task seemed interesting to me - to write a few words, a phrase or a remark into an urban text so that both the textual coherence would not be destroyed, and the intelligibility of your statement would be preserved.
2
I must confess that I did not quite understand the meaning of the exhibition itself. If it is about layouts, then the genres and meanings of this instrument are not comprehended here. There are also conceptual, search, working, presentation, development, and finally, layouts. Here everything is mixed up. Yet the exhibition needs analytics, otherwise it is just a warehouse of objects. That is why it reflects the processes of recent times, they are also meaningless, spontaneous and occur outside the analytical field, alas.
3
Perhaps I am too critical, but I do not see a single event worthy of attention. I was not moved by anything that has been done in the last thirty years. But it seems that there appeared on the horizon thinking people, sufficiently educated and capable of reflection. I know several such bureaus and I really hope that they will someday oust the masters who have safely buried all architectural life and thought in our beautiful city from the arena.
Evgeny Reshetov, RHIZOME
1
Since the presentation of the model was a necessary condition for participation, we began to think about which of the completed projects we would like to show. We decided to stay at
the Living room pavilion, as in a small, intimate project, in which there is a place for details that can be worked out in a large-scale model. We deliberately made the layout so close to implementation, with the reproduction of the material of the facades (up to the play of the sizes of the facade cladding) and other details. Funny observation: our project turned out to be almost the only one where human figures are present. Probably, there is something subconscious in this: we make architecture for people, and it comes to life when interacting with a person, observer or user.
2
I liked the exhibition very much. In my memory, this is the first exhibition dedicated to architecture in our city with such an exhibition design, high-quality light, and an interesting selection of participants. Plates from the Moscow part of the exposition - maybe a dryly presented, but extremely voluminous work, linking the last (or first) 30 years of Russian architecture into a single canvas.
Alina Chereyskaya, SA Lab
1
Inviting us to participate in the exhibition, Vladimir Frolov indicated that we are representatives of a new wave of architecture and must "build a bridge to the future." We have chosen the format of an abstract pavilion, which is not a model of an existing project, but formulates the design principles of SA lab - adaptability, manufacturability and time relevance. The name of the Oh, new age pavilion refers to the name of the exhibition Arch new age.
2
The exhibition touches on iconic objects, but does not show the entire cross section of the architecture and development of the city. It turned out to be a chamber and very important look back for 2019. It would be great to show acute existing processes and outline the vectors of their solution.
3
Globally, this is the entry of Russian architects and projects to the world level, the creation of elevators and platforms for young architects, the formation of public spaces.
Peter Sovetnikov, KATARSIS Architects
2
The impressions from the exhibition are good - for the architectural life of St. Petersburg this is a very noticeable and significant event. The very idea to analyze the development of Russian architecture in time is remarkable. An attempt to highlight the most important texts for the selected period is especially interesting.
The simultaneous exhibiting of the works of “young” bureaus and “adult” architects, as, after all, parts of a single process, seems to be a huge progress.
And of course, mock-ups are the format in which it is really interesting to watch architecture.
1
About choosing an object:
The entourage of the exhibition resembled a mausoleum, an ancient tomb. Lack of natural light (museum light snatched exhibits from the darkness of the hall), rough surfaces of the walls, and, of course, a great idea of the curator Vladimir Frolov with pedestals made of aerated concrete blocks. In general, the funeral theme, the theme of farewell was somehow present. The visitor to the museum, in this case, finds himself in the role of a researcher of the future. And so, he sees a dark hall, frozen models of ancient residential complexes and business districts, private houses and high-rise buildings of a certain civilization of the past. And suddenly, in oppressive silence, he notices a lively movement at the far end of the hall - a small model of a triumphal arch of an indefinable period of creation, slowly but inevitably and proudly revolves around its axis. This is the picture we imagined.
In general, it seems to us that our work, in a sense, provides an answer to the question “where is Russian architecture heading?” And architecture in general.
Ilya Spiridonov, Needles
1
Of our completed projects, namely
A house by the sea fits best into a ball where you can pour glitter.
2
We are always glad to participate in exhibitions organized by Vladimir Frolov, he is a great fellow, promotes secular architectural life, for which he is given a special bow.
3
The most significant project is the reconstruction of the General Staff Building.
The exhibition will run until November 28 (next Thursday).
