Post Staff Writer
 City Architect Vasyl Prysyazhnyuk. (Photo: Courtesy Kyiv City Administration) |
The Kyiv city council named Vasyl Prysyazhnyuk to be the city�s new chief architect on Oct. 17. His appointment was greeted with reserved optimism by construction industry observers, long frustrated by the nearly absolute and arbitrary power the city architect�s office has held since independence. |
The incumbent, Serhy Babushkin, has been appointed second-in-command of the department. Babushkin is best known for his controversial Globus Shopping Center design beneath Independence Square. Babushkin has been hospitalized with an undisclosed illness for the past five weeks, according to the office�s spokesperson, Iryna Yarmolyuk.
Yarmolyuk said that Prysyazhnyuk�s appointment by the Kyiv city council was for an indefinite term.
Prysyazhnyuk, 59, has served on the City Construction Council since 1994. He has also served as Zhytomyr�s city architect.
Prysyazhnyuk, in Moscow on business, was unavailable for comment.
Sources in Kyiv architectural circles, who say that they have been asking the city for logical and stable zoning rules for years, called Prysyazhnyuk�s appointment a step in the right direction.
�Nothing happens in Kyiv without the chief architect�s approval,� said Yury Nyzhnykevych, a Kyiv architect. �No major construction, no redevelopment, nothing is approved� without being cleared by the city architect.
Nyzhnykevych said that in his three years in Kyiv he has learned that for a project to be approved, the city architect must be �convinced� of its benefits. The convincing, he said, can �take different shapes and forms.�
He stressed that positive changes could come about as a result of a leadership change in the city architect�s office.
�Kyiv needs a professional team of architects and city planners to design a cohesive, holistic approach to development in the city,� Nyzhnykevych said. �Until now, only projects that were bringing large returns to investors were getting the green light [from the chief architect]. Only very lucrative projects were getting done.�
Nyzhnykevych hopes that tighter regulation and a greater degree of accountability will help channel money from lucrative city investments into often-neglected areas like low-income housing.
Roman Shwed, an American architect who does consulting work in Ukraine, agreed that replacing Babushkin was a positive step.
�I think it�s going to be for the better,� said Shwed.
Shwed is credited with the lavish redesign of a dacha once occupied by former Ukrainian Communist boss Volodymyr Shcherbytsky. The house is currently being rented to Russian ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Shwed said that while Kyiv has seen significant changes over the past 10 years, there are areas where more progress is needed.
Like Nyzhnykevych, he sees Kyiv�s adoption of a formal zoning plan as essential. He also says that districts on the Left Bank need renovation and engineering studies. Traffic is also a growing problem that needs to be addressed soon, he said.
He said that changes are likely for the city�s development department.
�[Kyiv mayor Oleksandr] Omel-chenko is a progressive man,� he said. �He wants the city to be the best in the world, like any other mayor would. It�s an ego thing.�
�Old people are retiring and relaxing their grip on power, sharing it with younger people,� he added. �I believe [that Prysyazhnyuk] knows what needs to be done, and that he�ll surround himself with good people who will make sure that it happens.