Contest projects

From 4 February to 30 June, SPbGASU is hosting a closed architectural competition, “SPbGASU History Museum and the Military Glory Corner.” The contest involves third-year students majoring in “Design of Architectural Environment”.

The defense of the contest works took place at the SPbGASU "Growth Point" space on 15 April. As the Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and member of the competition organizing committee Marina Malyutina noted at the opening of the meeting, the work done by the students is a contribution to their professional growth and to the development of our university.

The contestants presented projects for updating the interior and design code of the SPbGASU History Museum, as well as the Military Glory Corner, located on the balustrade. An important condition was to include exhibition equipment for placing the "Book of Glory" in the interior.

The "Book of Glory" was composed for the 40th anniversary of the Great Victory. It is a massive metal frame filled with sheets of paper with biographies. The weight of the book is about 20-30 kg. Its creation was preceded by long-going work on searching and collecting information about students, teachers, and university employees who went to the front and did not return from the war. The university archive contains two thick folders with responses to letters that employees sent to different parts of the country in search of relatives, fellow soldiers, and friends who had at least some information about the deceased. The result of this painstaking work was the "Book of Glory", which contains a brief biographical note about each soldier.

The team of authors, which included Natalia Rylova, Polina Buklinova and Irina Sherstneva, proposed dividing the balustrade into five zones and connecting them with a bridge. According to the project, the balustrade will house a recreation area, an exhibition space, a coworking zone, a stage and the Military Glory Corner, the creation of which was inspired by military items.

The museum has a storage area, a workspace for employees, and a multifunctional space for visitors. The authors protected the banners stored in the museum from light and mechanical damage with glass.

In their project, Daria Antipina, Anastasia Gancheva and Anastasia Perlina sought not to overload the already small museum space, but to place a large amount of information there, to make the exhibition modern and focused on the younger generation. The route through the museum is designed in such a way that visitors can consistently follow the history of the university and not miss anything. In addition, the authors developed several exhibition stands and a vertical projector, which will help guides supplement their story with video material.

"When developing the Military Glory Corner, we faced completely different challenges: we had to rethink the historical interiors and breathe new ideas into them, creating a single functional space. We moved the Military Glory Corner to the left balustrade, making it the main accent there. And on the right balustrade, we placed an amphitheater. Our concept is based on a single module, which allows us to set a design code for the entire space. And the highlight of our project is modular transformed furniture, which allows you to quickly change the scenario for using the room," said Daria Antipina.

Polina Ryabova, Arina Savelyeva and Anna Merzlyakova developed the identity (a set of elements in a single style that make the brand recognizable), based on associations related to the old name of the university - LISI, and also using current trends in design. The patterns they created can be used on furniture, in the development of posters and infographics.

Upon entering the museum from the staircase, guests are greeted by a blue portal, which seems to invite them to look inside. The visitor puts on a helmet, thus immersing themselves in the professional theme of the museum. The opening exhibitions introduce the early history of the university. Interesting elements are a media dome for demonstrating video footage, a blue corridor with authentic exhibits and a large stand dedicated to the post-war years and famous graduates. The corridor leads to the cinema space. The final element of the museum space is a map of the surrounding university buildings. There are places for a large number of students to work on the balustrade, and soft amphitheaters and chain poufs will make you feel comfortable and cozy. Transformable furniture makes the space mobile - it allows for organizing coworking zone, exhibitions, and a buffet.

Symmetry and straight lines are the focus of the project by Ekaterina Kochergina and Alena Radkova. The designers sought to preserve history and support the existing classicism, while making it more modern and attractive to students. Their goal was to give the memory corner the appearance of a full-fledged separate space, while not competing in its function with the balustrade room, where a coworking space for students is organized.

The balustrade space has two functions: a memorial and a recreation and work area for students. These two zones are separated from each other by partitions imitating a rock made of art concrete. The boards with the names of the heroes have been replaced by a wall of memory made of art concrete, engraved with the names of the deceased.

