The Chechen experience is certainly the most formative of my career.
When Jumbo Collection decided to send me to Caucasus to follow the procedure of two big contract projects, I couldn’t really imagine the entity of the work waiting for me.
Cappelletti Srl of the Cantù entrepreneur Tino Cappelletti had just signed a millionaire contract with the Chechen Republic to terminate two important constructions: the Palace of the Culture of the Republic and a private villa, a prerogative of the family of President Ramzan Kadirov. Cappelletti signed a joint interest contract with Jumbo Collection for the execution of the work and I was named architect responsible for the operating work and was sent to Caucasus.
In these images I present the Palace of the Culture of the Chechen Republic in Grozny, a construction, planned and built-up to the raw, by the Slovene architect Stefan Scek with Omnia-Arhing.
Shek conceived a court topped by a glass and metal dome with common spaces and institutional representation rooms: press conference rooms, banquet rooms and even a real theatre.
The first floor was an operation space for apparatus officers with offices and service rooms.
Magnificence is evident on the last floor. Here the palace is practically divided into two: on one side the private residence of the Head of the Republic, with a flat and an office; on the other side two maxi private flats equipped with every comfort, separated by a mega flat reserved 365 days of the year to Mr. Putin, the Supreme Head of the Russian Federation.
The contract signed by Cappelletti-Jumbo Collection consisted in carrying out the construction from raw to full habitability with all comforts included.
It was a real colossal enterprise for various factors, not least of which the environmental situation of a region which, when the work started, had come out of a tragic war against Russia only one year before.
Our referent, which whom we had to discuss every aesthetic and stylistic choice, was Ramzan Kadyrov himself, the head of the Chechen Republic in charge. We submitted to him the sketches of the project of the Milanese architect Maurizio Maggi for his approbation.
The realization involved an impressive number of workers. They all worked at the same time and came from every part of Europe: from Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia for building and plant works, from Italy for flooring, finishes, furniture and lights, from the Netherlands for parks and gardens. The artisans who took care of plaster decoration of walls and ceilings were from Turkey. This work was achieved under my supervision and also thanks to the precious collaboration of interior designer Buket Ergene.
Also in this case, as in the work for the hotel in Blevio, my duty was to interpret the drawings, this time made by the Studio Maggi, and allow the work in the dockyard to proceed without any obstacles.
I would not have been able to succeed by myself without the very precious help of many, first of all that of the Italian-Russian interior designer Igor Pozdnyakov.
I strongly wanted Pozdnyakov, who had worked on the project with Studio Maggi from the very beginning, to work on the ground with me for his many qualities, from the knowledge of the project to the ability of mediator and good interpreter during my talks to the various Russian contact people. With the passing of the years our friendship has strengthened and, after more than ten years since the time of our first experience together, there are still various occasions for collaboration and exchange of advice.
Many people, for various reasons, have made the realization of the immense dockyard work possible. Among the many, I would like to remember great Gaetano “Nino” Manzo, a formidable marble worker, able not only to lay perfectly executed floors, coatings, mosaics, etc…, but also able to remedy some sensational ruptures which, after his intervention, returned intact as if by magic. Perseverance, constancy, presence on the dockyard, ability of management and of the solution of problems: these are the endowments that allowed me to survive in a job which has really taught me a lot.
