During 4 years, between 2008-2011, Erick van Egeraat published his articles in the magazine Commercial Real Estate Russia. This column was published in February 2011.

THOUGHTS FROM AN ARCHITECT

You ask me how one becomes the kind of architect I am. Simply said, and this may seem strange to you when I say this; I could have done many things.

About career
For instance, my mother wanted me to become an engineer desperately. She was shocked to learn that, after graduating from the Delft University for Engineering, I decided to become an architect. My grandmother was sure that I would become a great baker. I had friends who thought that I could be a decent painter. I’m indeed sure that I can do all those things and do them well. Besides, I think I could even have become a good politician. I’m not kidding… but I think it’s not a right approach to life, to strive for being involved in as much as you possibly can. It’s not interesting to look at life this way. I don’t think that I must travel to every spot of the planet in search for a building, city or unique sunrise. There’s no need for me to speak to all the important people in the world. I should do what I can do well, and to try to do it as good as possible. On this journey one will meet a lot of interesting people and find himself in many interesting places.

About safety
The very fact that I work in Russia already seems to surprise many of my Dutch friends. They think that every day in Moscow I risk both my physical and mental health, like on a safari. I have a different perspective. As in any other city, there’re absolutely safe places in Moscow, but obviously quite dangerous or risky ones as well. If one pays attention to it and can adapt, he should be perfectly able to feel absolutely calm and at ease here. All events should be considered in their context. In Japan I can leave my suitcase and be sure that even next day I will find it in the same place, safe and sound. In Dusseldorf, in the so well organized country Germany, they recently stole my suitcase when I turned back for a moment. I don’t know what will happen in Moscow, I won’t experiment. I was physically attacked in New-York. Travelling comes with challenges, opportunities and unfortunately also with risks.

About infatuation with leftist ideas
I have had the most common upbringing and a typical high qualified university education. Studying in the nineteen sixties and early seventies meant that you were expected to demand change. Out of rebellion or maybe just provoking my non-political upbringing I was, like many others, sympathizing with the Dutch communist party; it was for a short while, but it felt good to do something everybody disagreed with. It was all quite unserious. Like many of my fellow students I had certain leftist ideas, and I personally was quite active in the student movement promoting change in our colloquium. For some people any leftist ideas would inevitably lead to communism or socialism. It is somewhat simplistic to assume that to stick to some leftist ideas, to promote change and to be in search for new values, you necessarily also have to support the most nonviable political systems. Can one not be religious and at the same time not approve the church as an institution? There has been a strong belief that architecture will save the world, the architects will create a new society. These ideas were born at the endpoint of the 19th century; despite this heroic idealism, in today’s reality these ideas seem far from realistic. When I was an activist student, we had a dictum: architects are slaves of capitalism. It now all sounds so silly certainly in view of my own career; not a minute I have considered myself ever to be slave of capitalism; but I am definitely also not a creator of ideal world. Today’s tasks for politicians, planners and architects are different. If you’re interested to work with the city (some architects are only interested to work with certain buildings), you certainly can influence the way we live in a society. Clearly, buildings don’t change the life of individual people, but they can influence the life of the society they exist in. Probably, it is possible to change, to a certain extent, the notion in people’s minds. I don’t think of myself as of a missionary who should carry the light of knowledge. But at the same time I think that some things can be changed, can be simply said improved. It’s obviously impossible for an individual to change the entire world. But nothing hinders us individuals from trying to do the things around us a bit better. I don’t have to be a grand public figure to do so – it’s enough just to be a good architect, a serious professional, judged by his achievements. I don’t like when there’re a space between someone’s words and deeds. If I had to choose, I would choose that people understand my deeds, rather than words.

About life in Moscow
I live my life on a quite acceptable level. I’m often asked why when in Moscow I stay in the Ritz Carlton hotel; from architectural point of view, it’s not my style. But I really like to live in the city center, and I’m happy to accept the mistakes in the hotel’s architecture. Moscow is one of the most interesting cities in the world. It is an amazing place; some things need to be accepted as they are. It’s not easy here: expensive and tiring sometimes. I consider myself lucky that I can leave any city, including my home town Rotterdam, after several days. I’m not sure that I could permanently live in Moscow. If I had to live permanently here, I would create a small universe around myself, like most people do – they create exclusive islands around themselves. Moscow can be considered as a great experiment; resisting it means you must keep on moving. If you would sit down and wait, you will be eaten; this city can kill you!