A large role in the interior design is played by the combination of natural materials: the accent table is made of solid wood with a glass block base, the imitation rock is made of art concrete, large-sized porcelain tiles are used, and the entire composition is complemented by greenery, which looks especially lively against the background of the artificial rock. At the end of the table there is a living tree, similar to the one that decorates the main entrance of SPbGASU.

The museum also features symmetry, straight lines, and a clear division of space. The accent material is glass block, from which the columns and the base of the information stand are made. On one of the walls there are niches in the form of illuminated circles housing interactive screens.

Since the "Book of Glory" is quite old and fragile, the authors of the project decided to place its contents in a different way. The structure consists of cells, each containing a hinged plaque. On one side is a portrait of the hero, on the other - his biography, achievements and awards. Visitors will be able to approach and turn these plaques over. The book itself is displayed under glass in front of the exhibit. Another accent element is the black aluminum perforation on the ceiling with an asymmetrical pattern. To avoid overlapping with events on the balustrade and to improve functional zoning, Sofia Dolgova moved the Military Glory Corner to another part of the balustrade. In the project, it is adjacent to the exhibition space.

"The main task in the design was to fence off the memorial area. Thus, a kind of parallelepiped was created - part of the stand for the "Book of Glory". The upper part is blind, finished with textured plaster. The lower part is glass, so that you can see the book itself and the far part of the exhibition. Thus, a visual connection is created that arouses interest in the exhibition, but at the same time, clear zoning is physically preserved. In this case, the lighting plays the role of navigation. Climbing the steps, we find ourselves in the exhibition area. Two key elements are the stand with the "Book of Glory" and the memorial plaques. What looks like a parallelepiped from the balustrade side, from the side of the memorial turns into a kind of niche, a portal. Here is a stand with a book and above it a screen where the contents of the book are broadcast (scanned sheets with information about students, teachers, employees of the university)," explained Sofia Dolgova.

The main idea of the museum space in Sofia's project is the connection between the past, present and future. The corridor is the first place we find ourselves when entering the museum, it kind of greets us and makes the first impression of the space. The light strips gradually increase towards the entrance to the museum, creating a reverse perspective effect, slightly distorting the proportions of the room and creating a wow effect.

"A modern museum is interactive. And in this project, this was demonstrated not only in the use of media screens and modern technologies, but also in the configuration of the stands themselves. Stands of various shapes force visitors to look at exhibits from different angles and interact with them in different ways, which enhances the impression," the author said.

To ensure human interaction with the museum, Artem Lopatinsky included cabinets with pull-out shelves in the interior, where exhibits are located. The more valuable ones are covered with plexiglass. The stands located near the window openings are very easy to study due to natural light. It is also easy to place information on them due to the mesh material they are made of. At the end of the exhibition hall, there is an exposition with bricks. There is another zone in the museum, which can serve as both an extension of the exhibition space and a hall for methodological activities. This space is transformed by accent sliding partitions. Here, there is a large multimedia screen, a podium and exhibition stands located opposite the entrance to the hall.

On the left side of the balustrade there are recreation areas for students, buffets are also held here, and the rest of the time there is a coworking space. On the right balustrade there are temporary exhibitions, the rest of the time there is also a coworking space. This is where the Military Glory Corner is located. It is separated from the rest of the balustrade space during student and other events by an installation made of bent steel sheets. The Book of Glory is integrated into the installation, and the impression is created of pages of memory flying out of the book. Two lighting scenarios are provided - with an emphasis on the memorial and with an emphasis on the art object.

The main visual image in the project by Polina Tambova, Sergey Klechkovsky and Aslan Osmanov was the pixel. The team of authors had three reasons for this. Firstly, a modern museum is an interactive, playful space, which is associated with pixels. Secondly, a pixel is a symbol of scientific and technological progress. Thirdly, a pixel is an analogue of a brick in the digital space.

