Interview丨ON THE STAGE OF THE CITY：INTERVIEW WITH SERGEI TCHOBAN

Sergei Tchoban

(b. 1962, Saint Petersburg, Russia)

graduated from the Repin Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Russian Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1986. He is managing partner of the Berlin office of TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten and director of the architectural office SPEECH in Moscow. In 2008, together with Sergey Kuznetsov, Tchoban started the namesake architectural magazine. The Tchoban Foundation was initiated in 2009 to celebrate the art of drawing through exhibitions and publications. The Foundation’s Museum for Architectural Drawings was built in Berlin in 2013 to Tchoban’s design. Among the architect’s other built works are: Federation Tower in Moscow, DomAquarée in Berlin, and Russia’s Milan Expo 2015 Pavilion. Tchoban served as curator of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennales in 2010 and 2012 (Special Mention), and was named Russia’s Architect of the Year in 2012. He won the 2018 European Prize for Architecture by the European Centre and The Chicago Athenaeum.

Sergei Tchoban:

Drawing Buildings/Building Drawings

Curator: Vladimir Belogolovsky + Kelsi SU

Thanks to Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong and Anderson Lee

Date: November 2 – December 16, 2018

Venue: Ground Floor Gallery of The Shanghai Study Center (HKU), 298 North Suzhou Rd, Hongkou District, Shanghai, China

In exhibition. （slide left）

Q=Urban China

A=Sergei Tchoban

Q: How did Vladimir Belogolovsky (the curator of Drawing Buildings/Building Drawings) and you first meet ？

A: We met each other first in Russia and then in USA. We have collaborated on exhibitions in Bangalore and then in Buenos Aires. This is our third collaboration.

Q: In what occasion you and Vladimir got to know each other and started your collaborations？

A: First we met as the curators of architectural exhibition which were creating in parallel. Vladimir was curating an exhibition about American green architecture and I was curating an exhibition for Russian Pavilion at XII Venice Biennale. Working on these projects we met each other for the first time, and then Vladimir made with me at least two interviews.

Fantasy about Piranesis‘ etchings

2017, sepia, indian ink, pen and brush, graphite, paper

33 x 47,3 cm

Q: Could you tell about your experience before your practice in Germany？

A: Well, I graduated in 1986 and started practicing for one office in Russia for five years. Afterward, I worked for myself for one and a half year. I went to Germany for the first time to exhibit my works in Hamburg and later started my practice in Berlin. I was already an experienced architect before my arrival in Germany although none of the projects was realized.

Q: Before you left for Germany, how was the environment in Russia. After your arrival in Germany, what were the differences that you noticed between the two countries？

A: At the beginning of the 90s it was really difficult to practice as an architect in Russia due to the collapse of the Soviet Union: the new political system has not yet been formed. After a few years of trying to practice in Russia, I realized that I have to move to some other country if I want to become a real architect and complete the buildings. And I had chosen Germany. It was the time when the East and West German were just reunited and lots of constructions were happening. I could learn not only how to draw architecture but also how to realize it with great quality of details.

Stage design for the play "The Bright Way.1917" [Svetlyj put‘]

2017, Pastel on paper

49,5 x 64,4 cm

Dead-End 1

from the series “Totalitarianism and Architecture”

2017, Pastell

56,5 x 75,5 cm

Flood-gate

77,2 x 58 cm

Reeling monuments

70 x 50 cm

Q: What is your opinion towards the traditional education in Russia and what do you think it has equipped you with? Can you also talk about the training you received in school？

A: The architectural education in Russia has always been very traditional. The school that I graduated from was a copy of Ecole de Beaux-arts in St. Petersburg. The school was grounded in the second half of the 18th Century and it is the oldest school of art and architecture in Russia. The traditional education for me is a compromise between contemporary language and a very old fashion way of training including classical drawing techniques. I have to tell these skills helped me a lot when I moved to Germany. It was the time when computer rendering hasn't widely developed yet and I started to work as a draftsman & After three years of this job I also became to work as an architect at the same office.

