This forum will affect the development of architecture

The First International Investment Forum of Architecture and Design SIYUM has finished its work in Kazan. 745 people from more than 40 cities of Russia and 10 countries took part in the work of the Forum.

On the first day of the Forum, on March 9, the Plenary session and Forsythe-session with the participation of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov took place.

Discussion of trends in design and architecture in the modern world in the frames of the Plenary session was held with the participation of the Prime Minister of Tatarstan Alexey Pesoshin. Chief Architect of Barcelona City (2011-2015) and co-founder of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Vicente Guallart, member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland Maria Kiernan, Honoured Artist of Russia, President of the Union of Architects of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and Russian Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences Nikolay Shumakov, President of the International Association “Union of designers” Andrey Bobykin, the winner of the annual business prize Design Award 2017 in the nomination “Design brand”, Ambassador of the Association of the Subject Design Specialists Eva Bergman, General Director of TextielMuseum Errol van de Werdt and the expert of creative unions Robert Aysoldt also took part in the discussion.

The participants of the meeting noted the necessity of work towards improvement of architectural education, unite companies and designers, overcome misunderstandings between architects and developers.

"We need to clear the barrier between consumers and designers. Difficulties often arise due to developers' requests. Now there is no merge in the overall work - the builder wants cheapness, the architect wants quality. We need to make an effort to put the architecture on a decent standard. And it is necessary to hold such events. I'm sure, the forum will affect the develpopment of architecture", - Nikolay Shumakov noted.

He also announced the appearance of the law on architectural activities in the country, work on which is currently being conducted.

“The First Investment Forum is just the beginning of a big conversation. We are at the beginning of the way and this way will be continued. In this community, where there are creative people, you can never put an end, you need to put an ellipsis, to open up new opportunities. The republic adopted the Strategy-2030 in 2015. As part of the strategy, a working group on the development of spaces, infrastructure and real capital was working,” - Tatarstan Prime Minister Alexey Pesoshin said.

Chief architect of Barcelona Vicente Guallart stated that the city of the future is a city of mixed use, when the objects of social infrustructure coexist with industrial and cultural objects. He noted the importance of city centers development to make new objects appear in the place of the greatest population conurbation.

Vicente Guallart also held an Open Talk in the frames of which he described the way of transformation of such world demanded economic and touristic centers as Singapore, Dubai, Barcelona.

Architecture and design trends: new challenges and aspirations

During the forsythe-session, the participants reflected on the future of design and architecture in the distant and near future. The results of its work were presented to the Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of Russia Mikhail Men and the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.

The participants noted that Russian cities need to cooperate for productive development and rely on their own identity to create the unique image.
Both experts and guests pointed out the importance of supporting qualitative changes in the architectural appearances of cities and spaces using modern design possibilities.

"It is necessary to develop urban environment and public spaces, so that they would be used afterwards as the demand has changed, people are ready to pay for comfortable conditions", Mikhail Men said.

"Ten years ago we didn't even think about these tasks. In recent years, the capital of Tatarstan is transforming greatly. In 2005, we held the 1000th anniversary of Kazan. A lot was achieved on the threshold of this date. But it turned out that not all of our solutions were correct. It wasn't done on purpose, rather by ignorance. Today we have a completely different approach to many questions", - Rustam Minnikhanov remarked.

"We managed to gather experts from the world of architecture, design, creative industries in the frames of one event for the first time. SIYUM forum aroused interest of professionals of these industries - participants from 10 countries, over 40 Russian cities came to Kazan. At the forum's field, the most relevant issues of architecture, including the prospectives of the industry development were discussed. In particular, forsythe-session allowed to look into the future and outline the directions for the segment development, main trends and growth points. We plan that the SIYUM will become annual," - the Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina stated.

The event was held by the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan with the support of the Union of Architects of Russia and International Association "Union of Designers".

The name of the forum came from a phrase reflecting the philosophy of the Forum: Seek In Your United Minds (SIYUM)!

On March 10, in the frames of the second day of the forum, panel discussions in the directions of "Architecture and urban planning", "Design", "HoReCa", "Personal branding", "Creative industries" were held.