U:Lab.spb KL

U:Lab.spb competition 2012 Nikola Lenivets Art Residencies / Moscow

Among 20 teams from all around the globe U:lab.spb has been invited to develop project of Art residencies of wildlife park Nikolo Lenivets.

The key concept of the project became a simulation and development of  mechanism of emergence of creative cluster on the basis of Wildlife Park Nikolo Lenivets. Complex strategy of development of the creative cluster within several directions like local studies, academic art, high tech etc overlaps with dynamics of the natural landscape of Nikolo Lenivets. Project propose material strategy of flexible growth of art residences mixed with production, education and promotion programmes.

Algorithm which simulates  emergence of creative cluster has to be connected to the web and together with generic strategy has to be driven by real creative community generating variety of demands and offers in different creative projects. Network of potential projects is connected by actors, resources and financial schemes, also its presented in the timeline sequences. Algorithm allows to test varieties of combinations of start up projects and see the level of potentials for the second generation of projects to emerge. 

     

NLtrial from katyalarina on Vimeo. in collaboration with Alexandra Boldireva

U:Lab.spb competition 2011/12 Kiev Islands Urban Wildlife Park

In december 2011 U:Lab.spb in collaboration with Yevgeniya Pozigun (London), Irina Klixbull (Copenhagen) and Roman Pomazan (Kiev) made a competition project Kiev Islands. 

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Project develops the decision-making instrument\strategy which is intended to guide the future development of Kiev Islands. Proposed strategy combines 3 main streams of development in different proportions. The first one envisions Kiev Islands as a system which protects and nourishes the natural environment of Kiev Islands harmed by the activity of Kiev megalopolis. This part of the strategy proposes a development of green infrastructure: water cleaning system,  reclamation of the polluted water bed and bio-fuel production. The second part of the strategy aims to convert Kiev islands into the center of the Research-Educational network of the Dnieper’s river ecological corridor. This is achieved by gradual development of Research clusters along with mobile Green Infrastructure Monitoring Units. Educational aspect is fulfilled by the placement of the Educational Centre with Campus which activity would include not only collaboration with educational institutions but also involvement of Kiev general public. Third part is focused on redevelopment and densinfication of the already existing parts of islands aiming to bring a new high quality of public and cultural environment to Kiev Islands area. Most of the programs are profit generating and potentially attractive for the developers. All projects contained in 3 strategies are interconnected into a self-sufficient system of ecological network.

In modern conditions of the contemporary megalopolis the sprawl of development over this territory will undoubtedly happen over time. It is hard to stop this process nevertheless we believe it is possible to regulate the development by introducing  the concept of adjustable buffer zones as a protective belt for the natural environment. Driver principles of buffer zones concept imply  that any new development has to happen only in already developed zones, which separated from natural environment  by  the  buffer zone which contains elements of green infrastructure, ecopark facilities and low intensity  public and cultural programs. Programs and material organisation of buffer zone in some part plays a role of physical boundary between human activity and nature or creates attenuation of human activity towards zones of  natural environment.

Please find details at archdaily.comand prezi.com

special thanks to Viktor Kopeikin (Ukrane) 

Closed Cities exhibition and publication on BLDGBLOG

Please read about passed exhibition and Panel at Van Alen Books on the topic of "Secret Soviet Cities During the Cold War" at BLDGBLOG: Secret Soviet Cities

Presentation of the catalog of ZATO exhibition on 15th of may at Van Alen, New York

        

Looking forward for the launch of the ZATO exhibition catalog  on 15th of may at Van Alen Institute, New York. This publication includes a few essays on secret cities issue and also my paper "Studycase #44/ How to open a Closed city", pity I wouldn't be able to be there. 

 

Closed cities exhibition at Harriman Institute, Columbia University

   

U:lab.spb has been invited to contribute to the exhibition about Closed cities which was opened on 27 of March  and will go on till 22 May at Harriman Institute, Columbia University. I was happy to present research on ZATO Sverdlovsk 44 in sections "perimeter" and "territory".  There is a forthcoming in the end of the month publication of my essay "ZATO, studycase #44, to open a closed city" within an exibition catalog.  Also on 15th of May there will be a panel discussion in Van Alen institute, unfortunately I would not be able to be there. I am very glad that there is a high interest around such an fasinating topic we was working on. Special thanks to the exhibition curator Xenia Vytuleva.    ZATO - Secret Soviet Cities during the Cold War

ZATO/Closed City #44: Novouralsk /“Closed Cities” as an "Open system" / Lecture at AA for Landscape Urbanism students / february 2012

I was kindly invited by Douglas Spencer in the framework of his history and theory lecture course for Landscape Urbanism students to give a talk “Closed Cities” as an "Open system" at Architectural Association. On my lecture I was glad to share my research and results of the Workshop U:Lab.spb made on the unique phenomenon of Russian Closed Cities or so called ZATOs (closed territorial formations)

“Closed Cities” is the name for the walled research centers built during the cold war by the Soviet government. These cities could not be found on any map, however, they are still scattered over the territory of contemporary Russia with a population of more than 1 million. Due to the new economic and political circumstances, these Soviet utopias are now left without proper central control and funds which has caused stagnation of their urban environment.

