This exhibition features the architectural history, current urbanistic situation, and future plans for the urban district of “Sretenka.” Currently, the greater part of the area’s historic architectural substance is in a ruinous state. Most of the buildings are empty, with just a few having been restored, including an old church. Of the ensemble of Melnikov’s celebrated market, only a single structure remains. The numberless constructive gaps between buildings have been converted into parking areas. The urban district of “Sretenka - No. 270” – which borders a street bearing the same name – was also shaped by residential development dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, and by town planning changes involving the construction of apartment blocks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These transformations primarily affected development along main streets, with the quarter’s internal zones left relatively untouched. Erected in “Sretenka” in the 1920s according to designs by Konstantin Melnikov was the New Sukharev Market, the greater part of which was demolished already in the 1930s. In the subsequent course of the 20th century, additional new buildings were erected in the area, altering the district appreciably. Executed by the studio of the project planning team “Mosprojekt 2” under the direction of Vladimir Ostapenko and Elena Nikulina has been a comprehensive architecture-historical and urban planning investigation. This project elaborated a variety of historic sedimentations and superimpositions, prepared a list of salvageable original architectural substance, and identified potential locations for new development. On the basis of these results, the architects Sergei Tchoban, Sergey Kuznetsov, and Pavel Schaburov (SPeeCH) have prepared a masterplan for the reconstruction of the district and for the former site of the New Sukharev Market. The objective is the revitalization of this historic quarter and its conversion into a lively, attractive, urban option for lifestyle, residence, and work. Individual measures include: the densification and reconstruction of the still existing historic architectural substance; development of the potential of constructive gaps; improvement of the infrastructure; the provision of a clearly legible spatial configuration for the district as a whole, one based on a sequence of precisely-defined public and private spaces, squares, and routes; and the creation of high-quality amenities for both residents and visitors. The programmatic and spatial core of the revitalized district will be Melnikov’s administrative building, the surviving element of the New Sukharev Market. Recruited for the implementation of the master plan – which overcame political hurdles in April of this year, and is to be realized between 2010 and 2014 – are leading Moscow architects such as Vladimir Plotkin (TPO Reserve) and Olga Fridland (Architectural Center of the Society of Moscow Architects). Featured in the exhibition alongside a historical overview of the area and the masterplan are designs by the above-named architects, as well as contributions by Sergei Tchoban, Sergey Kuznetsov, and Pavel Schaburov, each of which will shape the future appearance of this urban district. Each individual project is conceived as a tessera in the mosaic represented by the overall configuration of the master plan.
An Aedes catalogue was published.
With a text by Elena Nikulina
ISBN 978-3-937093-06-2
German/Russian
Price € 10,-
