Khodyreva Anna K.
REVIEWING VALUES. FROM THE INDUSTRIAL TO THE PUBLIC
Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (36) December, 2011
Today interest in the industrial heritage from the point of view of its historical and cultural importance is growing. Following contemporary tendencies, industrial architecture is being reprofiled or is simply transformed into the category of the public. Unfortunately, the importance of the industrial heritage is not always given its worth. As a result, reconstruction sometimes results in a cardinally different image, losing touch with the past.
The article is a review of reprofiling projects using the «Russikye Samotsvety» (Russian Semi-Precious Stones) factory as an example. This factory is located at the crossing of 8 Marta Street and Radishchev Street. The project involved the location of the business centre «Chernyshevsky, 16» in the central part of the city in an historically valuable site.
The change of function has happened along with changes in the exterior and the role of this object in the environment. As a result of increasing the height of one of the spatial elements, its function of a background has been complicated with a function of a dominant. The use of a large area of dark blue glass surface in the elevations has rendered the building modernistic, which served to sever the links between the past and the present.
From the viewpoint of video-ecology, the architectural solution of the business centre «Chernyshevsky 16» results in an aggressive environment. The regularity of façade partitioning and rationality of forms do not correspond with the physiological standards of sight, creating discomfort. The presence of motley advertising inclusions at the corner facade does not conceal its monotony but also "pulls it out" from the environment. In this arrangement, the conflict between the reconstructed building and the environment is particularly striking.
Considering the fact that «Chernyshevsky 16» is a product of industrial reprofiling, one wants to see it as an example of historical continuity. Obviously, the city administration should give more attention to the industrial heritage.
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