project baikal

With the author’s permission, Project Baikal publishes excerpts from Andrey Bokov’s forthcoming book on Russian cultural space. The article provides a comparative analysis of Russian cultural space in comparison with European and Eastern cultural spaces; transformations started by Peter the Great and actively continued under Catherine the Great; subsequent stages, including the Soviet practice of spatial construction and the latest transformations.

Space as an object of architectural knowledge and thinking does not yet exist, since no one has done the work of introducing it into the historical and genetic analysis. Nevertheless, the category of space has come into professional use, giving rise to many concepts. Intuitively or consciously, an architect, dealing with space, includes their existential experiences. Public space is open to the public, accessible to the public and visible to the public. To understand the phenomenon of public space, not only its spatiality is important, but also its substantiality.

What is it worth to constantly use the word ‘space’ in contexts related to architecture, urbanism or even ‘new urbanism’? Is there anything real and effective behind it so that we can work with or at least adequately understand and reliably use it in professional and common cultural communications? Where did the habit of using this word come from and what has it replaced? The roots of these questions are in new European rational thinking, but today we are reaping the fruits. In the article, the structure of which imitates I. Kant’s Critiques, the author makes an attempt to critically...

Since antiquity the image of space as emptiness has been opposed to the image of material space filled with some essence. For a long time this role was played by the theories of ether. During the twentieth century, a model of space filled with metrics, i.e., information, was formed in physics. Since the middle of the last century, the social and psychological sciences have rapidly developed models which treat space as a structured continuum. Many phenomena of quantum and relativistic theory look quite adequate in the sphere of humanities, particularly in the history and theory of...

The article substantiates the possibility of creating a systematic approach to the analysis of countries’ experience in spatial planning through the lens of technological modes. The basis for the creation of such an approach is the proposed conceptual scheme of validity of the choice of directions for analysing spatial planning systems. It is shown that the close relationship between the level of the country’s economy and the phase of its technological mode allows us to propose a classification of countries and possible directions for analysing their spatial planning systems. The authors...

When we talk about the social, cognitive or discursive space of the city, we use a metaphorical transfer of our ideas about physical space to the ‘semantic’ level. Our internalized ideas about physical space become the basis for such structuring: based on these ideas, we create scientific metalanguages that allow us to discuss social or discursive aspects of urban life. In this paper, we strive to study the cognitive foundations of such metaphorical transfer in more depth, as well as to explore the interrelationships between different types of “semantic” urban spaces.

The article examines the peculiarities of Soviet modernism of the 1960s – 1980s aimed at the spatial development of the country. The history of space exploration and attempts to conquer the Moon are also included in these processes. The article presents the projects of Russian architects who worked in that period for the lunar exploration programmes. It also reveals details of the real project of the Lunar Base, which was carried out by architect Igor Kozlov from 1970 to 1980.

In 1997, the government decided to move the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan from Almaty to Astana. Analyses of urban sites and a sociological survey of the population revealed the shortcomings of the capital. The existing model of urban planning, which is conceptual in nature, allows construction clients to adjust detailed neighbourhood planning projects and narrows down architectural activity and responsibility to the boundaries of the planned site. The proposed multi-vector model of urban planning is more optimized, open to the public and comprehensive.

Little is known about the relationship between ‘ours’ and the ‘other’ in Soviet architecture. Attitudes to heritage in the Kaliningrad region and in the former Central Asian republics, despite their dissimilarity, have much in common. The architectural and town-planning heritage, which had been developed in these regions for centuries and reflected the peculiarities of local culture, was perceived as ‘other cultural’, oppositional to the Soviet regime. The article considers the attitude to the ‘other cultural’ heritage in the formation of architectural and spatial environment of Soviet...

The article considers how the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris influenced the appearance of buildings that used images and forms of ancient monuments of India and South-East Asia. The Exhibition made it possible to learn more about the exotic culture of those countries, including the works of architect A. Marcel (Cambodia Pavilion and Panorama ‘Voyage Around the World’). He designed the Baron Empain Palace in Cairo, which reproduces the forms of temples in India and Cambodia. The article studies Russian examples of the use of such forms (Narzan Carbonic Baths in Kislovodsk), as well as...

Taking as an example the largest cities, which were part of the Yekaterinoslav Province in the era of modern times, the article considers the features of the urban planning approach that prevailed during the reign of Catherine II. It presents the characteristics of the established centres and reveals the peculiarities of the formation of their historical core. It is noted that the majority of classicist cities of the region developed on the basis of the continuity principle and their historical structure. The authors highlight the special value of the central zone of these cities as a...

This article provides information on petroglyphs of the world and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The table on the use of motifs of Kazakh petroglyphs in modern Kazakhstan is given. It is noted that the immense potential of ancient rock art is widely used by modern designers of Kazakhstan. Materials and techniques of work are diverse. The areas of use involve all spheres of human life. At the same time, there is a certain element of randomness in the use of rock art motifs. The public, cultural, and material significance of the popularization of rock art in Kazakhstan was also voiced.

