Project development: Russia
TIArch Studio Students
TIArch is an educational Studio of conceptual design, based on the authentic methodology of teaching architectural disciplines by Ilnar Akhtiamov. Since 2009, it has been operating on the basis of Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. As part of these research fields, the Studio develops topics, related to urban space perception, city structure, urban communities, implementation of modern technologies and bio-technologies in architecture, and much more.
All research topics, deal with today’s context and have vision for the future, including the one presented here.
"We are responsible for what our predecessors built."
There are countless abandoned, vacant, decaying buildings all over the world, inherited from previous generations. In tangible or intangible form, such
architecture, being a parasite on the body of the city, creates a “toxic” field around itself. It marginalizes neighborhoods, creates problems or complements existing ones. Today, this legacy forms a serious challenge for architects and requires a special constructed optics to solve the accumulated problems.
What if we use these locations in the city as an opportunity to experiment? The objects are already deteriorated in their own way - this gives us freedom of action, the lack of fear of making things worse leads to bold and radical solutions. As a result, objects can change a lot, change function, scale, and sometimes even users. But most importantly, the facilities are given the opportunity to change and work for the benefit of the individual.
We are heirs to the modernist solutions of demiurgic architects, whose first step (for future mistakes) was to tear down the past. Within the framework of the proposed solutions, we leave the demolition of the building as the worst possible development of the object, the actions performed on it. And not because the object ceases to exist, but because something more monstrous and destructive can arise in its place. Our approach is based on other methods - local and subtle solutions to work with the existing architecture without demolishing the object, no matter how malignant it may seem to the city. When working on a building, we use exploratory and unrefined solutions that are not a demonstration of the architect’s ambitions, but become a saving manipulation for the object.
The time for inaction is over — the moment has come to see the abandoned and forgotten corners of our cities not as burdens, but as spaces of possibility, experimentation, and new forms of life. The Babylon Project calls not only on architects and urbanists, but above all on local communities, artists, activists, and all those who feel responsible for the future of their cities to step beyond conventional solutions and stop waiting for change to come from above. It is through courage, grassroots engagement, and collective action that we can breathe new life into what once seemed lost.
«We are responsible for what our successors inherit»