cracks, seams and borders

Abstract

Sometimes there are real cracks (and even gaps) between alternatives, and sometimes these borders look like seams joining the opposites. One of the peculiarities of architectural thinking is that it is like mosaic or patchwork. Scars and seams are inherent in architecture. Sometimes they are tried to be hidden, while sometimes to be aestheticized. How inclusive is the ‘patchwork’ of architectural thinking, or is it an exclusive stigma, a scar on the ‘profession’s skin’?
Philosophical reflections on the semantic and philosophical-symbolic interpretation of the image of crack, rupture or gap in a broader context of cultural evolution, and, above all, in its current cultural-methodological meaning are presented by Leo Salmin and Petr Kapustin in their articles.
Administrative boundaries can also turn into cracks. One of the most difficult tasks of urban planning and territorial management is to prevent ‘sprawling’ at the seams between regions. The border between the subjects adjacent to Lake Baikal runs directly along the water area of this glorious sea. And now, after the transfer of Transbaikalia to the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the border between the federal districts. But it is clear that the town planning documents should cover the whole lake, together with hundreds of rivers and streams flowing into it. Invisible seams prevent full comprehension of the whole complex. This is what Alexander Kolesnikov writes about.
The seams of the borders within the Russian Empire were fantastically variable, including not only those of its provinces, but also of its cities. Such changes have occurred over the centuries for a variety of reasons, including political ones.
The selection of materials in this section tells what is happening on the line of the collision of alternatives.