Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk

Akademgorodok was built in the south of Novosibirsk, in the taiga array on the shore of the Ob Sea. In fact, this is a large isolated area consisting of various typical houses of Soviet construction. Even the cottages of academics are made up of recognizable panels, and the most iconic structure is a strict, without a single decorative detail, building of the Institute of Nuclear Physics.

Nevertheless, Akademgorodok does not seem to be strict or dull. It looks like a European university city. It is safe and cozy here, streets and avenues are still surrounded by real forest. Here, fresh air, mushrooms grow almost under the windows, and squirrels, they say, sometimes jump right into the windows. Here is a democratic and friendly atmosphere. There are many students and a variety of informals - “reenactors” dress up in historical costumes and walk in the woods with fake swords. Here, all the solar fantasies of humanity are collected in the Sun Museum, and in the Museum of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, the mummy of the Altai Princess from the mound on the Ukok Plateau overgrown with terrible legends. Here there is the Upper Zone and the “Sh” microdistrict, almost like the Strugatsky brothers.

The favorite resting place of the residents of Akademgorodok, especially the young ones, is the coast of the Ob Sea. Shish kebabs are cooked there at any time of the year or just walking along the coast. It is necessary to follow the example of the "academic" Aborigines, go there and look at the widely spread Ob. The stencil expression “Siberian open spaces” comes to life: this is the New Siberia, the “geometric heart” of Russia, connecting Europe and Asia.

LOCAL FEATURES

Novosibirsk residents call Akademgorodok shortly - “Akadem”. Those who live in Akadem are not lazy and utter the name completely. Or say "Town".

There are more than three dozen research institutes in Akademgorodok and only one university - Novosibirsk State University. Public transport stops are often denoted by the names of nearby scientific institutions, so you can hear in the shuttle bus: “Stop at nuclear physics!” (Institute of Nuclear Physics) or “At VEC, please” (Computing Center).

In Soviet times, Akademgorodok was considered a prestigious district, and the local shopping center was one of the best in the city, where scarce goods appeared. Now there is nothing supernatural in the Academic shopping center, everything is just like everywhere else, but housing is still valued because of the good ecology and is expensive - by the standards of Novosibirsk.

HISTORY

The Novosibirsk Academgorodok arose in the wake of the Soviet “thaw” when the accelerated development of Siberia and the Far East with their inexhaustible natural resources began. This development required new scientific developments, and in 1957 the USSR government approved the initiative of Academician Mikhail Lavrentiev to create the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences. For the construction of an academic campus, a free territory was allocated in the south of Novosibirsk, near the newly created reservoir - the Ob Sea. Young promising scientists who willingly agreed to move to Siberia, actually to the taiga, when the town was only in the project, should have settled here.

In the very first year, the Berdskoye Highway, which was excellent by the standards of its time, was built, connecting Novosibirsk and the city of Berdsk. Most communications — power lines, sewers, and water supply — had to be built from scratch, since Akademgorodok was located at some distance from the city center. Construction went very quickly, the foundation was ready in five years. The first was opened the Institute of Hydrodynamics - it was finished in 1959. In the same building, classes began at Novosibirsk University, which did not yet have its own premises, and all other scientific institutions were temporarily housed.

The space of Academgorodok was planned in accordance with the most advanced ideas of urban planning of the time: very functional, logical and environmentally friendly. The architects set out to integrate houses into the natural environment without cutting down trees. The forest served not only aesthetic functions, but served as protection from winds and snow on the one hand and railway noise on the other. According to the master plan, the town was divided into zones for various purposes - scientific, residential, utility, warehouse, construction, recreation and sports. Living area - the most comfortable and green. It is believed that buildings above five floors were banned from building in the taiga personally by Khrushchev, who visited Novosibirsk during his voyage through Siberia.

Housing was distributed in strict accordance with the scientific and social status of citizens: panel "Khrushchev" for the youngest, home more solid "Stalinist" layout for senior researchers and individual cottages for academics. Construction workers who had no relation to scientific research lived in the “Sh” microdistrict in wooden shield houses. Academgorodok was supposed to become something of an ideal world of scientists and students, bringing the future closer. This fantastic idea, typical of the sixties, was also reflected in toponymy: in Akademgorodok there was Science Avenue and Universitetsky Avenue, Fizikov Street, Boulevards of Tourists and Romantics (later renamed). The image of the new city for the young was strongly supported by its founders and leaders. At one of the May Day demonstrations at the head of the column were not workers with placards, but young mothers with prams with their first babies born in Akademgorodok.

Already in the 1960s, cycling was developed in Akademgorodok - cycle paths were initially distinguished during the construction of highways. True, over time, eco-friendly bikes were replaced by cars, but historically, Academgorodok was one of the first in Russia.

Since 1963, the center of the "unscientific" intellectual life of young scientists has become the legendary Under-Integral Club-Cafe. In 1968, the official bard song festival was held at the club - an exceptional event for the USSR. It was the last time Alexander Galich made a speech before leaving Russia. In the same year, the festival was declared an ideological mistake, the club was closed, and the “thaw” was over.

In the same 1968, the House of Scientists was opened - the center of communication, the scientific and cultural center of Akademgorodok. In the Soviet times, exhibitions of semi-banned avant-garde artists were held in the exhibition hall of the House of Scientists. The intellectual elite of the Academgorodok was also in a special position in this sense. And the House of Scientists itself (Morskoy Prospect, 23), and the exhibition hall with it are still active.

Akademgorodok flourished until the economic crisis of the 1990s, when the state funding of science actually stopped and the wages of scientists fell below nowhere. Many intellectual personnel were lost: the most talented people, for whom the Academgorodok was built, left. The circumstances began to change for the better relatively recently, especially with the advent of IT-technologies and private investment. In 2006, it was decided to build an industrial park on the basis of Novosibirsk University, which should become the Siberian "Silicon Valley" (or "Silicon Taiga"). Not all residents of Academgorodok are happy about this, because during construction they will have to cut down a lot of forest. Despite the protests of local "green", the process is already underway, although not too quickly.

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