I was born in Moscow. Study took place at school with a mathematical bias and in-depth study of English: these knowledge more than once significantly influenced my destiny.
I am always easy to be accurate science. I loved the drawing, which by the lucky accident was taught in our school, as well as biology and chemistry. Therefore, when closer to the end of the teaching, the question arose about what I would like to do, the list was genetic engineering and architecture. The choice fell on these areas, because it was always important for me to see or physically feel the result of my efforts. That is why, for example, I could not do finances, despite a pretty good mathematical base.
Since childhood, parents often drove me on museums, in our house on bookshelves you can always see albums on art. To consider them was our with a sister favorite entertainment. This grafted from childhood love for art in the end and influenced the final choice in favor of architecture. Architecture is an embodiment of the synthesis of accurate sciences and an irrational understanding of the beautiful. Unlike many professions, architects can work all their lives, which was also very important to me: the prospect of the "deserved holiday" me, honestly, scares. It is important for me to stay in the profession as long as possible. For example, by 60, the architect only enters the stage of professional maturity.
Like the profession of doctors, the profession of architect is known for its family continuity - there are entire dynasties of famous architects. My parents are engineers, specialists in the field of electrical engineering, far from the world of architecture, so the embodiment of my decision to life was quite a challenge. In March, in the Main Moscow Institute, where they teach architecture, I immediately descended from the heavens to the ground, saying that it would not just do this here: you need to have good artistic training. Students entering Marhi usually have an art school diploma, and at the time of receipt generally understood little what a picture is and that this is a whole science. For the year I was to master the fact that others studied 5-10 years. I decided to take a chance: I left the school, where she went on a silver medal, entered the external, in parallel, learning on the preparatory department of Marha. Time, how to say, it was not easy. My one-laugures should be undergoed by me, I didn't even know what a klyachka is (a soft eraser for correction of coal and pastel drawings. - Moskvich Mag). Often I asked myself a question: why do I need all this all this? Looking back, I understand that it was for me the first serious test for durability and a lesson for life: if something really wants, you need to go to the end.
As a result, I still entered the marchs, however, on a paid department, which was nevertheless an achievement. In the third year, I learned that a new group was launched, which was called Null Class - "zero class": the name itself said that we seem to be all starting from scratch. It was an experimental group that operated under the "cover" of a respected and beloved by all students of Professor Marha Ilya Georgievich Lyzhava. This is a legendary personality in the field of architecture and urban planning, one of the leaders of the futuristic urban planning direction of the NER (new element of the settlement). It is thanks to him that this emerged in some extent the dissident group, which promoted a fundamentally new approach in the design, based on a strong conceptual basis. The founders of this group were Maxim Currency and Boris Bernasconi - they asked the direction to the group. Among other things, we have become the first group in the marchs, in which the projects in electronic form were mandatory, which was a real innovation. Our first project, which the group passed in computer graphics, was boycotized by the teaching staff of the Faculty of Urban Planning with the wording "We cannot evaluate the work that a computer made you." These were the times. It is important for me to tell about it, since it was then that the basis of my approach in the design, which affects the activities of Form is an understanding and formation of a conceptual component of any project.
I spent the last year of my training in the graduate group at Alexander Viktorovich Kuzmina, at the time of the chief architect of Moscow. If Boria and Max gave me a good conceptual basis, then with Alexander Viktorovich I gained an understanding of how to work "on earth" when you understand the features of a specific site, analyze the environment, react to the city, its scale. For that year, which passed for me like three, I got a lot of experience. Alexander Viktorovich was a brilliant theorist and practice. On Saturdays, he, together with Luzhkov, came to the objects under under construction: they sat down in a regular bus and drove the construction site around the city. And in the evenings, after these tedious and often requiring a large nervous vendor, Alexander Viktorovich found the strength to advise students: it was a man of truly devoted to his work.
