The winners of the city show-contest for the best architecture and improvement object were determined in Kazan

(KZN.RU, March 9, Mikhail Chentsov). Results of the city show-contest for the best architecture and external improvement object were summed up in the Kazan City Hall. According to the conclusion of the professional jury, “Navigator Campus” (category “small object”) and “Siberian Numbers” (“large object”) became winners in the nomination “Best Architectural Object”. Not only experts but also residents of the Tatarstan’s capital made their choice: according to the citizens, the Yardem Mosque became the best architectural object. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, presented awards to the winners and wished them success in their further creative work.

Addressing the guests of the ceremony, I. Metshin marked that there are people gathered in the Hall of the City Hall who beautify the city and shape the architectural appearance of the capital of Tatarstan for decades ahead. “We set ourselves an ambitious task to make Kazan the most comfortable and convenient city of the Russian Federation. And it would be impossible to realize these ambitious plans without you, those people in whose thoughts and dreams objects of the capital appear”, said the Mayor. The head of the city noted that the competition covered almost all main areas of urban infrastructure development from small architectural forms to the improvement of the adjacent territory.

The projects of objects of architecture and external improvement, which were agreed in due course and implemented in the last five years, were accepted for participation in the competition, and the members of the expert group, Kazan residents, authors and rights holders of the objects could offer their own versions. In total, more than 80 applications were submitted for the show-contest. The main criteria for selecting the winners for the jury were the originality and reflection of the national color of Kazan, the laconism and expressiveness, the complexity of the capital construction object realization and the design of the object by means of external improvement, etc.

11 objects-winners were defined in four nominations, according to the results of the competition. The professional jury recognized the sculpture “Trust” by Fanil Valiullin the best in the nomination “Best Small Form”. The building of Kazakova House was marked in the nomination “Best Integrated Solution”. Experts identified the external improvement of the clothing store “Cheap & Chik” among the “Entrance groups”, and the coffee shop “Uragan Sarai" became the first in the category “Non-capital object”. In addition, the choice of professionals fell on the Gorky Park in the nomination “Best Improvement”. The jury consisted of Farid Valiullin, the member of the Union of Artists of the RT and Russia, Dmitry Koshkin, the chairman of the Union of Designers of the RT, Lyudmila Kostycheva, the chairman of the Association of Landscape Industry Producers, German Bakulin, the Honored Architect of the RT, and other experts in the field of architecture.

According to Kazan citizens, the monument to the horse “Petrushka” by Daniil Bikmukhametov became the “Best Small Form”. The citizens noted the building of the nightclub “Night Wolves” in the nomination “Best Integrated Solution”, and the Uritsky park was awarded the national recognition in the category “Best Improvement”. In total, 146 thousand 206 responses were received from residents of the city during the online voting.

As I. Metshin noted, thanks to the work of architects, not only Kazan but also the citizens themselves are changing. “We see how they cherish their city, how proud they are and want to make it even better. I want to say a special thank you to our concerned inhabitants!”, said the head of the city.

Il'siyar Tukhvatullina, who’s “Siberian Numbers” became “Best Large Architectural Object”, thanked Ilsur Metshin for organizing the contest on behalf of all architects. “It helps us to move on, to see our weak and strong sides. Also, I would like to thank you for the general policy of the city and your team, because new interesting objects appear due to it”, said the winner.

In the end, Tatiana Prokofieva, the chief architect of Kazan, expressed her hope that the new competition will become a landmark for the development of urban architecture. “When we meet again next time, I would like to see even more interesting and quality objects, although even now, what we see is significantly different from what was before”, she said.

Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy head of the Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement, Zhanna Belitskaya, the deputy head of the Architecture and Urban Planning Department and the head of the Urban Design Department, and others also took part in the event.