To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!A. P. Chekhov, “Three Sisters”If you were destined to be born in the Empire,It’s best to find some province, by the ocean…I. Brodsky, “Letters to a Roman Friend”The relation between a province and a metropolis, like many other processes, is subject to periodic oscillations. Systole comes after diastole; creative energy tends to move towards the common center one day, and spreads among a number of local centers and objects another day. The trend seems to be changing right now. Some of today’s tendencies convey the suggestion that the...
The news section presents the winners of The Daylight Award 2020 and The Kaira Looro Competition, and announces the theme of The 2A Continental Architectural Awards 2020, which will be conducted virtually this year.
В статье говорится о том, как понятие «провинция» теряет уничижительный оттенок и постепенно приобретает позитивное значение.
The article presents the author’s phenomenological study of emptiness with regard to the urban space. Studying the cases of three historical cities, the author analyses the meanings of emptiness coming out against the background of fatal external threats. The notion of emptiness is introduced into the symbolic and semiologic discourse of the city.
Communications of people or devices eliminate the basic principles of vertical control. New technological breakthroughs based on the energy Internet will change the way people interact with each other and the environment. This brings them together with living organisms. In the world of nature, all life processes take place on the principle of a "closing circle". The "smart" city of the XX century will be built according to completely new energy, and economic models and ways of interacting with the nature. Digital urban development of the future should involve biosphere content.
The article considers two paradigms of the center-periphery interaction in the mixed and multiethnic systems. The historical examples show the peculiarities of the colonial paradigm where the peripheral culture is suppressed and displaced by the culture of the center (metropolis). The eparchial paradigm is based on cross-cultural interaction and enrichment between the center and the provinces. Within the final decades of the 20th century, the eparchial principle was replaced by the “cultural colonization” on the global scale. As a result, the “global West” culture is degrading to its...
The role of architectural heritage in the formation of identity of Russian cities is poorly studied. The interaction of the tangible and intangible architectural heritage is hardly covered. The article analyses the results of sociological surveys among the local population of a number of Russian historic cities. Regarding the results of these surveys, the authors reveal the specific types of the residents’ perception of the city’s architectural heritage, as well as the connection between its material and virtual components in the image of the city.
In the 1930s, as industrialization gathered pace, great hopes were laid on the centralized management of town planning as opposed to the assertiveness of large industrial institutions. In that period, the All-Union Council of Utility Services of the USSR Central Executive Committee had the highest status. Studying new materials deposited in the RF State Archives, the author revealed that even the all-union management structure regularly experienced difficulties which paralyzed its urban planning and reconstruction activities.
To tidy up one’s room, city, region or country is a simple and proper idea, though hardly realizable without love. The absence of this love is due to the unrootedness of people. The coronavirus pandemic will make people reconsider their attitude towards their land, small towns and metropolitan cities.
Small and historic towns reflect provinciality in every sense of the word. The collection of the materials presents today’s typical cases of small and provincial towns. In many towns, the search of local identity has just started, and its results are still rather questionable, because of the lack of an appropriate method. Should we search for a unique “face” of the town in its history and its sites with rich biography, like in blackearth Borisoglebsk? Or should we focus on the only unique object (Barabanovo on the Yenisei)? Or should we look back upon the town’s glorious past – its...
Borisoglebsk is a district center in the Voronezh region, a typical provincial town in the Black Earth region of Russia. Despite its turbulent history, the town managed to save most of its historical and cultural wealth. Today this small town is “frozen” in anticipation of upcoming changes. The changes are coming together with large-scale national projects, building initiatives and the general tendency towards improvements and contemporary design. The authors discuss the measure of adequacy of possible development strategies for the values of the urban fabric woven by a long and slow...
The construction history of the Church is revealed, the original architectural appearance is determined, the architectural, artistic and stylistic assessment is given, and the characteristic features of the monument's architecture are revealed. The completed comprehensive scientific surveys of the object allowed us to consider two options for restoration solutions and analyze their validity. The evaluation criteria are authenticity and reliability. Special attention is paid to preserving the patina of time and the naturalness of an old building.
