Russia's best architects to leave for greece

Fifteen architects of various age groups have won the 1st all-Russian competition of professionalism and mastery of architects in Moscow. They were awarded with trips to Greece - the cradle of European architecture.

It has been decided to hold the competition annually. About 60 architects from more than 20 Russian regions took part in it.

The competition was organised by the State Committee on Construction, the trade union of builders and producers of building materials of Russia and other organisations. The aim of the competition was to define the directions of the implementation of the Transformable and Quickly-Built Housing programme approved on March 20, 2002 at a session of the Russian Security Council as a critical technology, Igor Ivanov, Vice-President of the Russian union of small construction businesses, told journalists on Wednesday.

The competition set other goals. Among them was to find a new style and economical architecture solutions in the low storey construction and raise the competitiveness of small and medium-sized construction business.

The organising committee noted that the competition winners designed houses that optimally meet the standards of "a people's house", i.e. are cheap, quickly built and comfortable at the same time.

Ivanov noted that it was decided to set up in the Moscow region two unordinary "technical test fields" on land plots unsuitable for construction. There architects will be able to implement their projects if they find investors.