Prodigest: The First Guide to Architectural Competitions Presented in St. Petersburg
On January 31, the presentation of the new architectural journal prodigest took place in St. Petersburg. The first issue, released at the end of last year, was introduced by prodigest co-publisher Anna Martovitskaya and Sergei Georgievskii, Co-founder of the Agency for strategic development "CENTER", which served as the analytical partner of the journal.
The presentation was held as part of the conference Only Architect, organized by the St. Petersburg-based architectural bureau KLAUZURA. Participants discussed competition practice, its value for the professional community, and notable examples of architectural competitions. The event was also attended by Maria El’kina, member of the Council for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage under the Governor of St. Petersburg; Oleg Manov, member of the board of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects; and Darya Miroshnichenko, co-founder of the architectural bureau and coworking space KLAUZURA.
In his speech, Sergei Georgievskii focused in particular on the topic of consortia — teams formed by professionals to participate in competitions. A detailed article on this subject authored by the urbanist is one of the key materials of the issue. The journal also includes a selection of dozens of international companies interested in collaborating with Russian colleagues. Other materials featured in the issue include a comprehensive guide to participating in competitions, a selection of one hundred leading professional awards, and a section on workspaces for architects.
“This is not just a magazine — it is a true instruction manual for competition practice. Competition culture is currently on the rise, and we felt it needed its own ‘chronicle’ to demonstrate how competitions can benefit both participants and initiators. Moreover, young architectural bureaus often do not know how to approach this field — until now, there simply was no source explaining everything in detail. Now such a source exists,” noted Sergei Georgievskii.
Earlier, the journal was presented in Moscow at the Zotov Center. The next and final meeting of the co-publishers with the audience will take place in Kazan, which is symbolic, as the issue’s cover features the new Kamal Theatre building in the capital of Tatarstan — a masterpiece of contemporary architecture created as the result of an open international competition.
Photo: LLC “KLAUZURA”