The article reviews the history of I. O. Shenderov’s rental house designed by Rostov-on-Don city architect Nicolay Matveevich Sokolov (1859-1906) and the restoration of the cultural resource of regional significance. The aim of the study is to analyze the measures for restoration and protection of one of the largest rental houses in Rostov-on-Don. As a result, basic methods and techniques were revealed to be used in contemporary restoration of regional architecture of the late XIXth century.
The article presents the results of the study of the geocultural potential of the Ural town of Irbit. In 2021 the town on the Nitsa is going to celebrate its 390th birthday. The long-standing combination of non-resident traders' activities and the solidarity of the local corporation gave a big boost to the development of urban architecture, art and theatre. Today, Irbit needs creative scenarios for realization of the city’s geocultural branding strategy. The ideas of Ch. Landry and D. N. Zamyatin are used in the analysis.
All happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina”Despite the recent rearrangement of the federal districts, the notion “Baikal Region” still exists. The three subjects of the Russian Federation, Zabaikalsky Krai, the Buryat Republic and the Irkutsk Region are united around the lake, which is often called “Great Sea”. This region is our journal’s homeland. The journal’s regional section contains the materials that show typical problems of provincial cities and their solutions.The disunity of citizens and the lack...
The concept of development and improvement was worked out for the All-Russian Competition for the best projects for a comfortable urban environment in small towns and historic settlements. The article considers the characteristics and the development capacity of a small town as a basis for a complex project. The design process has many stages. It is important to involve businesses, communities, authorities, social groups and users of the area at each stage.
The results of a crime localization study in Russian cities are presented. A long-term model of urban environment influence on criminal intent is proposed. Social and spatial causes of rising criminal level and later urban reconstruction methods are shown on the example of Pruitt-Igoe (St. Louis) and Bijlmer (Amsterdam) districts. A model for the reconstruction of the Novo-Lenino district in Irkutsk is proposed. Measures have been developed considering the historical dynamics of the region and its unique features.
Preservation of cultural heritage is a complex task regarded from legislative, professional and sociocultural aspects. It demands a very delicate approach. At the same time, the heritage preservation system in the Russian Federation has a number of problems related to imperfection of the institution of historical and cultural expertise, which allows removing obvious cultural resources from the field of state protection. The civil society can resist such incidents, as evidenced by the case of the Irkutsk architectural and historic monument, Doctor Rassushin’s House (early 20th century).
The construction of the future center for science and culture is related to the necessity of scientific research and reclamation of the central ecological area of Baikal. Its functions are research, site improvements and tourism compatible with present-day accessibility and environmental safety requirements. The reclamation of the granite and ballast quarry and the introduction of research, cultural-educational and tourist functions will provide solutions to many ecological and economic problems of the area.
The article reviews historical, natural, landscape and economic conditions for the development of Tulun. The authors propose strategies of renovation of the city center, including economy restructuring, usage of urban mentality and existing urban activities, as well as citizen participation in design and territory management.
A little more than one and a half centuries ago, far eastern provinces became a part of Russia. A short but rich biography of this area remains poorly studied both by historians and theorists of architecture and urbanism. The capital of the Jewish autonomous region, Birobidzhan is a unique example of how to create a “promised land” for the Yiddish culture. As this culture vanishes, being replaced by the Hebrew culture around the world, Birobidzhan becomes more and more significant for the history of architecture. The article by A. Ivanova and A. Kovalevsky opens up the topic of...
The article is based on the field studies carried out in 2018-2019. The authors tried to find assimilation of Jewish culture inside the experimental space of the Soviet period. However, after coming to the conclusion that the development of the settlements of the Jewish autonomous region had ‘international’ features, they turned their focus on the description of vernacular architecture (individual low-storey housing, customized governmental accommodation facilities in the form of barracks, etc.). The attempt to comprehend the specific features of the development of the artificially...
