PROJECT RUSSIA №35 - alternative

From the point of view of the sciences, architecture is often seen as a somewhat archaic and non-scientific discipline - more a craft then a serious field of knowledge. However, there are exceptions. Donald Schoen, a philosopher and professor at MIT University, has written an interesting study in which he introduces the design process as itself a model for scientific thinking (The design studio: an exploration of its traditions and potentials, RIBA Publications, London, 1985). He studies the processes going on in a design studio where students are educated to become architects, and describes the designing as a process of reflection-in-action: while designing, architects produce a flow of proposals that are reflected upon before being revised or even rejected. Essential for this process is the ability of the designer to 'temporarily suspend his disbelief' - that is, to be able to draw without being afraid that what he draws may be rejected or revised at a later stage of the process. With this, we come to the basic meaning of the word 'to project' - to 'throw ahead'. A project is a hypothesis, a proposal that can open up a discussion, pose questions, and show possibilities that otherwise would never have been discussed. This issue of PROJECT RUSSIA shows a number of examples where architects are exploring this aspect of the project. What they are proposing is alternatives to the development of the city - alternatives that are not yet being explored by the actual planners. Those who criticize these attempts for being a naive 'juggling with cubes and balls' fail to understand that these projects are as essential for the actual planning process as are primitive sketches for the development of an architectural design. In fact, the significance of the projects lies not primarily in the proposals themselves, but in the introduction of an alternative method for planning the city. One could say that in the current urban planning process in Russia there is a complete absence of design - a process of reflection-in-action that is the basis for any good project. Bart Goldhoorn, editor-in-chief CONTENTS Bart Goldhoorn. Editorial Sergei Sitar. The intensification of space BIENNALE Roundtable. Judging the Biennale Nine Seminars 1 Contemporary intervention in the Lagoon 2 Landing everywhere 3 Zona Franka 4 Chernobyl+ 5 Venice Gateway 6 Pop is a pizza box 7 The Leonidov project 8 Merzbaumatrioshka 9 Moscow 2029: The Dream of Utopia ARCH-DESCENT Nikita Tokarev. The project as an instrument of intercommunication Christopher Samuelian. Dmitrovgrad: When they close the factories V.Kirpichev, N.Tokarev Novy Melekess D.Dendra, Z.Surty The duck drift R.Kunz Celebrate transformation Aleksandr Sverdlov. Tobol'sk: without urbanism A.Levchuk, N.Tokarev Tobol'sk Park D.Parfyonov, S.Sitar, D.Shabalina. Tobol'sk, the crandle of MOS Ekaterina Lazareva. Art as Alternative SHRINKING CITIES Sergei Sitar. Shrinking cities: wake up or die Yuzha: the music of lasting weightlessness (2 projects) А.Sverdlov, S.Sitar Green city / Consensual city DERIVE Dmitry Vilensky. Life after Utopia Sofia Tchouikina. Situationist Sociology in Narvskaya Zastava Glucklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) Shop of Utopian Clothing Roundtable. Utopia and everyday life of the Russian city MONITOR