SPbGASU Architecture Student Takes Second Place at a National Competition
The All-Russian student forum “We Change Cities” was held at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia on 20–22 November 2021. Ilya Smirnovs, a fifth-year student of SPbGASU’s Faculty of Architecture, won second place as a member of a team that included architecture students from multiple Russian universities.
1. Ilya Smirnovs 2. ‘Silver’ Diploma of the second-place winner
The forum was organised with the support of a grant from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs by the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, the All-Russian Organisation for Urban Renovations, Association of Landscape Architects of Russia (ALAROS) and the Main Architectural and Planning Department of the Moscow Committee for Construction and Architecture.
The event consisted of an online stage and the second, in-person round. As part of the first stage, which took place on 28-30 October, participants attended virtual lectures on co-design, pre-project analysis, designing public spaces, and then, split into teams, worked on creating a concept proposal for a courtyard area in Moscow. As a result of this stage, 96 participants were selected as authors of the best concepts.
During the second round students accomplished their projects under the guidance of professionals in the field of territorial development.
Ilya Smirnovs told about his participation in the forum and shared his plans for the future:
– Our team was composed of architecture students from various universities in Russia. We all quickly realised that we had similar interests. There was a unique creative atmosphere in our team. The essence of the concept we developed was to increase the functional diversity of the courtyard. We divided the area into three main zones; each of them was filled with elements of landscaping, which allows residents to engage in a variety of activities. We were really pleased to hear the results of the competition announced at the Central House of Architects in Moscow when our team was awarded second place. The sleepless nights we spent working on developing the concept were not in vain! I plan to continue developing my skills in the field of urban improvement projects, because it means meeting new people, networking with experts, and getting a tremendous amount of teamwork experience aimed to improve our environment.
Text: Elena Shulgina
✔ Find out more about the Faculty of Architecture at SPbGASU