The HoC Khimikov through the eyes of the workshop “MARSH” participants: Soviet fresco, living room, attic, and hostel

(KZN.RU, October 9, Alsu Safina). The participants of the architectural workshop MARSH-2018 in Kazan offer to return the facade of The HoC Khimikov to the former look, to place a living room, an attic for teenagers, laboratories, a center of creative industries on different floors, and to show films and hold lectures in the courtyard. They presented their projects, architectural concepts of the renovation of social and cultural centers of Tatarstan, to Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, at the Center of Contemporary Culture “Smena” today.

Roman Kamaev, the deputy head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), Asgat Safarov, the head of the Presidential Administration of the RT, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Natalia Fishman, an assistant to the President of the RT, Nail Magdeev, the Mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatiana Prokofieva, the chief architect of Kazan, Elena Zelentsova, the vice president and the director of Urban Development of the Skolkovo Foundation, the head of the Department of Territorial Development named after V. Glazychev of the School of Design the RANEPA, Vladimir Kudryashov, the deputy minister of Construction, and Architecture Serve and Housing of the RT, Damir Fattakhov, the minister of Youth Affairs of the RT, Airat Faizov, the chairman of the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, heads of districts’ administrations of Kazan, representatives of municipal formations of the republic, and others attended the event.

A team of architects together with Ekaterina Goldberg, an expert, co-founder of the architectural bureau “Orchestra”, worked on reformatting the House of Culture of Khimikov in Kazan. The HoC is a landmark object for Kazan and the city, which next year will be 50 years old. About 90 thousand Kazan citizens live in the 15-minute walking distance from the HoC.

Employees of the Kazanorgsintez plant participated in the construction of the House of Culture “Khimikov”. “At one time, he was one of the cultural centers of the city. Now it is important that a full-fledged transformation take place, because after the 90s the role of the HoC as a cultural center decreased. It was there that new youth subcultural movements were born, young rock bands played there, danced Hop, young street art artists created, so we see great potential for the development of this space, ”the expert noted. According to her, during the work three main goals were formed. First of all, to connect the recreation center of “Khimikov” with the Sosnovaya Roscha park. Now there is a fence between them and there is no interaction. Secondly, to make the House of Culture a site that provides opportunities for the implementation of youth projects. Thus, the studios, a center of creative industries, and scientific laboratories function there. Third, keep the link of generations. Now many classes for children are organized in the recreation center of Khimikov, and elderly Kazan citizens attend it. “The slogan of our project is social chemistry. When different audiences connect, more interesting projects happen. We thought through the formats so that different audiences could interact. For example, young scientists may be interested in teaching scientific subjects”, said Ekaterina Goldberg.

According to the project, it is proposed to place an open living room on the ground floor. Through it, it will be possible to get to the Center for Creative Industries, a library with an exhibition space and a special attic for teenagers. On the 2nd floor, architects suggest organizing co-working, workshops, educational spaces, and a hostel. At the 3rd one, as conceived by the participants of the workshop, narrowly targeted studios, educational research laboratories for schoolchildren and rehearsal rooms could be accommodated. In addition, it is proposed to install an elevator to make the building more accessible to residents of the city, and to use unclaimed space today - basements, a balcony. “We increase the efficiency of building use by 46%, there will be more functional content and less empty spaces”, said Ekaterina Goldberg.

Architects propose to pay special attention to the facade of the HoC Khimikov. Ekaterina Goldberg said that in the 90s, the facade was greatly changed.

Damir Fattakhov, the minister of Youth Affairs of the RT, reminded that on the instructions of the President, the possibility of organizing a youth center of Kazan in the HoC Khimikov is being considered. “The youth center is not an easy job. It’s an environment, an atmosphere that will be interesting for a young person, modern services are provided there”, said Damir Fattakhov.

In total, several renovation projects of Tatarstan youth centers, teen clubs, recreation camps, and cultural centers were presented at the event.

Such meetings are important, and the presented projects are interesting, Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, shared his impressions after the presentation. According to the head of the republic, the concepts envisage the transformation of objects in terms of architecture, but also of culture and their content. R. Minnikhanov reminded that a major overhaul of the houses of culture is underway in Kazan. “It is important to correctly write a technical task and get the maximum effect from each square meter”, believes the President of the RT. He added that the creative component is equally important.

“Public spaces and facilities should be merged into a cluster”, marked Rustam Minnikhanov. “We are building an object, and there is no place to go next to it”. It is necessary to use the existing potential. “Previously, there was no such possibility. Today, we have specialists and architects, we have partners to consult with. With what colleagues offer, you can keep within the same time, but do it much more efficiently. The main thing is to use the investment correctly so that we do not “bury” the invested funds.

The third architectural workshop was launched on September 7. The teams of architects worked under the leadership of tutors, specialists in the field of social and cultural objects management. The objects that had to be modernized by the architects are the Kazan HoC Khimikov, the teenage club “Cluster”, the children's recreation camp named after A. Gubin in the village of Malaya Bugulma, the House of Folk Art in Nizhnekamsk, the youth centers in Almetyevsk and Naberezhnye Chelny, Palace of Youth in Bugulma.