... it had been a while that I made my way to this interesting city at the far end of the Baltic Sea. I was mid May 2011.
The recession (2008-9) hit Russia as hard, probably harder than many other countries, but we don't hear too much about it. Many international companies down-sized in Russia and some left.
Most large (commercial) construction projects stopped across Russia - with the exception of Sochi. A few projects though were completed recently in St. Petersburg’s retail landscape - "Stockmann" and "Galeria" - just a stone throw apart.
I was the first architect on the project after it was restarted to help the initial clients to develop a new concept for this failed project linked to the hi-speed fiasco trying to link Moscow with St. Petersburg.