PROJECT RUSSIA ¹49 - power

In the grounds of the resort of Pirogovo, not far from Moscow, architect Nikolay Lyzlov is building a stables from enormous logs. This is not an izba [a Russian peasant hut made from crudely cut logs], but a gigantic peripter, a Neoclassical temple-like structure. The historical allusions are absolutely transparent. The building refers to equestrian manèges and training rings built in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. But whereas the stylistic preferences of Quarenghi, Rossi, or Betancourt, for all the individuality of these master architects, nevertheless fitted in with what were the prevailing styles of their days, Lyzlov’s aesthetic is the result of a focused personal choice. In the city Nikolay Lyzlov is consistent in his adherence to the language of Neomodernism, but at Pirogovo he is creating architecture that is Classical and retrospective. This unexpected turn gives Lyzlov’s stables the force of a critical statement, casting them as a polemical response to the other ‘Parthenon’ of our days – Ricardo Bofill’s design for the Presidential Congress Centre at Strel’na. If the latter project is half-baked and understated, an echo of the duality of the Russian regime, which is ‘stuck’ halfway between authoritarianism and democracy and between West and East, Lyzlov’s is a clear and unambiguous statement. In this structure you feel the pure sublimity of the utopian dream of an ideal order – a dream which refers not so much to Quarenghi and Betancourt as to Jonathan Swift and his kingdom of rationalistic Houyhnhnms. In this respect Lyzlov’s stables are a response to Yury Grigoryan, who in the preceding issue of PR called upon his colleagues to take a more critical attitude to reality. According to Grigoryan, architects need to be critical in order to stop being merely servants of other people’s will and become an active force in ‘the production of space’. Grigoryan is in effect calling upon architects to make a claim to power. Architects (comparatively recently here in Russia and from comparatively way back in the West) have already won the right to their own unique signature. This is a considerable achievement and one that clearly reflects the democratization of relations between client and architect. We should note that in the case of large public projects in ‘developed democracies’ the client has become a faceless, collective, agent that increasingly contrasts with the architect’s ‘I’. This, of course, does not mean that projects are not at risk of being talked? during debates or considerably changed in the course of the complicated approvals process. But this in itself implies the architect’s right to present his own position and a guarantee that that position will be treated with respect. In other words, the architect receives the opportunity to subordinate the interested parties to his will, and so to realize his power. And it is on the ability to do this that the final result largely depends. The above conclusion derives from the mechanism of checks and balances that guarantees a balance of interests in ‘developed democracies’, but it is applicable in Russia too. The flowering of a particular art form in Russia – think of poetry, beginning with Derzhavin’s Swan, or the Russian Avant-garde – is often the fruit of freedom enjoyed by artists with respect to the powers that be. Alexei Muratov. editor-in-chief. CONTENTS NEWS Dmitry Shvidkovsky. Clarity and mysticism of Italian prototypes Alexander Zmeul. In brief Yury Gnedovsky. On international and domestic activity of the Union of Architects Vladimir Sedov. NER: Urbanistic Utopia of the Thaw Yury Grigorian. On emptiness Alexei Muratov. The lost door Elena Gonsales. A building similar to Voentorg Boris Pasternak. During the discussion about Voentorg’s fate, it was being demolished Mikhail Filippov. I do not understand all that fuss about Voentorg Sergei Kulikov. Test drive at the summer ArchStoyanie festival Alexander Zmeul. Victory of Russified Englishmen Dina Sattarova. Kazan will host the Universiade Elena Gonsales. New stage of the ‘Bookshelf’ project Elena Gonsales. NAYADA hits teenage Tatiana Pashintseva. At home with Sanitec Blockbuster by Forbo: Touch covering Herman Miller collection in Moscow Legrand competition Ligne Roset: now in Minsk Sarlam lighting in Russia XXIII Abitare il Tempo exhibition in Verona Mamoshin Architectural Studio ‘Avenue’ office building in St Petersburg RAUM Architects & Arai Architects Reconstruction ‘Arkbuzat’ racing track in Ufa POWER Alexei Muratov. Editorial PR questionnaire Vladimir Paperny. Architecture and authority: a history of their relations Elena Gonsales. Authority without architecture Irina Korobina. City development in Russia: What do we expect from the authorities? Tatyana Malinina, Anna Viazemtseva. The Russian Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shangai. What kind of pavilion do we want? BERNASKONI ‘Russia’ pavilion P.A.P.er architectural team ‘Buyan-grad’ pavilion BUROMOSCOW architects ‘Window to Russia’ pavilion Ostozhenka Architectural Studio ‘City of change’ pavilion Mikhail Khazanov Studio/Kurortproekt ‘RUSSIA’ Pavilion Nikolay Malinin. Modernism salutes the past Reserv Federal Arbitration Court of Moscow District Reserv Moscow district tax inspectorates complex Mikhail Khazanov Studio/Kurortproekt Administration and Social centre of Moscow Region RAUM Architects House of Friendship of Bashkortostan Respublic Peoples in Ufa Popov and Pestov Studio The Main Office of the Pension Fund, Nizhny Novgorod Werner Huber. Moscow is changing: Look from the outside Veli Brauen and Doris Wälchli ‘Berner Rosen’ design proposal Liechti Graf Zumsteg ‘Mein herz so weiss’ design proposal Miroslav Sik Ruch design proposal Buchner Bründler AG & Arch4 Gurov design proposal :mlzd Wassily design proposal Ilya Mukosey. At home among foreigners, a foreigner in one’s own home MONITOR Ryntovt Design ‘Friendhouse’ eco hotel near Dnepropetrovsk Alexei Kozyr, Ilya Babak Le Present shop. Costa Brava, Spain A-GA &Ecotektura design centre Private house at the Black Sea coast TEXTS Sergey Nikitin. Statist architecture and monument building Alexander Zmeul. Grozny: From the Republic Committee to the mosque Vladimir Frolov. The vertical and glamour. Architecture and power in St Petersburg Lia Pavlova. Living city: Renovation and preservation TECHNOLOGY PROJECT RUSSIA CATALOGUE