Student’s Tour to the Future Branch of the Tretyakov Gallery

Students of the Kaliningrad State Technical University visited for the first time the construction site of the Tretyakov Gallery branch under construction. Nikita Patanin, Section Foremaster of STG Zapad LLC, shared the details of the construction of the museum complex with the fourth year students of the Civil and Industrial Construction Department.

The students studied every inch of the facility and started the tour with a walk around the building from the outside. The solid cast frame of the future museum is not yet 100% complete, but the structure already appears to be floating in the air.

“The facility is grand. Unusual solid cast structures, original solutions, a very interesting building structure. These temporary metal supporting structures will then be removed and it’s all quite interesting," said Nikita Saranevich, a student of the Civil Engineering Department, KSTU.

Students were able to see the formwork installation, reinforcement, concreting of mounting structures and installation of half-timbered posts. And inside the building, they examined the future exhibition halls with natural lighting, the main staircase in the museum lobby and exhibit storage rooms.

At this construction phase, it is clear that overhead light is provided in the halls and galleries and it can be shut with opaque or translucent roller blinds dispersing the light at the request of the curator or due to climatic reasons, the risk of overheating. Right now, embedded parts for fire extinguishing systems and indoor microclimate are being installed along with solid-cast works.

Special attention will be paid to the ventilation of the building, in particular, exhibition rooms and storage facilities. In air conditioning systems, air will be heated and humidified to maintain microclimate required to safeguard expensive exhibits on a 24/7 basis. The ventilation system provides for cleaning of the outside air, heat recycling from the exhaust air, heating the air up to 12°C during the cold season and anti-bactericidal treatment.

To cut things short, the branch of the Tretyakov Gallery has been designed and built in accordance with all modern requirements to museums.

“It was quite interesting to look at the construction process, we managed to get insights in many phases. It was interesting that there were a lot of process solutions to manage seismic hazards. I managed to see the pile driving process. I had no such opportunity before. And of course, the reinforcement methods, very large diameters of the rods, and the way they coupled were of interest. We didn’t study this at the university, and it was new to me," Sergey Chervyakov, student of the Civil Engineering Department, KSTU, shares his impressions.

During the tour, the group visited the roof of the building. From a bird’s eye view, the students were shown the construction material storage planning and management methods. It was also noted that the tower crane was not located as usual, near the building, but inside the structure.

“The very idea of the construction is not only to perform high quality works, but also stick to the budget. One may wonder if there is any difference where to put the crane. But if it was located outside the building, the beam would not reach the middle of the structure and significantly complicated the delivery of materials directly to the facility. The crane location should be considered as early as at the design phase. When you draw up an estimate based on your amounts, you will understand how much material you will need to deliver and you will be able to assess how expensive this is," said Nikita Patanin, Section Foremaster of STG Zapad LLC.

Thanks to the visit to the construction site, the students were able to consolidate their theoretical knowledge, and the heads of the university are already negotiating and planning further cooperation with STG Zapad LLC.

“This facility is meant to make an example in terms of studying. It can demonstrate the way the site is arranged. We were able to witness the solid cast and reinforcement works. The representatives of the department are interested in further cooperation, for example, in the practical process training at the facilities of the cultural complex for 2-3 year students," said Valery Pimenov, Dean of the Civil Engineering Department, KSTU.

It’s worth reminding that by the decision of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, major cultural, educational and museum clusters are created on Oktyabrsky Island in Kaliningrad and in three other cities of the Russian Federation on behalf of the National Cultural Heritage Foundation. The General Contractor is Stroytransgaz Group.

Its residents include the branch of the Tretyakov Gallery. The museum will be integrated into the park area; the complex will provide for open spaces, amphitheatres, terraces that will become a place of leisure for citizens and tourists.