Guiding Lines: Architects on the Sly
Red tape is the most effective measure that the authorities make use of to keep uninvited architects at bay. Any new project – especially in central locations – requires numerous permits and approval from a string of controlling agencies. Cutting through the red tape is extremely time-consuming and nerve-racking, especially for those new to the area.
Many architects in Moscow – locals as well as foreigners – are outcasts in the eyes of architectural officialdom. The reasons for the dislike are numerous. Some projects are thrown out because of their authors’ failure to conform to the official canons of the so-called Moscow style; foreigners are often rejected merely because they are “not ours”.
The situation is virtually the same across all the segments of the real estate market. The state of affairs in the retail property sector is, perhaps, even more complicated than the residential sphere. There are no world-renowned designers among the architects active in retail sector construction, except one who does no credit to our architectural bureaucrats.
Famous Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill was originally invited to design the Smolensky Passazh shopping mall, but, as on many occasions before, bureaucracy prevailed over talent. The project was continuously “revised”, which is to say, effectively distorted by the Moscow Committee for Architecture officials… Eventually, the Spanish designer disclaimed authorship.
Moscow developers complain the choice of an architect is usually imposed on them by higher instances. Senior officials are straight-forward: “That is Bokov’s area. (Andrei Bokov, general director at MNIIP Mosproekt-4, vice-president of the Russian Union of Architects – Vedomosti). If you invite another, you will never get approval.” Many give up under such threats.
Andrei Bokov is a famous architect, author of a variety of remarkable projects. His Kaluzhsky shopping mall is praised by some of his colleagues as a successful implementation of the idea of a shopping center presented as a busy fair. But severely restricting investors’ freedom of choice is, to say the least, unkind.
The developer’s objective is profit, and professional design is the key to achieving it. Russian architectural studios – with few exceptions – lack the skill necessary to professionally design modern shopping malls, consultants admit.
Developers that enjoy strong government support are free to hire whomever they like. An example from the residential sector is a project by Capital Group working with Erik van Egeraat. Nevertheless, the development of the Russky Avangrad residential estate is proceeding with a great deal of difficulties.
Other development firms form alliances of Russian architects with Western design studios, where foreigners offer their ideas while Russians take charge of negotiating the bureaucratic hurdles. Yet, even such schemes cannot guarantee that the development will go as originally designed, without being distorted for the sake of appeasing bureaucrats or cutting costs.
For example, the Atrium shopping center was designed by the U.S. architectural company Altoon + Porter while a Moscow studio completed the interior design. As a result, many things remained unfinished.
It is clear that as regards Western architects, the Moscow authorities and developers are pursuing absolutely opposite goals. It is also clear that despite the reluctance of the former to welcome foreigners to Russia, the latter will bring them here, one way or another.