It is great to be outdoors: The Eko_tektonika festival of green architecture and green building was held in the Yasno Pol

Russia’s first open-air festival of green architecture and technology, the Eko_tektonika was held in the Yasno Pole Ecopark. The organizer of this event was the leading Russian non-profit organization that promotes green building – the National Agency for Sustainable Development, co-organizer – Representative Office of the World Green Building Council in Russia – RUGBC, with support was provided by all relevant NGOs and public authorities. The NAYADA Company acted as a strategic partner of the festival.

Hundreds of people came to the festival, including visitors from various regions of Russia, as well as from Moldova and Ukraine. Most notably, these were the architects and main actors in the architectural and construction market and their friends, families and children, for which were organized various creative activities related to environmental ideas.

The highlight of the festival was a presentation of prospects for the development of a new project in the Yasno Pole Ecopark and the awards ceremony of the main All-Russia competition in the field of green architecture and construction – the Eko_tektonika.

“We have been planning to organize such an event for a long time now,” said Svetlana Duving, the head of the Eko_tektonika project. “And it has two components. Firstly, this is a major national award in the field of ecological architecture and construction, which we launched this year, and which has long been needed by the professional community. After all, eco-construction – this is not just a fashion or a trend, but a new stage of development for the architectural and construction industry, to which we are now moving. The principal new paradigm, as well as the preservation of professional competitiveness, depend on the use of advanced green technologies.

Secondly, this is an awards ceremony, which from the very beginning we planned to hold in the format of a large outdoor rural festival of green architecture. Given that today there is so much information available, it is essential that we find the best format for its presentation to the professional audience, and traditional conferences and seminars seem hopelessly outdated today. In this sense, the territory of the Yasno Pole Ecopark – the initiator of which, Director of NAYADA Dmitry Cherepkov, plans to develop in full compliance with the principles of sustainable development and green construction – was the ideal place to start such a project.”

“At this festival, we officially presented for the first time our Yasno Pole Ecopark project and greeted its first guests. Even the weather cooperated – rain clouds bypassed our Yasno Pole,” says Dmitry Cherepkov, creator of the Yasno Pole Ecopark. “This joint work and the festival being held on our site, I feel certain is just the beginning of a great collaboration, after all, we are all thinking in the same direction, and are working on a common useful task. Yasno Pole – is a place to relax, work, and simply to live in unity with nature. And, of course, we are pleased that our history is already becoming useful to people. We are planning to implement a few key directions: agro-tourism, farm, eco-laboratory, educational center. Later, as we develop the Ecopark’s territory, in addition to eco-living, we plan to conduct training and awareness programs on various aspects of architecture, green technology, environmentally friendly lifestyles, and human development in general.”

From the very beginning, the Eko_tektonika project has shown that there is great interest in green architecture – in total, about 190 applications were received. And the festival, has demonstrated the huge demand that exists, among the advanced modern audience, for creative rural recreation, connected with progressive values of sustainable development:

• respect for nature,
• improving the quality of life through the development of innovations and their use in construction and daily life, as well as
• constant self-education, even in their free time, surrounded by like-minded people who share similar ideas.

For the Eko_tektonika Festival in the Yasno Pole Ecopark, we created several new objects together with architect Vladimir Kuzmin – Arch objects such as the “Ball” and the “Portal”, as well as a large dining table.

An excursion was also organized to the Arch objects, or people could go there by bike or walk.

The business program of the festival brought together the most advanced experts in the field of green building, and touched upon the most relevant and current issues, related to ways of transitioning to the path of green architecture and the creation of sustainable development principles in daily life. The feedback from visitors of the festival showed that the program was so interesting, that people often could not decide – which seminars to attend, they wanted to learn as much as possible.

For those guests of the festival who are not architects and designers, activities were organized dealing with specific solutions and technologies for the transition to an ecological lifestyle. Thus, the representative GREENS Eco-bureau, Yulia Barsukova, talked about organizing collection of separated waste at home, and Elena Smirnova – about today’s fashion trend of eco-friendly cleaning. Renowned environmentalist Roman Sablin shared unique information on the possibilities of eco-tourism in Russia, and eco-chef ЁMazzay held a workshop on the preparation of healthy beverages from wild plants. In addition, people could visit an exhibition of innovative building materials and technologies, information about which many manufacturers presented in fun and creative ways.

The festival program concluded with an awards ceremony – Russia’s main competition in the field of green architecture and construction. You can learn more about the winning projects here.

NAYADA invites you to an eco-architecture and construction festival in the Yasno Pole Ecopark