"Architecture is always about the future": architect Andrei Chernikhov spoke about the role of structures in human life

The expert programme on architecture and urban planning titled "Looking into the Future" took place at the National Centre RUSSIA on April 8. The large-scale event brought together over 1,000 architects, builders, urbanists, developers, entrepreneurs, investors, representatives of state and municipal authorities, public figures, and media. Throughout the day, the professional community discussed issues related to the architecture of the future. The programme included two major tracks: architectural and urbanistic.

Industry professionals discussed upcoming trends in global and Russian architecture, the impact of urban planning on the urban environment, the interaction between architects, clients, and residents, among many other topics.

Today, the majority of the planet's population lives in cities, and residents of megacities experience the influence of architecture on a daily basis, emphasised architect Andrei Chernikhov, chief curator of the exposition "The Birth of Scale" at the National Centre RUSSIA, at the conclusion of the panel discussion "Architecture of Tomorrow: The Role of National and Global Components."

"We are born in maternity hospitals, we study in the buildings of schools, institutes, kindergartens. We work in offices and at industrial sites. We leave this world in ritual buildings. Accordingly, without even realising it, we experience the influence of architecture in an absolutely total way, yet we perceive architecture as something taken for granted. It is as if it simply exists — you are born from it, and you disappear into it. In this sense, architecture is so familiar to us as a phenomenon that we do not make the effort to think — what is wrong with it. For example, in recent decades, the state has withdrawn from the sphere of architecture and urban planning, a sphere it was once actively involved in — such as during the era of Napoleon III and the formation of Paris. Or in the era of Joseph Stalin, when the centres of almost all major cities and capitals of the Soviet republics were formed," noted Andrei Chernikhov.

The architect is convinced that urban spaces and comfortable conditions for residents must be shaped through the joint efforts of the state and developers.

"Because architecture is always about the future. We live in cities that were built even millennia ago. Architecture cannot be treated as something given. As something that was gifted to you and that you part with easily and without concern — obviously, this is the wrong approach. And this does not mean that the state should control architects. The state must understand that the most important thing is to ensure that the city of the future, which we are creating today, is not just comfortable, but expresses the most fundamental principles of human life on Earth," added Andrei Chernikhov.

The initiative "Looking into the Future" highlights the role of the National Centre RUSSIA as the initiator of systemic work in the field of state visual communications.