St. Petersburg Hosts Successful Second Conference on Architectural Heritage

News of the Awards

The second conference in the cycle «Architectural Heritage. Preservation for Development» was held with great success in St. Petersburg. The event, organized by the St. Petersburg State Stieglitz Academy of Art and Design, the Worldwide St Petersburg Club, and the Organizing Committee of the International Golden Trezzini Awards, took place in the space of the Grand Exhibition Hall of the Stieglitz Academy on April, 24.

The conference served as a significant platform for a focused dialogue on modern approaches to preserving architectural heritage and its harmonious integration into urban life, in particular, through redevelopment projects. Participants discussed effective methods and strategies for breathing new life into historical objects.

Addressing the attendees with welcoming remarks were the Rector of Stieglitz Academy, Anna Kislitsyna; Chairwoman of the Board of the he Worldwide St Petersburg Club, Natalia Sidorkevich; Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini Awards, Pavel Chernyakov; Chairman of the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg (KGIOP), Alexey Mikhailov; as well as the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Urban Planning Policy – Chief Architect of the Leningrad Region, Sergey Lutchenko.

As emphasized by the Head of KGIOP, Alexey Mikhailov, one of the key goals of the conference was to convey to the development community the idea that cultural heritage sites within implemented projects are not a «burden,» as was often perceived previously. On the contrary, according to him, they act as powerful drivers of development and points of attraction, significantly increasing the value of projects and generating keen interest among city residents.

The event program was logically divided into two blocks. The first highlighted the role of the Stieglitz Academy, its faculty, students, and master's students in the implementation of projects for the transformation of historical buildings and adjacent territories. The second block brought together leading industry experts – representatives of state authorities, project managers, architects, restorers, as well as suppliers of materials and equipment – for the exchange of practical experience and demonstration of successful cases.

Within the first block, Kirill Yakovlev, Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Design at the Stieglitz Academy, presented design projects for the adaptation of cultural heritage sites, carried out by the department's students. Ruslan Voitov, Lecturer at the Department of Interior and Equipment, provided an overview of student diploma projects dedicated to redevelopment projects. Eva Liberman, a Master's student at the Department of Interior and Equipment, shared her experience gained on the project to create the historical, cultural, and tourist cluster «Lighthouses of Lake Ladoga,» including work with territories and interiors.

Student projects on the topic of redevelopment were also presented to the audience. Lyubov Anikina presented the design concept for adapting a spiritual and educational pilgrimage center on the territory of the Korsun Holy Mother of God Monastery in the village of Korsunka, and Alexandra Zabalueva gave a presentation on the development of estate tourism using the example of adapting the Wrangel family estate in the village of Torosovo, Leningrad Region.

Concluding the first part of the conference, Polina Kononova, Head of the «Stieglitz-Design» Center for Projects and Research, and Nikolay Maximov, Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Design, spoke about the possibilities of integrating augmented reality technologies into the tasks of cultural heritage preservation.

The second block of the conference opened with a report by Olga Netsvetaeva, Head of the Department of Territorial Planning and Urban Zoning of the Committee for Urban Planning Policy of the Leningrad Region. Her presentation was dedicated to current issues of territorial development and construction within the boundaries of historical settlements and places of interest in the Leningrad Region. Yulia Strizhak, Director of the St. Petersburg State Music Theatre named after Fyodor Chaliapin, demonstrated, using the example of the theatre's reconstruction and the restoration of the concert hall on Angliyskaya Embankment, how the renovation of cultural institutions contributes to the formation of new, diverse urban leisure scenarios. Elena Skryleva, Director of the Architectural Bureau «Liteynaya Chast-91,» gave a presentation titled «Studying History — An Attempt at Dialogue Between Modernity and the Past,» presenting materials from work on Fort Totleben in the Gulf of Finland. Grigory Ivanov, Head of the Restoration and Reconstruction Department at Architectural Bureau «Studio 44,» shared experience in revealing new possibilities of historical objects, giving the Museum of Electric Transport on Vasilievsky Island as an example.

In the concluding part of the second block, three presentations were given concerning the specifics of applying modern materials and technologies in redevelopment projects. Ilias Il-Nuaysekh, Procurement Director at Venezia Stone, presented exclusive solutions using rare types of natural stone. Boris Borodikhin, Head of Sales Department at ISOTERM, highlighted aspects of engineering systems reconstruction, focusing on the example of heating systems. Maria Makoveyskaya, Head of the Design Department at ARTLIGHT, introduced the audience to successful projects and typical «pain points» in designing lighting systems for redevelopment objects.

The conference was moderated by Oleg Dmitriev, Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini Awards.

A thematic exhibition of coursework and diploma projects prepared by students of the Departments of Environmental Design and Interior and Equipment at the Stieglitz Academy was also organized for conference participants and guests.

The event program also included a special tour of the Academy's Museum of Applied Arts, conducted by the Golden Trezzini Awards Organizing Committee and the Stieglitz Academy for distinguished international guests – Consuls General and staff of diplomatic missions in St. Petersburg from Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.

The packed program of the day concluded with informal networking in the Hall of Henry II, where participants could summarize the results, exchange opinions, and outline relevant issues for further discussions.

The success of the conference and the high interest from professionals and the public once again demonstrated the strong demand for redevelopment issues among the audience and the importance of continuing an open dialogue on this topic. In light of this, the holding of the third conference «Architectural Heritage. Preservation for Development» in the spring of 2026 has been announced.

The organizers express sincere gratitude for the support to the conference partners: Venezia Stone, ISOTERM, and ARTLIGHT.