State modern—behind the curtain: young architects on display in Moscow while van Egeraat is turned down; Highest-rise living proposed in Manchester, England; Patrick Nuttgens obituary; Browser reviews Zaha Hadid't mysterious website; Blobs in Birmingham and Graz—is there any real difference?; View from Phnom Penh

Architectural Review, The, May, 2004 by Rob Gregory

The three drapes that hung in the centre of Moscow's handsome Gostiny Dvor exhibition hall were, in reality, far weightier than their lightweight appearance initially suggested. In separating the fourth biennial FIDExpo from the innaugural 100% Design Moscow, they formed a curtain that had been symbolically drawn between two distinct design worlds: the world of FIDExpo (representing 'high style interior creation', with pianos, candelabras, and a quirky selection of antique reproductions), and across the divide, the clean white canvas of 100% Design Moscow.

As the first export of 100% Design, established in London almost ten years ago by Ian Rudge and Rachel Robin, 100% Design Moscow was the first chance for emerging Russian designers to be featured alongside more established international design companies. With 34 selected exhibitors attracting almost 14 000 international visitors, the event included seminars by British designers Michael Young, Nick Crosbie and Jamie Anley (Anley being from 100% Design exhibition designers Jam); a British Council supported workshop focusing on 'The Opposite of Luxury'; a Young Designer Award, organized by Moscow-based magazine Interior Design (which included Alexander Matveev's second prize-winning Tipsy Star Lounge Transformer, and Maxim Dolgov's short-listed Tablebench); and five 100% Design bursaries awarded to upcoming Russian designers, Victor Freydenberg, Elena Tiplitskaya, Aleshin Studio, Respect and Michail Barashkov. Over the show's four-day programme, the pace and energy increased steadily, and while exhibition organizers would normally anticipate significant growth to take place over a number of seasons, true to the pace of change in new Russia, the show is expected to more than double in size in 2005, (with 10-13 March already confirmed in the diary).

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With a broad range of products, the show also presented some of Russia's young architects on the Project Russia stand: a new generation of designers who, being too young to have worked for the state, seem to exhibit more energy and enthusiasm than their predecessors (a more weary generation who, having come from the relative stability of state run departments, seem less optimistic about the challenges and unpredictability of the open market). Seeking to prioritize ethical and aesthetic aspirations over the emphasis placed on luxury interiors, this stand may have seemed slightly out of place to some visitors, but informing the market seems to be the right tactic.

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To many local architects, the problem of design quality does not rest with the profession, as its ambition, talent and energy are clear to see. It seems to lie with the market, led by the got-rich-quick-so-spend-it-even-quicker mentality of the new elite. Before the property market was activated, and while people continued to live in cramped Soviet homes, new money was apparently spent on Mercedes Benz. Now, however, people invest in property and seem happy to settle for a Nissan. So, architects are predominantly kept busy on the home front, either commissioned to flee to the forests to design country houses within sinister gated communities, or asked to sneak contemporary interiors into the many new and grotesquely stylized city centre POMO condos.

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While there is relatively more design freedom out of the city, within central Moscow it is the Mayor, Luri Luzhkov, who dictates the people's taste. Having recently rejected Erick van Egeraat's riverside mixed-use scheme, Avant-Garde (which takes its inspiration from Constructivist painters), with Luzhkov having the last word, it may be many years before visionary architects can realize their ambitions.

So, despite the fact that the growing economy should have liberated the generation of so-called 'paper architects', many can do little more than revert to playful speculation when searching for a new Russian form of architecture. They include architects such as Boris Bernaskoni and his Russian doll building, Matrix, which is an audacious and experimental architectural proposition that dismantles and distributes Matreshka (Russian dolls) along the Moskva-river in different scales and sizes, from a 500m-high mixed-use-super-construction to a small private house.