This phenomenon challenges us to find a way of introducing into the artificial organism of the "Closed city" a new quality - the quality of self-organizing system able to adapt to the dynamic economic, social and cultural context of today.  

You also can check Douglas blog  Critical Grounds

 

Lecture Landscape DynaMix U:Lab.spb / Workshop Interaction /Branchpoint @ Strelka 2011

This is a lecture Landscape DynaMix U:Lab.spb made at Strelka school, the one of two we made in the framework of our workshop Interaction /Branchpoint @ Strelka 2011. The second one hopefully will be available soon.

The focus of the Landscape DynaMix lecture is design of environment as a dynamic system. Here we talk about  a new perception on urban environment, about a dynamic relations within a strategy for territory of development and about control over those natural processes that create space. In the second part of the lecture point of my particular interest was to examine horizons of application of few methodologies (including Landscape Urbanism) challenging to deal with design environment as complex dynamic system.

Landscape DynaMix U:Lab.spb unfortunately only in russian

U:Lab.spb as experts on Anna Shevchenko project "Jewish Region: Chosen but Forgotten" Preservation Unit @ Strelka School 2011

Last year it was a great pleasure for me and Daniyar to be an invited expert for the really interesting project of Anna Shevchenko in "Preservation" Rem Koolhaas Unit at Srelka school in Moscow.  

Jewish Region: Chosen but Forgotten from Anya Shevchenko 

 "Anna’s research is based on a field study of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast'. She observes how alien culture was able not only to acclimate in an absolutely unusual environment, but also become a pillar of the society." What I found extremely interesting in her project is that how in unique conditions of completely forgotten land she discovered a new model of preservation which has been evolved from the local social-economic conditions. The media of cultural heritage and national self-identification has been replaced with another media which inhered and  kept  the "alien culture".

 

Please find here Annas presentation Russian historic heritage / the Potential    

This is my and Daniyar Yusupov interview students filmed as a part of project for Preservation Unit, it was one of the set of  interviews with young russian architects talking on preservation issue in the context of St-Petersburg.

 

workshop INTERACTION / BRANCHPOINT @ STRELKA / 08.2011

On the workshop INTERACTION @ STRELKA / summer 2011 we proposed to use dynamically developing site of red October as an interactive platform between different actors of the space, urban and virtual landscape of Moscow. Particular challenge of the workshop was to work with environment as with a dynamic system, and use a digital simulation of processes shaping material and virtual landscape of the design site.

We also proposed a different design process, in order elaborate projects on variety of scales and fields, we split project into parallel 4 streams \ clusters. Cluster Landscape Dynamics has todevelop an analytical instrument which was simulating a dynamics of series parameters clusters agreed to work with. At the same time other clusters were developing design prototypes to which analytical instrument had to be applied later in order to reply to the real dynamic processes of the context. In the end we received 4 inter-cluster projects, where dynamicprocesses driving the context got into the interaction with a different scales of the compiled design proposal.

Here are some illustrations, the overall report is published here (in russian)

Analytical instrument / accessibility 

 

 

Analytical instrument of the simulation of pedestrian circulation in  daily dynamic.

Simulation shows monitoring of activity of public attractors during the daytime and calculates the most efficient pedestrian routs. The intensity of pedestrian routs overlaps with tightness and openness of the urban fabric. 

 

On the basis of the dynamic simulation group Information Cell build a set of scenarios which plays with user and navigate them through island tissue.

Application of the dynamic simulation to the tracing of urban corridors prototype

Analytical instrument / strategy of emergence

The focus of this simulation was to define a strategy of development of the creative cluster in the island. Team analyzed existing functions which can generate creative economy (first generation) then defined what the next generation of functions has to come in order to continue the development of the creative economy (and it was a combination of few old one and new), and develop a combination of the 3rd generation when the first generation is coming back but in the new quality.

 

 

 

Team also developed material system which will be driving the potentials of second generation of programs. This material system is a network of the public landscapes which were linking programs of the first generation and also generating the activity related to the new functions likely to appear .

Interactive part of the cross-cluster project proposed a serious of media instillations in order to connect different actors of environment.

Here you can find all the presentation Branchpoint @ Strelka 2011

Branchpoin&U:Lab.spb at ArchMoscow 2011 report by Ed Haiman

BranchPointActSurf from Branch Point on Vimeo.