What we end up seeing will take our fancy

This is exactly how Dmitry Rzhannikov, Director General of STG-Zapad LLC, described the future buildings of cultural and educational facilities in Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, Kemerovo and Sevastopol in a conversation with Irina Girsh, Editor-in-Chief of Real Russia. As the head of one of the popular online media, Irina assures that the construction of cultural centres throughout the country, from the Baltic to the Far East, always stirs a lively interest of readers.

During her regular visit to the Amber Region, Irina asked a lot of new and interesting questions. She discussed with the Head of the construction company in Kaliningrad not only how to keep high rates of the building construction, but also the architectural appearance of the city, the delivery of sanctioned cargo to the region, Skolkovo developments, etc.

One of the unexpected questions was whether the builders understand and realize the scale of what they are constructing and what they are involved in now. In his response, Dmitry Rzhannikov expressed not only his opinion, but also that of many teammates: “Perhaps when we have constructed everything, handed it over to the customer, come to the cultural institutions as the audience, we will realize what superb buildings we have constructed. Today, our key task is not to slow down the construction rates and first of all to construct and hand over the museum efficiently and in due time. The construction site is a living body.”

A lively discussion was sparked by the question of historical look of the cities where construction is being carried out and the contemporary architecture. Dmitry Sergeevich replied to Irina’s question whether the historical look of the buildings would be original and relevant in a hundred, perhaps two hundred years as well: “Certainly, our descendants would have told us better about this, but the groups of buildings in Vladivostok, Kemerovo, Sevastopol, and here in Kaliningrad are the future. Moreover, we will see soon in our region how the architecture of past centuries exists side by side with contemporary superb buildings. The project architects' vision is based on the interplay of architecture and the surrounding landscape. The regions, the places where are the groups of buildings are to be constructed and the history were studied. What we end up seeing, will take our fancy. In any case, the old look will remain. This is a story that attracts not only tourists, but also those who come here in order to cast in lot with this region.”

At the end of the conversation, Dmitry Rzhannikov shared his opinion on how the construction of the cultural centre would change Kaliningrad and the region in the short and long term: “As a rule, all big cities have rich historical and cultural heritage. No city and no region may develop without the development of the infrastructure of cultural institutions that meet the needs of modern times. In the immediate future, it will take some time to understand the needs of the future theatre audience, of museum visitors, among other things, for a flood of guests. They may now deliberately go to the premiere of the Bolshoi Theatre in Kaliningrad.”

Please see the full interview here