TATLIN NEWS #41

international scale – the British Council for design, Volkswagen (Wolfsburg, Germany) along with major experts and advisors of the international scale, with the Chief Architect of Barcelona Josep Acebillo (Spain), director of Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Omar Akbar (Germany) among them. Within the framework of this even there would be public lectures and workshops, exhibitions from festivals that have taken place all around the country as well as an exhibition of entries to the contest of futurist objects «NEW Symbols», which aimed at creating a park of futurist ideas at the territory of Togliatti State University. 12.09.07–11.11.07 Places to live, breathe and Meditate, The Museum of finnish architecture, helsinki, finland, www.mfa.fi Finnish architecture is known for its pragmatic character, but as unelaborate its construction is, as fantastic the designs are, especially if it is a contest, especially if it is a contest for something indiscriminate. So, the Finnish Association of Architects announced the contest for the project of a new residential district at the shore of the Baltic Sea. In general, the contest turned out to be something like a school essay on the topic «Finns Dream of Living at Waterside», which is not devoid of certain truth, but sounds too speculative. Nevertheless it resulted in three hundred projects, with conceptual design ranging from one-family houses to blocks of flats. The interesting thing in this situation is what the housing outside the city looks like for contemporary architects – if its structure should be completely identical to urban houses or, alternatively, havemore conceptual freedom, or, on the contrary, be pronouncedly simple. The results of the contest have shown that architects evolve to approach classic Dutch samples, but it is not fINlaNd oN waTeR

quite clear, whether they create an authentic language.

in Riga, which means, and she has introduced the Latvian cultural spirit to Russia. The status of women in architecture stays unclear. Does this status exist at all, and should one speak of the division into men and women in architecture? Such a sexist approach seems to be unnatural. Distinguishing architects by their sex seems to be as absurd thing to do as distinguishing artists or writers on the basis of their sex. Yes, the world of architecture traditionally is supposed to be the men’s world, not because women’s role is given less importance and there is certain need to promote it, but because there is a smaller percentage of women participating in such a specific kind of creative work, where a mathematically precise calculation rules the artistic process – they have a different cast ofmind.Andoneshoulddistinguish between female architects and women with brand-names, that is, heads of architectural bureaus – there are very few of them. In the world architectural practice only the names of Zaha Hadid and Sulan Kolatan are pronounced along with names of Koolhaas, Foster, Egeraat, Hall, Meyer, Liebeskind, Ban and Gary – the former of the two women is mentioned most often, of course. But there also bureaus like SANAA, Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, UN Studio, Bolles+Willson, EMBT. In general, this issue remains unsolved, but in one way or another, the idea of such an award received its embodiment thanks to Regina Deisman, a Latvian sculptor and construction entrepreneur. From now on women, who are recognized as renowned persons in design and architecture, together with the universal acclaim will receive metal apple-shaped statuettes – according to the author, an apple symbolizes creative work. But one shouldmention that themain result and the main award architects receive is not the statuette, but the implemented objects.

sensation that these models exist in the space proportionate to man. The exhibition in the Montreal Centre of Architecture includes the artworks of the photographer himself as well as photographs made by other five artists, selected from collections of the Centre by Hatakeyama himself and somehow correlating with his series and complementing them. Inspired by these monochromatic modernist views the artist created his series. One of them presents only parts of the existing buildings, creating rhythmic geometrical compositions. In another one the photographer employs panoramic views and focuses on the resulting patterns. That way, themajor object in this series is the play with scales, allowing a better understanding of thecityasamechanicaccumulation of independent parts, somewhat like clockwork, on the one hand, and the mastering of those scales by people. The New RefeReNce STaNdaRd a contemporary city, its individual character, economic appeal and social stability are a discussion subject of never-fading interest in architecture and design, the two major steering units in life of society. The national artistic world lacks new bright large-scale events. Arrangers of the First International Forum for Design and Architecture (by Togliatti State University supported by the Centre for Contemporary Architecture), which will take place in the city of Togliatti, decided to fix for that. Their motivation is to attract attention to social, cultural and economical problems of industrial multifunctional Russian cities. The attention will be focused on the unique experience of regional and foreigninstitutesofurbaneconomy and councils on developing urban infrastructure. The fact that there are foreign invitees confirms the effort to get a grasp of the problem on the 23.11.07–25.11.07 first International forum for design and architecture, the New city, Togliatti, Russia, newcity.tltsu.ru The development of

this space constitutes the Nordic- Baltic Europe. And those are not some nostalgic recollections, those are real links that existed before and are maintained nowadays». Architects participating in the conference and representing both parties had many subjects to discuss – since the issues they face are very much alike. In particular, the question of historical heritage that we need to keep, without crossing out the potential of urban development, has been reflected in their discussion. In the framework of the days of Riga in Saint Petersburg an international award «Women in Design and Architecture» was presented. The two architects became the first holders of this award, Ruta Kruskope from Latvia and Lidia Ukhova from Russia. The first architect has worked in Russia for a long period of time, detecting and supporting international relations, another one was born DaysofRigatookplaceintheend of September in Saint Petersburg, in the framework of which the «Riga – Saint Petersburg. Role of Architecture and Design in the long-term development of urban environment» Intercity Conference wasinitiated.Thefacilitatorsofthis event have chosen a special system of reference, where Riga and Saint Petersburg happen to be located close to one another. «We often look at the world through a prism of traditional categories: the CIS, the European Union...» says Janis Dripe, Chief Architect of Riga, «But we could take another scale and consider the territories united with common historical and linguistic background, like the Baltic States.» Saint Petersburg would fit well into the zone of Baltic States. From the geographical, stylistic and psychological points of view dayS of RIga IN SaINT PeTeRSbuRg

english version

The STaTuS of gRaffITI

Artists get immersed into the urban environment not only by

126 ТАТЛИН_NEWS №5(41)51_2007