THE ARCHITECTURAL EXCHANGE
The design of the new landmark is driven by exchange elements which bring together builders and dreamers, historical architects and contemporary architects as well as Russian tradition and international trends.
THE ARCHITECTURAL EXCHANGE
The project advances a new model of an Architectural Exchange in the context of St. Petersburg, Russia. The architectural ‘project’ is positioned at the nexus of cultural forces and economic forces. The production shifts from importing architecture from the West to mass-integrating local and global models using a network of distributed institutions. Heritage and identity derive from advanced design ‘formulas’ that play on the legacies of collage, copy and displacement.
The test-case is the notorious Lakhta Centre – a new landmark headquarters for the gas giant Gazprom. This brief activates a machinery of architectural production that allows for conversations between local traditions and international trends, paper-architects and contemporary stars, history and prophecy. These oppositions and collaborations are supported by ‘smart’ architectural elements, from walls and platforms to travelators. The satirical scenario of Gazprom reveals the fate of the splintered hyper-building.
The collage city of copies becomes the new city of 1000 landmarks. The frozen city gripped by extremes of preservation becomes the city of fluid exchange. The project revives the power of copy and repetition, acknowledging that architects hardly ever start anew.
PAST AND FUTURE CITY OF COPIES
The city is transformed from an imported collage of copies to distinct zones with 1000 new landmarks.
THE CITY IS A COPY LABORATORY
The case of St. Petersburg shows how the project is always in the realm of exchange - It is not old or new, but imported and adapted.
DESIGN FORMULAS
How do you copy? Designing a landmark as an under copy, super copy, collage of fragments, copy across time and copy across territory.
CULTURE / ECONOMICS
Mapping the new project between architects and clients, and between cultural forces and economic forces. In the local context of St. Petersburg, several figures anchor these worlds and are set up in a conversation.
GAZPROM CITY
Creating an alternative to the imported landmark for the largest gas extractor in world, Gazprom, which is currently (2014) under construction in St. Petersburg.
DESCALER
The imported landmarks arrive to the Descaler as SMLXL and leave as diagrams.
HISTORY VS. FUTURE
The new landmark is stuck between the historical architects, who carry with them the history of architecture, and the contemporary architects who believe in the cliche of Tabula Rasa.
URBAN NETWORK
The Architectural Exchange as the mediator between museums, banks, academia and transportation points.
DIAGRAMS OF EXCHANGE
The opposite cultural groups and copy formulas are supported by 'smart' versions of fundamental architectural elements such as walls, plinths and stairs. These are not tied to one building but act as diagrams which can be stretched over time and space.
