Arhi.ru: Sergey Aleksandrovich, today what makes you different from you at the age of thirty or forty? What you have gained from the age?
Sergey Skuratov: Probably the most important thing is the professionalism. For me it is not only the ability to design fine buildings and knowing which steps must be taken to construct them, but a deep personal sense of responsibility for everything I do for the city as the architect. But I still have the same desire to work, constantly search and design new. The least of all I want to turn into a machine producing modern and classy but basically identical houses. That is why I willingly take on new typologies – for example this year I have enjoyed working on the contest project on the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater and development concept of the Vyshny Volochyok historical center.
Arhi.ru: For you is the architecture a way to correct or improve the current situation?
Sergey Skuratov: Rather enrich and complement. Any work of architecture shouldn’t be a thing-in-itself. The essence of design is creating new visual and spatial links, new life environment, quite commonplace but in practice it is often hard to follow this. Especially in a city like Moscow, where the fundamental principle of the entire architectural and construction activity remains gaining as many square meters as possible whatever it takes. Most clients demand that and I always have to keep strict watch so that excessive demands on the number of meters wouldn’t get in the way of a project's quality. After all, even the best architecture can’t survive without space and air. We evaluate the architecture, primarily for its spatial characteristics, but not for its spectacular buildings silhouettes, patterns of their windows and finishing. Remember the most beautiful world cities are those which are spacial, green, where buildings are not crowded.