I. Metshin at the opening of the festival “Eco-Bereg”: “We would like to be a special city, a pearl of the Volga region”

(KZN.RU, October 4, Alena Miroshnichenko). Concepts of the development of the Volga embankment from the River Port to the Admiralteiskaya Sloboda were presented today in Kazan at the opening of the VIII International Architectural Festival “Eco-Bereg”. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Irek Faizullin, the minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Services of the RT, the chief architect of the RT, Tatiana Prokofieva the chief architect of Kazan, and other guests of the festival assessed the works presented at the Center of Contemporary Culture “Smena”.

Applications for participation in the competition were accepted until August 17. In total, 69 applications were received, including 21 from architects from Kazan, 36 from representatives of other cities of Russia, and 12 international ones (from England, USA, Canada, China, Australia, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Turkey). The exhibition presents 45 works. The participants had a task in the concept of restoring a plot on the territory of the Lokomotiv peninsula, creating a well-developed embankment and harmoniously connecting the new zone into a common urban space. In addition, they must submit ideas for improving the ecological condition of the territory. The area of the projected plot is 120 hectares, the length of the coastline is about 5 km.

Ilsur Metshin greeted participants of the contest-festival at the opening of the exposition. He marked the importance of the competition for Kazan, noting that the city occupies a special place in Russia. “We would like to be a special city in the Russian Federation, a pearl of the Volga region. We are located on the banks of the Volga, Kazanka, Kaban, and at the crossroads of all geographic and waterways. And without the architectural community, without you, dear colleagues, it is impossible to imagine tomorrow day. Each such competition gives us new opportunities. We are looking forward to the results, because there is always a place for creative impulse”, marked the Mayor of Kazan.

The head of the city expressed confidence that thanks to the festival, new architectural solutions will be found and will help to further reveal the tourist potential of the capital of Tatarstan. The Mayor remembered how just ten years ago, Kazan’s plans to turn into a tourist Mecca seemed as unrealizable dreams. “In the millennium year of Kazan, we were able to receive 460 thousand tourists. And this year, we will host a three millionth tourist. Therefore, the bolder the goals and ideas, the stronger the desire to change the world around, the better results we can achieve together”, said I. Metshin.

Irek Faizullin made a welcoming speech. He recalled that the water area in the republic is more than 20 thousand square kilometers. “Almost all of our cities are located in the coastal zone. Therefore, the fact that today we can hold the “Eco-Bereg” in Kazan is a very important event for the future development of our republic”, noted the minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Services of the RT.

Nikolay Shumakov, the president of the Union of Architects of Russia, expressed the hope that the works and concepts of the participants will be of practical use. “We hope that the results of our festival, the results of the competition, will form the basis for further elaboration of the project and its implementation. Such a territory should not disappear. It should live actively and participate in the life of the city”, he said. Leonid Los, one of the competition partners, a representative of the company “Knauf”, appreciated the significance of the project as well.

After the solemn ceremony, the guests and members of the jury examined the exhibited entries, noting both the advantages and disadvantages of the projects. “The works are very diverse. It is obvious that the authors have a different professional level and approach. I think it will be very difficult to compare, because the work sets completely different tasks. Someone makes a greater emphasis on improvement, someone on an unusual architecture, someone decides town-planning issues”, said Tatiana Prokofieva, the chief architect of Kazan.

In the eight years of existence, more than 5000 architects and guests from Russia and foreign countries visited the festival. The Eco-Bereg was hosted by Anapa, Zelenogorsk, Sochi, Ilyichevsk, Moscow, Baku, Nizhny Novgorod. According to N. Shumakov, the president of the Union of Architects of Russia, the competition gained strength before coming to the third capital of Russia.

According to the program, the three days of the festival consist of competitive, business and exhibition programs and sports competitions. On October 5, a scientific-practical conference “Problems of the Renovation of the Volga River’s Coastal Territories” is scheduled to take place at the festival “Eco-Bereg-2018” with roundtables. The festival will last until October 7, residents of the city can get acquainted with the concepts of the embankment development in CCC “Smena” these days. The festival was organized by the Union of Moscow Architects and the Union of Architects of the RT.