Photo: GORK
Geo: Yekaterinburg, RU
To shoot material for an article in an unfamiliar location, especially in a large agglomeration like Yekaterinburg, you need at least a day. I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a five-hour layover while flying to Kyrgyzstan to see what the Ural megacity looks like.
I haven’t encountered such an architectural hodgepodge in a long time: here you have ancient estates with merchant houses, monumental avant-garde constructivist clusters infused with industrial flair, and individual modern gems like the Normansky building of the Russian Copper Company. It’s wide and monumental, but forgive me, residents of Yekaterinburg, there’s a bit of a downside. Let me explain: throughout my walk, I found myself counting in my head the buildings that need major repairs. By the third dozen houses, I got tired of this activity. YEKATERINBURG needs an endless abyss of resources to bring the city up to the level of Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, the issue of renovations concerns not only architecture but also pedestrian infrastructure. Urbanization is stuck at the level of the 2000s. Local areas are being reconstructed, but on a city scale, it’s a drop in the ocean.
I was also amused by how certain "status" individuals reacted to the camera, literally running from the lens and hiding in their cars. I won’t even mention the Russian Copper Company: not only did the numerous jacketed security guards insistently ask why I was filming their site, but they also secretly photographed me.
The saddest moment was when I passed by the Ryazanov Estate. I haven’t seen such a pompous Corinthian order in a long time, and in its prime, the estate was a landmark. Now it’s an emergency building, with local residents drying laundry on a line in the yard, the territory overgrown with weeds, and modestly closed off by an awful fence. Alexey Valeryevich, will you fix this disgrace?
@gorkjournal
Geo: Yekaterinburg, RU
To shoot material for an article in an unfamiliar location, especially in a large agglomeration like Yekaterinburg, you need at least a day. I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a five-hour layover while flying to Kyrgyzstan to see what the Ural megacity looks like.
I haven’t encountered such an architectural hodgepodge in a long time: here you have ancient estates with merchant houses, monumental avant-garde constructivist clusters infused with industrial flair, and individual modern gems like the Normansky building of the Russian Copper Company. It’s wide and monumental, but forgive me, residents of Yekaterinburg, there’s a bit of a downside. Let me explain: throughout my walk, I found myself counting in my head the buildings that need major repairs. By the third dozen houses, I got tired of this activity. YEKATERINBURG needs an endless abyss of resources to bring the city up to the level of Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, the issue of renovations concerns not only architecture but also pedestrian infrastructure. Urbanization is stuck at the level of the 2000s. Local areas are being reconstructed, but on a city scale, it’s a drop in the ocean.
I was also amused by how certain "status" individuals reacted to the camera, literally running from the lens and hiding in their cars. I won’t even mention the Russian Copper Company: not only did the numerous jacketed security guards insistently ask why I was filming their site, but they also secretly photographed me.
The saddest moment was when I passed by the Ryazanov Estate. I haven’t seen such a pompous Corinthian order in a long time, and in its prime, the estate was a landmark. Now it’s an emergency building, with local residents drying laundry on a line in the yard, the territory overgrown with weeds, and modestly closed off by an awful fence. Alexey Valeryevich, will you fix this disgrace?
@gorkjournal