Q: You took with you all the skills and knowledge you equipped yourself with and learned in Russia and went to Berlin. What was your first impression of Berlin and did it influenced your understanding of architecture and city afterward. We can smell art in your design, cities like St. Petersburg and Berlin are very different in terms of art. What are the artistic influences that you received from the two cities？

A: When I first came to Berlin, it was severely destroyed by WWII and old buildings were rebuilt with new architecture language. This combination of old city and new architectural language has deeply influenced to me. Starting from that time I understand and analyze the cities as the stage where architectural pieces play different roles – one of them are very bright and iconic, and the others work as background. And the dialog between these different 'actors' shows the character of the city.

Excursion to the monument

from the series “Totalitarianism and Architecture“

2016, Sepia ink, watercolour, Indian ink

86,5 x 61,2 cm

Q: Do you think architects should always design their buildings as the protagonists for the city. How do you determine the role that your building should play in the context of a city？

A: I don't agree that architecture should be the protagonist of a city. Architects should not always try to create works that are too unique for a city. The book '30:70. Architecture as a force balance' that I released recently states the idea that only 30% of a city should be unique. The most part of any city consists of the background architecture. Of course everyone wants to make unique buildings but the character of the city is determines by the background architecture – the housings where we live and the offices where we work.

Q: Nowadays, many Chinese architects find it less important to become starchitect. What do you think about this attitude towards architecture and the profession？

A: I think architects should pay extra attention to the details of our buildings and improve the way how people will experience the city. Color, texture, material are very important elements and architects should work on them from the earliest stages of the design.

Q: Public projects are very important for cities. The Business Centre in Moscow and the Luzhniki Stadium are successful examples to show how public projects could activate urban spaces and revitalize cities. However, designing public buildings requires more investigation into the city itself and faces pressures from society. How do you balance all the different voices and design the best public building？

A: Working on large-scale projects I always think about the sustainability in the first hand. It is not only about energy efficiency but about the lifespan of the building. The buildings I create are able to exist during a very long period of time as for I am not a fan of the idea that we can demolish and rebuild our environment every twenty years. Designing any building I ask myself how it could advance in ages.

A House for Bosch

2016, Red and black chalk on paper

59,3 x 41,8 cm

Polyptychon, top right

2016, Sepia ink on paper

23 x 31 cm

Polyptychon, on the bottom right

23 x 31 cm

Q: Have you been invited to experience World Cup in the stadium that you designed You deeply understand plays, but plays , games are always improving and evloving over time. When you visit the architecture that you designed, do you think they could evolve further？

A: Yes, I have visited a Final Game of FIFA World Cup at the stadium. I always study my own architecture and try to feel how the building exists and how it works for society.

Q: Apart from designing architecture, you also involved yourself in publications, curatorial practices and even stage design. Is it crucial for architects to expand their practice to other fields？

A: Many architects nowadays are having parallel practices in many other fields apart from architecture. For me, architecture is always my priority and I am sure that I balance everything well.

Q: You have a very important collection of architecture drawings which you put in The Museum for Architectural Drawing. How do you study and manage your collection and how do you plan to use them in the future？

A: I always exhibit my collection to the public.I am planning on a book on the collection of Jacomo Quarengi's work, an Italian architect who moved to St.Petersburg after staying in Bergamo. For this book, I am also collaborating with one editor from St.Petersburg. I have another collection of Boris Iofan, an architect who practiced in both Italy and Russia and had done a few large scale projects in Moscow from 1920s to 1950s. I keep studying and collecting works from different architects and offer them back to the public.

Architecture as a Balancing Act

Author: Sergei Tchoban, Vladimir Sedov

Translator: Yi Su

Publishing House: China Architecture & Building Press

Publishing Date: OCT 2018

Price: 80 Yuan

Translate / Brak He + Junjie Xu + Kelsi Su (Study Center (HKU)

Photo Source / Study Center (HKU)

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