Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Lanfranco Cirillo, an Italian art collector who designed a mysterious 18,000 sq. m Black Sea mansion supposedly built for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be tried in absentia by an Italian court on financial charges next month. In an interview published by the ANSA news agency on Friday, the architect said that he currently resides in Moscow and claimed that an Interpol Red Notice effectively prevents him from returning to Italy to defend his name. — The Art Newspaper
As reported by The Art Newspaper, Cirillo is being investigated for an array of crimes, including fraudulent tax returns, money laundering, the illegal transfer of funds, and for violating the code of protection of cultural heritage. Last year, Italian officials raided Cirillo’s villa near... View full entry
If we have to take the moral standards and political correctness into account, then we should instead be talking about where you can then even build at all. Then I can’t build in Russia, and I can’t build in China or Saudi Arabia. I’m not allowed to build for the Church, either, because it is morally depraved. My question for you is this: What am I supposed to do now? — DER SPIEGEL
In an interview conducted by Susanne Beyer and Ulrike Knöfel, Wolf Prix claims to be no “moralist” and explains why he hasn’t withdrawn from three gigantic construction projects in Russia, even as other Prominent architecture firms voice intent to suspend work in Russia as statements of... View full entry
Lanfranco Cirillo, the designer of a mysterious 18,000 sq. m mansion on the Black Sea that many believe was built for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being investigated by the Italian authorities for allegedly failing to pay a €50m tax bill. Officials raided the 63-year-old Italian architect’s own sizeable villa in February, where they discovered and confiscated a treasure trove of works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, [and] Wassily Kandinsky. — The Art Newspaper
The architect’s private helicopter was also confiscated by Italian authorities, who have been on a tear as of late, seizing yachts and other luxury items from Russian nationals associated with President Vladimir Putin. Cirillo is well known as the man behind the biggest gem in Putin’s... View full entry
The open letter by architecture magazine Project Russia, which included over 6,500 signatures of Russian architects and urban planners opposing military strikes in Ukraine, has been removed and replaced. The original text from their open letter, which can be found in Archinect's... View full entry
UPDATE, March 4th, 2022: New media crackdown in Russia forces censorship of open letter signed by country's architects and urban planners A new missive in the architectural community’s fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been launched as this time, a group from inside the... View full entry
As casualties mount in Vladimir Putin's war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine, the prominent Moscow-based Strelka Institute for Media Architecture and Design has issued a statement condemning the loss of life and announcing that it has suspended all academic activities until further... View full entry
Architecturally speaking, it’s not the biggest or best project I made. It’s nice neoclassicism – that’s what was asked for. As an architect, I build what the customer wants...But aesthetically speaking, it is very correct considering historical proportions. It is not kitsch...It's not overdone, but naturally it is rich, as it was supposed to be. And we used fantastic materials. I was proud of my job. — Der Spiegel
Christian Esch chatted with Lanfranco Cirillo an architect who has spent decades providing Moscow’s super rich with villas and Italian-inspired designs. View full entry
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has ordered officials to speed up the construction of a cultural centre in Sevastopol, the historic naval capital of Crimea, which will include exhibition space for the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum and the State Tretyakov Gallery.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. In May this year, Putin inaugurated a $7.5bn bridge to link the Crimean city of Kerch with the Russian mainland.
— The Art Newspaper
Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned 2018 World Cup officials that delays to preparations for the tournament are "unacceptable", although they are not yet "critical".
Russia will host its first World Cup from 14 June to 15 July using 12 venues in 11 cities across the country.
Putin, 64, said that while work was "entirely satisfactory" overall, "there are nevertheless some delays".
— BBC
With the world's biggest soccer event officially kicking off in June 2018, Russian President Putin is whipping his officials in formation to have construction on the twelve venues in eleven cities across Russia completed without any delays — and avoid the fiasco from the Sochi Olympic... View full entry
The Russian President Vladimir Putin opened Zaryadye Park near Red Square on 9 September, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, creators of New York’s High Line, but what Moscow city officials are lauding as a “new symbol of Russia” preservationists are decrying as a travesty that impinges on the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral, two of Russia’s most sacred landmarks. — The Art Newspaper
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Zaryadye Park proposal for an ambitious replacement of the colossal Soviet-era Hotel Russia near the Kremlin in central Moscow won the international competition back in 2013 with a "wild urbanism" concept. Rendering of DS+R's Zaryadye Park project in central Moscow... View full entry
An interactive map of the former Soviet Union’s Constructivist architectural heritage went online just days before the city of Moscow published a list of 4,500 apartment buildings proposed for demolition as part of a plan to relocate up to 1.6 million residents. Describe by many residents as a property grab [...] the demolition plan has proven so unpopular that thousands turned up for a demonstration against it in Moscow on Sunday 14 May carrying signs with slogans like “My house is my castle”. — The Art Newspaper
"The plan has also alarmed preservationists," The Art Newspaper writes. "Initially described as an effort to upgrade residents from pre-fabricated mass housing built under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, the architectural targets have broadened and fears are mounting that it has become a... View full entry
Grigory Revzin, a respected architecture critic, has been fired as the commissioner of the Russian pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale (7 June-23 November). Writing on Facebook on Monday, Revzin speculated that the cause was his vocal criticism of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In a statement posted on its website, the culture ministry said on Tuesday that he was fired due to his “extremely active” public positions. — theartnewspaper.com