After graduating from the institute, I realized that I want to develop in the field of urban planning. So I started working at the Institute of the General Plan of Moscow. I was lucky, I immediately fell into the project group, which was engaged in the sensational project A101 - the reconstruction of the Kaluga highway highway with the development of the territory along it. Already later, these territories will be included in the new Moscow. Basically, I was developing territories to the south of Moscow, these were general plans for rural settlements and microdistrict projects. It was a very important experience, specialists in this area in our fingers to recount. This profession is very fascinating, but she has one minus - a very long period of expectation, which sometimes may not happen at all. That is why in parallel with your main activity I was keen on the creation of various applied things, participated in the architectural festivals, some work did just for yourself.
Just at this time, we are with Olga Tayivas, my classmate from Marha, began to come to the decision to create their own architectural bureau. Olya then worked as a freelancer, and when our personal orders appeared, we exchanged them and worked on them together. We were united by a sense of responsibility, hardworking, and we immediately felt that it could turn into a successful partnership. Over time, I got more and more difficult to combine my main place of work and projects that I led in parallel - it was a real challenge. I decided to go away, and in 2011, Olya and I opened our architectural bureau. Still thinking over the title, we parallel to create your site. When our friends from the FLEVE bureau, who have developed a website for us, wrote an Form as a test version of the test version, we realized that it was it. I immediately hooked the neutrality of this word, which can be filled with a special content. The bureau with registered names is always a reflection of the founder, his personal handwriting. It was always important for me that the team itself was the reflection of the company.
For me, the main criterion for success is to be on a par and win by strong competitors. For example, when you apply for participation in the designer award and you see what strong competitors you have, Euphoria from victory becomes more than stronger, because you are the best among the best on the market. For example, for me to win the prestigious IF Design Award and Red Dot Design Award and Red Dot Design Award was equally important than to win the Best Office Prize or the Interior + Design magazine Prize, where there was a very strong selection of competitors. When you conquer in a competitive environment, it is a very important indicator of confidence in your actions. Another aspect, which for me is a success marker - these are members of the team. When the masters of their business come to work with a good portfolio, it means that you are trusted in the professional community that your team becomes stronger, which means that there are more bright and large-scale projects ahead. A few months ago, our bureau entered the three finalists in the competition for the reconstruction of the Drama Theater in Veliky Novgorod - for us this is a very important event, several times more than winning a premium in the design.
The activities of the Form Bureau have always been arranged in such a way that under each project we create not just a unique space tied to the context, but also fill it with specially created interior elements, design objects. It has always been our distinctive feature. Nevertheless, we never highlighted it in a separate direction of the Bureau's activities.
I began to make the creation of collective design objects as meditative practice. Architecture is always teamwork, and sometimes it's not so easy to switch and do something for yourself. I first introduced my facilities from the "Forest" series in Brazil, where at that time we completed work on the British School of Creative Industries. While working on the project, we met local design items, learned about various art festivals and fairs. I decided to apply for participation in the SP-Arte Art Fair. This is the largest art fair in Latin America, passing every year in Sao Paulo. The installation I presented at the fair was called "Forest": in it I tried to intuitively convey the feeling of penetration into the deep thickel of Russian forest - dark and sacral. I had the idea that Russia and Brazil are in many ways similar - both countries have a large-scale territory covered in the main forest massive: these are tropics in Brazil, and we have coniferous, "noar" forest. The installation objects - two mirrors and shelves are very simple in their solution, but at the same time they differ in sculpture and remind of mysterious harmony of natural forms. The game of shadows and black tones is interrupted by reflections and highlights of sunlight, falling on the smooth surfaces of the mirrors. So I became the first artist from Russia, which presented the facilities of the collection design at the fair: the installation of the "Forest" became a symbolic manner of Russian culture. After the Brazilian exhibition, I showed these objects with gallery by Alina Pinskaya. The collection seemed interesting to her, and I was invited to present our facilities at the Russian Collectible exhibition in the gallery "Palisander". Russian collective design now just began to develop, but I believe that he has a great future.
Now the main task of the Form Bureau is to continue its expansion in the international market. We actively conduct our activities in Brazil, where I went to a long trip associated with a large project of the reconstruction of the furniture factory and the continuation of its activities as the author of the objects of collective design.
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Photo: From the personal archive of Faith Sidel