“The Parliament of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Staro-tatarskaya sloboda of Kazan”

The project of Parliament tries to accommodate the avocations of openness and transparency in our political system through space. It’s important to see how the architecture works with the government and the people, and the dynamic relationships within those parties, in order to enable ideas of potential future changes and being critical of the current.

The Parliament is the space where collective decisions take form through architecture and shape society that’s why it should become a completely new type of public building, on the previous chemical factory site, trough the universal openness and accessibility of the public political institution. People will take part in the decision-making process to help executions of the social civil principle that advocates better decisions. The architecture will bring dialogue between people and the authorities, become a platform for debate and discussions, any initiatives will be heard by the authorities and implemented in reality, thanks to education and social responsibility, as the main element of state and civil transformations. The site was formed under great pressure from a huge industrial zone which is completely ignoring and oppressing the context of an initially historically and culturally important part of the city - Old Tatar settlement. The urban planning concept of the project involves the revival of the area by moving government buildings as a catalyst for urban transformation. The buildings of the Parliament are assembled into a complex and connected together, thereby forming the streets and urban environment, which is co-scale for people. By the concept, 2 parts of the complex, legislative, and executive authorities buildings, are combined and connected by the city plaza and the culturally-socially rich program of passage around it. Visitors start their experience from the museum’s amphitheater inside the plaza and finish around the main plenary hall. The internal gallery around it gives them a chance to become a part of the work process of ministries and parliament. The public space formed within the whole quarter of the Old Tatar settlement will be open to everyone and gather people from all over the city and Republic. The architecture of the Parliament will reflect the openness and transparency of the work of the authorities, showing the organization of a complex political structure from the inside and the opportunity to become a part of the future of the Republic.