About the first visit to Russia
By the time of my arrival to Russia I already had projects in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Still, the trip to Russia was something special to me. Twenty years ago when I came to Moscow for the first time my euphoria was endless. In 1990, when I walked onto the Red Square, I was shocked, because I had gotten into heart of the country which I was told about as a home of devil. I was brought up to believe in this, that Russians were enemies; the Russians were the people who would eat our children. But everything I saw there was beautiful, although I was told that everything would be terrible and ugly. I was dazzled by mere hearing the Russian language. Before I only heard it in the movies and I never associated it with real life. In the first months, even years, I did not see anything negative. I followed a peculiar pattern – during the first years I used to come in winter only. And I loved it; maybe because snow covers all dirt. I got a great impression from Russia.

About work in Russia
Why am I always asked about this? Work here in Russia is challenging and difficult as everyone knows, but not as different as you suggest. You will encounter here all the good, bad and ugly the construction industry has to offer. It is different indeed, but that does not necessarily mean that it is worse than in other countries. Here it is possible to get a high quality on every level, but to get it is not easy. Most countries provide a more even level of production. The highest in construction you will find in Germany where the quality of goods and professional services is very high. But it is also true that it is rare to find something unique or unusual there. Let alone that an architect would suggest creating it. Germans are very good, but boring. In Russia or Latin America there’s clearly much more freedom for creativity, but at the same time the products are not always of the best quality. I think however that you should not accept such choice; it should remain the prime objective to combine innovation and creativity with sustainable quality. A well organized environment sometimes makes the professionals a bit lazy; not so in Russia where we are given an array of challenges. It should be our goal to use these challenges not as an excuse but as a stimulus to achieve more. One can say that the Russian architects have much more freedom than most of their foreign colleagues. It is in itself a feature of true architecture, but it can’t be an excuse for making a low-quality product. It is not either or but both. The great thing is that in Russia the market is just being formed – this gives more possibilities to adjust to sincere needs of its users. There is a lot of freedom which should be used wisely; not just to be abused for excessive profits.

About relations with colleagues
Some people consider me enfant terrible and a person who does not consider the opinion of the others. But I do listen to what is said very attentively, I just don’t rush to fulfill anyone’s commands. I’m busy with my work for the most part of day and night, but at the same time I would like to understand how my colleagues work and how they take decisions. I think that with my colleagues in Moscow I have good professional relationship. I understand how the majority of them work and I respect them as professionals.

About football
I don’t play football, but I like to watch games, as any other man does. The position “against modern football” (negation of commercial element in the modern stadiums and aspiration to keep the old football traditions) is typical for people who choose to see everything in one dimension only: «I play football, I love football, and I don’t care about the rest». That is an impossible position in 2011. Football does not pay off: more than 40% of the Dutch football clubs are broke. The same situation applies to the other leading nation in soccer; the United Kingdom. Football is an interesting game, but although it seems to be a highly profitable game it is at present commercially not viable anymore. Yes, I agree. Let’s play and enjoy football, but not at the expense of the others. If you want to play football only, take a ball and go to the countryside. If you want to build a facility somewhere in or close to the city center, similar to the Dynamo stadium, it can’t be just a football mono-function project. It simply does not make sense. We should want to build such arenas in a sustainable way and make them profitable without ever receiving revenues from football. Also from another perspective these arena cannot serve the game of football only. These sites are too precious to be available to one exclusive group. The city’s centre should serve all sports, entertainment and culture. The centre should serve everybody and exclude no one! Cities will cease existing, if we are not willing to share the precious space. That is what I propose for Dynamo. A great challenging all inclusive venue that offers opportunities for everyone and burdens no one. A complex that does not need finance from the state but instead, provides opportunities and is of a great benefit to the city. That’s what I’m working on.

February, 2011

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