Alexey Boyev and Daria Naugolnova are graduates of the Voronezh University of Architecture, and then the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, founders of the VISOTA architects bureau. In addition to design, the team has been engaged in research and for the past few years has been concentrating on finding a way to massively sharpen Soviet recreation centers: something like a typical project of adaptation for a typical architecture.
The purpose of these searches is to return the cultural centers within walking distance to the cities, for which the recreation centers are the best fit. Aleksey Boev believes that “DKs remain to this day the guardians of identity, especially in the regions: depending on geography, different materials were used, ornaments were made by local artists, many DKs acquired distinct features of national architecture. In addition, these buildings are multifunctional: almost each has a concert hall, exhibition space, library, workshops, studios, hobby groups."
For several years, architects have been collecting data, which are now accumulating on the project site. To narrow the field of study a little, we chose the three most common types of DCs, calculated that there were 190 of them left, and mapped them. Each recreation center has its own card, which should reflect the history and potential of the building. In addition to the usual chronicles and photographs, information of a practical nature will appear in the future: interviews with city residents, possible forms of support from the state and private investors, proposals for accommodation. Since houses of culture, in addition to new "clothes", need a business plan for sustainable development, the architects collaborated with specialists in software content and commercial use of creative spaces.
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zooming 1/4 DK im. Kirov in Voronezh. State of the art VISOTA architects
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zooming 2/4 DK im. Kirov in Voronezh. Identity VISOTA architects
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zooming 3/4 DK Electronics in Voronezh. State of the art VISOTA architects
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zooming 4/4 DK Electronics in Voronezh. Identity VISOTA architects
Then the practice began: involvement of the local community, popularization of the project and dialogue with the city leadership. The first "cases" were the recreation center of native Voronezh: named after Kirov, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (City Palace of Culture, GDK).
In 2018, the study was presented at the conference "Cultures are waiting for change", then a workshop with students was held, which became the first session of collaborative design for Voronezh. The resulting three models were shown to business representatives, artists and ordinary residents. After that, they unexpectedly received money from the city for a project and partial renovation of the GDK.
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zooming 1/5 City Palace of Culture in Voronezh after reconstruction VISOTA architects
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zooming 2/5 City Palace of Culture in Voronezh after reconstruction VISOTA architects
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zooming 3/5 City Palace of Culture in Voronezh after reconstruction VISOTA architects
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zooming 4/5 City Palace of Culture in Voronezh after reconstruction VISOTA architects
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zooming 5/5 City Palace of Culture in Voronezh after reconstruction VISOTA architects
The first stage of the transformation was completed at the end of last year. For 60 million, it turned out to repair the roof and facade, replace the windows, add a ramp, completely renovate the first floor and the concert hall. The building has not changed dramatically, but it has become much neater, retaining the spirit of the times and characteristic features: a bas-relief on the facade and a museum of forgotten music, for example. The director of the GDK talks about plans: a budget coworking space with a children's corner and a teacher, a gardening club for the elderly, a shop for craftsmen, a recording studio, a library and much more.
To continue the research, the architects submitted an application to the Netherlands Foundation for Creative Industries, and so far they continue to work out the mechanism in Yakutsk - at the end of January there is a workshop, whose participants work with the Kulakovsky Peoples' Friendship House.
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zooming 1/5 Workshop in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 2/5 Workshop in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 3/5 Workshop in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 4/5 Workshop in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 5/5 Workshop in Voronezh VISOTA architects
Renovation of typical houses of culture fits well with the trend of recent and probably many future years - conscious consumption with a sub-item of reuse. It also satisfies another request: the search for identity, which has been much talked about lately. There is a feeling that after a long run away from everything Soviet, nostalgia awakens, including among the new generation, who did not find the awkwardness of life of that time, but is sensitive to its aesthetics.
Interest in the era is reflected at different levels of culture: from the HBO series "Chernobyl" to the performance project "Dow". In architecture, in addition to the constant return to the ideas of constructivism, Leningrad Art Deco or Stalinist Empire style, another corresponding direction is manifested - the reconstruction of typical buildings. The examples of Nizhny Novgorod and Zheleznovodsk, and now Voronezh and, possibly, Yakutsk, make you look at the dilapidated buildings delimited by sub-tenants, which are in every city or residential area, with completely different eyes. And the idea of cultural centers within walking distance, in which spending time is clearly more interesting than in shopping centers, is completely mesmerizing.
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zooming 1/6 Reconstruction project of the City Palace of Culture in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 2/6 Reconstruction project of DK Elektronika in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 3/6 Reconstruction project of the Kirov Palace of Culture in Voronezh. VISOTA architects
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zooming 4/6 Reconstruction project of DK Elektronika in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 5/6 Reconstruction project of DK Elektronika in Voronezh VISOTA architects
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zooming 6/6 Reconstruction project of the City Palace of Culture in Voronezh VISOTA architects