At the entrance to the museum space, the designers placed a visual accent - a book of memory and an inviting inscription. Light was let into the dark and cramped corridor through windows in the museum space and in the office. The main space of the museum was divided into two zones: exhibition and interactive. They symbolize the past and the future. The accent of the exhibition zone is a tree, referring to the Canadian maple in front of the main entrance to the university. Glass cubes hover around it, inside which are objects of memory. A tactile cabinet serves as a partition - a moment between the past and the future, which can be felt with the touch of fingers. The authors are sure: the interactive zone is necessary to bring new life to the museum, to create an opportunity for holding thematic events. The walls exhibit the works of modern architects. The balustrade clearly shows classical proportions, which the authors wanted to emphasize. At the same time, it was important for them to make the interior modern, corresponding to the general style of the university. Since the university does not have enough work spaces, coworking can be equipped on both balustrades.

Different usage scenarios are proposed for the two balustrades: the western balustrade is closer to the dining room, so it can accommodate a buffet, or this space can be freed up for rehearsals before the "Golden Faculty" or "Pasta Builder"; the eastern balustrade can be adapted for temporary exhibitions or small lectures.

"The memorial plaques were moved from the western balustrade to the eastern one to avoid a conflict between the zones, and a photo zone with the university's slogan was created in their place. The memorial zone was separated from the public areas by a glass installation with lighting. This will preserve the solemn spirit and create a visual barrier between the memorial zone and the place for work and rest. We preserved the memorial plaques and also supplemented the composition with a blank book, the information on which will be projected from above. This is a way to make information from the "Book of Glory" accessible to everyone, while preserving the original documents in the museum. All aspects of our project are formed according to this principle: we wanted to preserve the existing images and meanings in a new form," said Sergey Klechkovsky.

Yana Kiseleva visually expanded the museum corridor, added air and lightness by replacing blind doors with transparent glass ones and part of the wall with stained glass. In the main area of ​​the exhibition hall, one of the walls is equipped with aliminocomposite panels inclined at different angles, the most convenient for the human eye to perceive - this is the "life line of SPbGASU". The author preserved the exposition dedicated to the first rector of the university, developed fractional and glass exhibition stands located along the walls and in the middle part of the space without creating visual noise. In the center of the interactive zone, she placed an interactive table with touch screens for independent study and selection of the necessary information by students. The best projects of graduates with additional space for models are presented in the niche of the far wall.

"From the museum, you can get almost directly through the rector's building to the upper balustrade of the university, in one of the parts of which the SPbGASU Military Glory Corner is located. I decided to move the memorial zone to the adjacent part of the balustrade to avoid a functional conflict with the space for buffets/banquets. The Military Glory Corner is located on the stage, its central part is reserved for a stand with the "Book of Glory", separated from the main room by interactive screens, in the niche of the far wall there are preserved memorial plaques with carved names of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, on the sides there are areas for additional glass stands. The leading materials are strict monumental textures, emphasizing the historical and cultural value of the memorial," said Yana.

Head of the Department of Architectural Environment Design and member of the competition's organizing committee Maria Granstrem noted the excellent work of her department's staff - Associate Professor Yan Korzhempo, senior lecturers Marina Khramova and Dmitry Fleisher. It was under their guidance that the students developed their competition projects.

Marina Malyutina thanked the students for their work, noting their talent and potential. According to Marina Viktorovna, the task was difficult, but the students found interesting solutions. These solutions can be combined to get what the customer, the university, needs.

The competition jury will announce the finalists after 23 April. All ideas will be taken into account when designing the interiors of SPbGASU.

Project by Natalia Rylova, Polina Buklinova and Irina Sherstneva

Project by Daria Antipina, Anastasia Gancheva and Anastasia Perlina

Project by Polina Ryabova, Arina Savelyeva and Anna Merzlyakova

Project by Ekaterina Kochergina and Alena Radkova

Project by Sofia Dolgova

Project by Artem Lopatinsky

Project by Polina Tambova, Sergey Klechkovsky and Aslan Osmanov

Project by Yana Kiseleva