PROJECT RUSSIA №43 - context

This issue of PR has a simple aim: to show examples of the 'implantation' of new architecture in already existing urban tissue and to discuss the mechanisms by which old and new interact. But the title for this issue is... not exactly enticing. The word 'context' now has a distinctly ragged feel after over-use in intellec­tual battles during the 1980s and even earlier; it gives off a strong reek of naphthalene. Is it really the case that nothing has changed since those days? At the end of last year Russia celebrated the pass­ing of 100 years since the birth of Leonid Brezhnev. In their comments on this event many ventured the same observation, that we are today essentially liv­ing in an age of Neo-Brezhnevism. It was under Brezhnev that the country's develop­ment first became linked with its possession of raw materials, prioritizing its underground as opposed to 'surface' wealth. The USSR's land, which was even before this time treated in a schematic and general­ized manner, was reduced to being merely a source of natural resources. In urban planning and architec­ture, a quantitative and standardizing approach, fed by revenue in hard currency, prevailed. The interest in context evinced by many at the time was a counter-reaction to the authorities' dis­regard for local differences and particularities. The theories and architectural works of the contextual-ists were attempts to save the traditional city. What is the situation now? The logic of standardization prevails to this day. Moreover, this logic has swal­lowed the contextual approach. The latter has become a faHade veiling the convenient habit, a leftover from Soviet times, of sticking the label 'zone' on all the various kinds of territory, i.e. the habit of reducing the entire diversity of phenomena in one or another place to a common denominator in which all that is free and pluralist has been boiled away. In the days leading up to the 100th anniversary of Brezhnev's birth, an idea for a curious new law - On Architectural Zoning in the City of Moscow - was taking shape deep inside the City Duma. Although thought up by Moskvin-Tarkhanov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, it also had the support of the Communists. The law involved legislative regu­lation that would regulate the style of new buildings depending on the 'zone' in which they were to be built! What we see here is the Moscow authorities' desire for total control over the environment. And the more homogeneous the city, the simpler it is to manipulate and manage. And when there are no clear building regulations, but only a vague concept such as style, then it is much easier for the authori­ties to bend architects to their point of view. The attraction for dummy buildings distinguishes today's context, of course, from that which pre­vailed under Brezhnev. Only this is a difference that, it seems, has no effect on the quality of the environ­ment and the speed at which the old city is being destroyed. Alexei Muratov. editor-in-chief CONTENTS NEWS Boris Ul'kin. 1936-2007 Bart Goldhoorn: Moscow has no concept of urban space In brief MArkhl: before the elections Moscow in Mendrizio Palace of the Soviets: the Italian way (Arch)khozhdenie v narod Graveyard shift Concept projects St Petersburg University of Architecture and Construction celebrates its 175th anniversary Venus from Snaidero ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme opens an office Operation UAE Sergei Kiselev and Partners 'Avant-garde', apartment house on Novocheremushkinskaya Street in Moscow Arkhlnzh Dinamo basketball stadium in Krylatskoye CONTEXT Editorial Good intentions: the history of the contextual approach MOSCOW Round table: The contextual approach and the reality of building Aleksandrov & Partners Office building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Mosproekt-2 named after M.B. Posokhin,Office No 19 Reconstruction of the building of the Russian Union of Architects Lyzlov architectural office Administrative building on Strastnoy boulevard Ostozhenka Architects Office complex on Turchaninov lane Ostozhenka Architects Residential complex on Borisoglebsky lane Architect Bavykin's Studio Apartment house on Bryusov Lane Sergei Estrin Architects Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya street PETERSBURG Gazprom City: lost opportunities 6 competition projects Round table: New architecture in the old city NPS Tchoban Voss (Berlin) Langen Siepen Office Building Zemtsov, Kondiain and Partners Residential complex on Shpalernaya street in St Petersburg NIZHNY The truth of life Bykov Architects Volgo-Vyatsky office of the Sberbank on Oktyabr'skaya street Pestov and Popov Architects Park Avenue shopping centre on Vedenyapina street Pestov and Popov Architects Shopping centre 'City' on Filchenkova street TEXTS Democratic spaces The changing boundaries of public and private: urban space and urban culture in Moscow Art spaces: made in Russia MONITOR Panacom Private house near Moscow Mikhail Barkhin Korovabar in St Petersburg A-LEN House in Samara Asse architects Private house in Sareyevo near Moscow CURTAIN WALLS External traits: the right of choice Schiico: the universality principle PRODEMA BAQ+ facade panels QuadroClad - what is it? How it differs from other facade systems TERRART®: favorite facades of architectural stars   TECHNOLOGY PROJECT RUSSIA CATALOGUE