The article describes a trip to Uzbekistan and, in particular, to Bukhara – the centre of medieval piety, scholarship, trade. It also features architectural sights of the city. The antiquity of the city is emphasized by numerous legends.

Flat stone ceilings were not typical for medieval architecture. Nevertheless, such ceilings had an exceptional development in Armenian architecture from the 11th to the 13th centuries. They were executed in different masonry techniques and with a decor resembling starry heavens. For the first time, an overview of flat ceilings in chronological development is given, as well as their role in the plans of the buildings is investigated. The analysis is aimed at identifying the reasons for their widespread use in memorial buildings. The initial samples were created in Ani back in the 11th...

The second part of the study presents an analytical review covering more than twenty portals of the second quarter of the 11th century – the reign of the last Shahinshahs of the Armenian kingdom and the heyday of monastic construction throughout the country. The article reveals the specificity of the samples of two main types of portals conventionally called arched and Hellenistic. Attention is drawn to the most striking works, especially the portal of the church in the fortress of Amberd, which composition incorporated the features of these two types.

Based on field studies, historiographical data and materials published by Russian and Turkish archaeologists, the article studies the peculiarities of arrangement and location of tonirs and fireplaces – the main types of hearths discovered in dwellings of the ancient settlement. The revealed prototypes and analogues allowed to draw conclusions about the stability of these types in the culture of the Near and Middle East, as well as to raise questions about the sources of origin of Ani fireplaces and to put forward a hypothesis that it is possible to speak about the outlined process of...

The transition from the first versions of 3D modelling to BIM has revealed significant limitations of these technologies in terms of following local cultural traditions. The BIM software products available on the current market include libraries of details limited to modernist stylistics. Incorporating elements of Jordanian cultural heritage into these libraries is difficult. A survey of Jordanian architects and designers revealed that this problem poses a significant obstacle to the wider adoption of BIM in architectural design practice.

A motor rally across Transbaikalia was held 5-11 July 2022 by the crew consisting of Anastasia Repina, Elena Grigoryeva and Anna Loginova. The aim of the rally was small towns of the region, participation in the festival of these towns, author’s supervision of the implementation of the projects by the Siberian Laboratory of Urbanistics, several places of interest and personal reasons.

The article presents the results of the study conducted by the authors with the support of the grant of the Russian Science Foundation “Military Theme in the Architectural and Spatial Development of the Far East”. Based on the materials of field surveys and archival data, the authors have made the first attempt to comprehensively understand the historical process of architectural design of Vladivostok as a key Russian port on the Pacific coast. The surviving and lost buildings of the naval department, which were erected in the city and its environs at the turn of the 19th and 20th...

The article presents the intermediate results of the study conducted by the authors within the framework of grants from the Russian Science Foundation “Military Theme in the Architectural and Spatial Development of the Far East”. Brief historical information is provided on the structure and nature of the activities of the first construction organization in Khabarovsk Krai – the Amur Engineering Distance. Original projects and surviving buildings are considered. The authors highlight the significance of the architectural heritage sites of the Distance in the formation of the architectural...

Wooden architecture is a special independent direction of the Russian traditional architecture. It is represented in Russia in its unique quality and diversity. This is truly a national architecture that has absorbed the mythopoetic and Christian worldview of the people. The concept of “Russian North” reflects the significant “Russianness” of the region. Here, all those perfect forms of wooden architecture were developed to continuously influence the entirety of Russian art for centuries. A wooden temple is the pinnacle of culture, its iconic heritage. The best religious buildings were...

The article analyzes the factors that complicate life and construction in the extreme conditions of the Far North. For each factor, there are current methods for solving the difficulties that it provokes. Climate challenges are analyzed, and issues of logistics and autonomy of residential systems are considered. The main goal of the study is the development and adaptation of architectural solutions that take into account the specific natural conditions of the region. The article presents an experimental model of a modular residential system designed for operation in the conditions of the...

The article presents an overview of some modern problems that people face in the northern regions. The emphasis is on problems in the solution of which a significant role should be given to architecture and urban planning. The principles of forming the architectural environment of northern settlements are developed by the authors, interpreted for the specific natural and climatic conditions of the northern regions and proposed as tools for solving the identified problems. The possible positive effect of applying these principles is revealed, primarily in the aspect of creating a...

The article reveals the peculiarities of nature and climate that influence the way of life in the Arctic settlements of Tiksi and Naiba located in the north-east of Yakutia. The authors propose their ideas for finding new architectural solutions in the Arctic.

On June 17, 2024, a defense of a group of students from the Department of Architecture of Residential Buildings, the workshop of Professor M. A. Belov and Associate Professor P. K. Zavadovsky, who took part in a unique experiment, was successfully held at the Moscow Architectural Institute. It took three years to develop a general project for the city of Nikolograd – Klausburg, in which the authors could realize both general and individual plans. The images of Nikolograd architecture have deep historical roots. An attempt was made in student projects to develop the...