In February 1964, Joseph Brodsky was tried. Among other things, he was required to prove that he was a poet. It seems to me that something similar will soon await architects in Russia …
First of all, the purpose of the adoption of the "Law on Architectural Activity" in the form in which it was sent to the Ministry of Construction is not clear to me. From reading the text, one gets the impression that the main problem in Russian architecture today is the dominance of unskilled personnel, first of all, among the management and chief employees of architectural bureaus. It was proposed to fight against this in the first place - the introduction of compulsory certification, refresher courses, compulsory work experience. Although it is now obvious that there is no problem of a low professional level in Russia, it is not as high as in the Netherlands, maybe, but it is very worthy and is steadily increasing. The main problem of Russian architecture today is that it is in little demand, there is no culture of interaction between the architect and the customer, which is especially striking - even in cases where the customer is the state.
About the protection of the architect, about his relations with customers and officials, about everything that we talk about so much - the law says vaguely, in unclear formulations and, obviously, with the adoption of the law, the situation will not change much for the better in relation to the current one.
The law gives architects ghostly rights and many quite tangible duties and even obligations. The main one is to prove all the time that you are an architect. Moreover, knowing our realities, one can imagine how formally it can become “for money” and prohibitively difficult for a busy practicing professional “without money”. There is a fear that this will be a kind of analogue of a "technical inspection" for a motorist, which everyone goes through for a certain fee "on paper", and no one dares to pass it honestly, because there is always something to complain about.
The whole story of certifications builds barriers for talented people first of all. I was very lucky - I graduated from the institute and met the head of the bureau, who believed in me and almost immediately made me a general manager. According to this law, such a course of things is impossible. A 25 year old architect, by default, is considered a lower grade than a 55 year old.
This is incredible savagery, if you remember that we are talking about art. I repeat, it turns out that only the seniority is important, and that's it. There is no mention of any abilities, talent, desire, or achievements.
This is all, among other things, surprisingly pejorative for our architectural education. It turns out that it can only release a dropout. A person who needs additional education for at least 10 years. And this applies to any student: from a drug addict and gouging to the winner of international competitions.
It is customary for our legislators to refer to foreign experience only when it comes to cutting down some freedoms that miraculously remained in our country. Today, in some aspects, it is easier to engage in private architectural practice in Russia than in the West, it is easier to start your own business, for example. Why make life difficult for people in our profession, especially since in terms of rights, the Russian architect is just very much behind his Western colleagues. All of these redundant requirements will hit small bureaus and lone architects. They will destroy the diversity of the Russian architectural world, which has appeared over the past seven years, before our eyes. Today in Russia there are a lot of young architectural companies that win competitions, implement projects and become famous. Most of these bureaus consist of 3-7 people. For them, the requirements of the law can be deadly. We can go back to the days of large design institutes, just private ones. And at the same time, into an atmosphere of musty and hopelessness, which can replace today's difficult, but very interesting and eventful life of a Russian architect.
Mikhail Beilin is a member of the Union of Architects of Russia, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, professor of MAAM
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Recall that the text of the bill submitted to the Ministry of Construction can be found on the website of the Union of Architects. A letter from Maria Elkina, Sergei Tchoban and Oleg Shapiro with an appeal to stop and discuss the bill once again appeared on August 21; signatures are collected under the letter. Ten days ago, the head of the SAR and the AUU, Nikolai Shumakov, published a response, then several more opinions were expressed on both sides of the same discussion. Note that a few more detailed judgments on the topic can be found in the comments (below the text) to the answer of Nikolai Shumakov.
