A journey to the edge of Putin's world

After the successful consultation for the new town of Skolkovo outside Moscow, the experience is repeated for Akademia City, which once completed will house 325,000 inhabitants.

On December 4, 2011, election day in Russia, I left for Yekaterinburg, the capital of the Urals on the border between Asia and Europe. I was travelling with with Alexy Muratov, critic and director of the series of architecture periodicals, "Project Russia," and Boris Bernaskoni, an interesting young Russian architect. After having promoted an architecture consultation for Skolkovo, the new city of innovation outside Moscow by bringing together a group of architecture stars, Boris is attempting to repeat the experience in Yekaterinburg with a consultation of young architects for the design of Akademia City, a new town being constructed for 325,000 residents.

Yekaterinburg seems to be a very active city with its population of 1,200,000 moving through streets planned according to 1930's Stalinist zoning. The main boulevard with the tram line in the center is lined with government buildings and blocked by traffic as an increasing number of cars begin to circulate. The best buildings from the Constructivist era, when Yekaterinburg was one of its "cradles," are covered with billboards and not at all well-maintained. On the other hand, new residential towers are springing up everywhere, rapidly replacing the old gray barracks with new and colorful glass facades.

En route to Yekaterinburg, capital of the Urals on the border between Asia and Europe.

While the exit polls come in on the TV and we still don't know whether United Russia will get over 50% of the vote, we set out by car for Akademia City. Leaving the center, after a stretch of forest, the new town appears.

The first visual impact is cinematographic: symmetrical, colorful, imposing. One understands that this is just a part of what is being planned and they explain to me that it is already home to about 30,000 people. The density is striking and the buildings, in response to Soviet drabness and its repetitive and disorienting volumetric expressions are colored according to zone. We immediately notice that something must have gone wrong with the blue, because the color is too vibrant—almost fluorescent to the limits of visual discomfort.

Leaving the center, after a stretch of forest, appears Akademia City, where about 30,000 people already live.

When seeing a city for 325,000 inhabitants rise out of nowhere, the first thing one wonders about is where all the people will come from.

It was explained to me that this is an entirely private enterprise with no social housing, and that the residents come from areas outside the city, and that 30% has been optioned by the army to provide homes to veterans, and also that many residents from Yekaterinburg are moving to Akademia City, given the comfort and security of the new town.

When seeing a city for 325,000 inhabitants rise out of nowhere, the first thing one wonders about is where all the people will come from.

In response to Soviet drabness and its repetitive and disorienting volumetric expression, the buildings are colored according to zone.

We come to the center of town where there is a large open space with a school that is also a civic center and a huge playground. I recognize the soporific and warm comfort that comes from the muted colors of the surrounding buildings sitting on a soft blanket of snow that covers the city for many months.

It is as though a child had been given a black-and-white coloring book to color with pastels. The repetitive facades have multiple and varied color compositions which give some joy to the overall composition.

In the center, there is a large open space with a school that is also a civic center and a huge playground.

A guided tour with the local media shows us the workings of the "urban technology ," ranked high in the world in terms of energy efficiency thanks to a smart energy grid developed by multinationals like Siemens and BASF. The energy performance of the single dwellings is remotely controlled and the system can problem-shoot malfunctions in real time, saving energy. Arup, leader in global excellence, was involved in the design of the facades. Even with its relatively low construction costs, this is the vanguard of global "technological" sustainability.

For someone like me, with origins in Italian culture where cities are layered over centuries and decades, it is truly difficult to imagine a unitary operation for the construction of a city for 325,000 people and I think that it can be done only with the centralized and dirigiste know-how of countries having a socialist past.

The whole town is controlled by a system of directional cameras that can zoom to within10 centimeters of an object and every point is filmed from at least three points of view.

We are brought to the security center. The whole town is controlled by a system of directional cameras that can zoom to within10 centimeters of an object and every point is filmed from at least three points of view (one of which is always from the roof to prevent tampering). It is staggering. On dozens of screens appear images of cars passing, people walking and entering shops, children playing in parks, people who ring bells. We expect to see an apartment interior; I'm convinced that the guard can operate with his keyboard to view the intimacy of the lives of residents and has only been ordered not to show the full potential of this urban-scale "big brother." Meanwhile, the cameras show two children in the playground and, at a certain point, what had been a prying eye becomes an interactive video game; the operator's voice is broadcast on loudspeakers throughout the square warning the two kids to be careful when playing with their model rifles (fake ones?). This system also works when residents return home at night by public transportation; they can call the security center and ask to be followed by an electronic eye from the bus to their doors.

Before leaving, they explain that crime in Akademia City is 70% lower than in Yeketraninburg. This service costs residents the modest sum of 300 rubles a month, about 10 euros. The gated community model has been extended to an entire city here, and I am dubious as to whether we are being monitored inside our space or if we are being controlled when we are outside.

After the tour, the fateful moment for the consultation arrives. Managers from Renova, the real estate developer, architects and politicians illustrate the project's progress along with local architects who propose to put curves in the buildings and towers to stem the risk of monotony. However, I realize that the city moved away from the initial masterplan designed by Valoide & Pistre—which had an interesting concept of both public space and intermediate space between the forest and the city—to the current master plan that seems to weaken the natural system to leave room only for the hard surfaces of squares and houses and points of views that do not obstruct the cameras.

Towards the end of the debate, Boris is invited to present the idea of the consultation. He illustrates a model of sustainability that is not just economic or technological but also social and civic; and he proposes the involvement of a selection of young architects from around the world to help guide future design choices and eventually perform some "surgery" on what is now being constructed. We support him and recognize the fact that the architecture, even in this case, is both the problem and the solution at the same time. Akademia City is a large contemporary urban experiment and it is well worth the effort to experiment innovative design processes and not repeat experiences that have been shown to have major flaws, especially in the large areas of prefabricated Russian neighborhoods.

Having the opportunity to modify choices in progress with a team of young architects from around the world is an extremely interesting challenge and in some ways it is unique, moving beyond the search for a brand that can "cleanse" unscrupulous real estate transactions to look at new ways of implementing urban design. Will it be possible? Let's see what happens.

The initial masterplan designed by Valoide & Pistrewoperated on a concept of both public space and intermediate space between the forest and the city has ceded to the current master plan that seems to weaken the natural system to leave room only for the hard surfaces of squares and houses.

After warm goodbyes, we leave.

On the way to the airport, while the news comes through that United Russia is definitely under 50% of the vote and that fraud is being reported everywhere, it is almost comforting to see a reproduction of a residential village in Austria, despite its alienation: familiar kitsch that feels safer and more secure than the Akademia city experiment, whose colors remain pleasantly imprinted in my mind, along with many questions. From the air, I track the artificial canals created for the transportation of raw materials and gas lines directing me towards Europe.
Michele Brunello

A journey to the edge of Putin's world

After the successful consultation for the new town of Skolkovo outside Moscow, the experience is repeated for Akademia City, which once completed will house 325,000 inhabitants.

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