анти-кетлщина

As some of you may be aware, St Petersburg is going to get the skyscraper once promised to it by Vladimir Tatlin - except instead, it's going to be in the form of Gazprom's Okhta Tower, a tossed-off glass excrescence designed by RMJM, of all people (RMJM! So obviously none but the best for Petrograd. Might as well have asked Assael), after an already pretty depressing competition which led to three jury members - including Norman Foster, not a man known for his steadfast principles - walking out. There was much opposition to this in St Petersburg, which came to a head yesterday when police and protesters 'clashed', ie riot police beat up protesters. There's an extensive comment currently appended to the project architect Tony Kettle's self-justification on the AJ website:

In a better Russia, the competence and ingenuity of architects like Mr. Kettle would be used to build schools, theaters, hospitals, kindergartens, low-cost estate housing and other public buildings and spaces that would promote architectural innovation while not demolishing Petersburg's outstanding, absolutely unique heritage. This project would not only involve popular participation, it would be generated by ordinary people themselves, who would democratically allocate the country's common resources to make improvements to their own living, working, educational and cultural conditions. This, alas, is not the case, and Mr. Kettle's Okhta Centre project is a gargantuan barometer that shows how much this is not the case.

(more on St Petersburg urbanism here)