Angelina Bakhtina and Vladislava Semyashkina at the award ceremony

Angelina Bakhtina, a student of the SPbGASU Department of Architectural Environment Design, won the competition for the Ilya Mochalov scholarship, which she will receive during the 2024/2025 academic year. The results of the competition were announced on 1 September at a gala event on the green roof of the office of the landscape company "Ilya Mochalov and Partners" in Moscow.

The Ilya Mochalov scholarship, established this year, is the first scholarship in Russia for students studying in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and architectural environment design. The scholarship competition started on 31 May, the Landscape Architect Day, as part of a partnership between the "Ilya Mochalov and Partners" landscape company, the Green Arrow International Landscape Art Center, and the Moscow Association of Landscape Architects. Students who successfully completed their third year of full-time bachelor's degree programs at universities in Russia and neighboring countries could apply for the scholarship. They had to prepare a portfolio of their best creative works.

More than 100 students from all over the country took part in the competition. The jury included landscape architects from the company "Ilya Mochalov and Partners", the head of the group of companies "Green Arrow" Dmitry Baranov, the head of the landscape design studio LMG & Partners (GC "Green Arrow") Maria Pogodina, the chairman of the Moscow Association of Landscape Architects Elena Sinodskaya and the chairman of the education committee of the Moscow Association of Landscape Architects Aleksandr Dovganyuk.

By voting the jury made a shortlist of six participants, who were given the opportunity to present their works in person: these were SPbGASU students Angelina Bakhtina, Vladislava Semyashkina, Ekaterina Romanova, Ksenia Raskurina, as well as Anna Yuryeva from the Yaroslavl State Technical University and Dmitry Kuznetsov from MARCHI. Three finalists were selected from them based on the results of the presentation.

"We had to make a difficult choice. The contestants demonstrated great potential and aspiration to create not only beautiful and modern, but also comfortable, eco-friendly, sustainable landscape spaces. We strongly support the desire of young people to develop in their chosen profession of landscape architect," noted Dmitry Baranov. "We wish both the winner and the participants of the competition successful completion of professional education, implementation of creative plans. Maintain and improve the level of knowledge, skills and abilities that you demonstrated in your works! Bon voyage!"

Angelina Bakhtina assessed the competition as a unique opportunity to test her strength and show her talents. She sent a portfolio of several projects to the competition. The project for the improvement of the embankment of Lake Lyappäjärvi in ​​the Karelian city of Sortavala included the creation of terrain cures, a bird garden, tree and shrub areas, and a wooden pier. For the Vasileostrovsky district of St Petersburg, Angelina designed a square, dividing it into zones for wildlife, quiet recreation, commercial enterprises, and sports games. For the same district, she proposed an interesting concept for landscaping the boulevard, which allows one to observe flora and fauna. In addition, Angelina presented a project for a private garden to the jury.

Second place was also taken by an SPbGASU representative Vladislava Semyashkina. Vladislava admits that she likes to look for solutions to territorial problems and create projects taking into account the opinions of local residents. Vladislava's portfolio consisted of projects for the improvement of the embankment of the Gulf of Finland in Kronstadt with the recreation of plants from the Red Book of St Petersburg, projects for a square and a courtyard that take into account modern requirements for public spaces, as well as a model of a transit (communication) space.

The portfolio of SPbGASU student Ekaterina Romanova was also highly appreciated.

All finalists received the opportunity to do a month-long internship at the landscape company "Ilya Mochalov and Partners".