The article is focused on industrial architecture of the Russian Far East. Studying the cases of the largest cities in Priamurye, Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk, the authors identify the main features of the architecture of factories and other industrial facilities, due to the specifics of the development of the region and its individual cities. The main types of industrial facilities of the second half of XIX – early XX centuries and the principles of their placement in urban areas are considered.
The article presents a systematic picture of the development of industrial architecture of large cities in the south of the Russian Far East in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries. Using the example of Vladivostok and Ussuriysk, the main features of the architecture of factories and other industrial facilities are identified, due to the specifics of the development of the region and its individual cities. The main types of industrial facilities and the principles of their placement in urban areas are considered.
The article considers the need to develop a fundamentally new concept of industrial architecture – "smart factory". The factors that influence the architectural solutions of contemporary enterprises are listed. The principles of forming the architecture of "smart factories" are formulated and unveiled. Examples of production facilities that meet these principles are given. The conclusion about the positive impact of these principles on the architecture of high-tech industrial facilities is made.
The article analyses the possibilities for reconstruction of deserted industrial areas in Irkutsk and arrangement of a scientific, educational and cultural cluster that would meet current town-planning requirements. The article reviews the functions of the cluster, architectural principles of spatial rearrangement and possible conditions for economic growth and settlement of people on the territory of the Irkutsk region.
The rapid development of the Internet blurs the geographical concept of province. In the “space of the worldwide web”, centers emerge, become influential and then lose their status so quickly that they simply have no time to become a metropolis. Architectural education experiences these trends to the full extent.The global crisis of the educational system has created a strong demand for distant forms of the professional training; while the coronavirus pandemic has boosted the development of online education.The themes of students’ projects are also changing: provincial cities...
The article is devoted to the problem of the development of online forms of architectural education. The processes of the development of architectural education from Vitruvius to the present day are examined. Two different paradigms of such learning are highlighted. The combinatorial paradigm is based on a finite set of standard elements and considers design as a combination of these elements according to predetermined rules. The second paradigm (metamorphic) interprets architectural design as a continuous process of creative development of the original idea. Education in this case is...
The article considers a non-standard design practice in a distance learning format at the Department of Architecture and Design of Moscow Information and Technology University-Moscow Architecture and Construction Institute (MITU-MACI). It also reveals the peculiarities of digitalization as means of modernization and advancement of the learning process.
The Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (NNSUACE) campus is located in Zapochainie, a historical area in Nizhny Novgorod, so the issues of revitalization of the historico-architectural environment and those concerning the methods of architectural design are interwoven in the text. The symbiotic relationship between education, science and practice used as a principal tool for the training of architects at NNSUACE made it possible to envision the evolution of the university campus. The article presents the projects proposed by professional architects...
Provinces and their culture are strongly related to regional architecture schools. In continuation of the topic of the previous issue, we are publishing two articles devoted to complex processes of the genesis of local architecture schools and their relations with geographical (article by P. Kapustin) and historical (article by E. Bagina and M. Arustamyan) peculiarities of the region.
The category of schools has recently become one of the most attractive. It may be due to its paradoxical features: it contains both the tunes of tradition and rootedness and the pretensions to capture certain areas of the future – already under its own inertia and the would-be power of the historical trend. However, today’s “schools” have nothing natural; their current configurations remain in force for quite a long time because they were designed and rather skillfully introduced into the well-known present trends. Unfortunately, changes in trends occur too quickly to leave special...
The master plan of Yerevan created in 1924 by Alexander Tamanyan and Nikolay Buniatyan is a reflection of the military-political situation prevailing in Armenia after the First World War, the genocide of 1915, the revolutions in Turkey and Russia, the social illusions of the Armenian diaspora and political parties that set out to create an independent Republic of Armenia as a center for the preservation of Armenian culture. The change in the “client” of this project and the political plans did not affect the idea of a “garden city” and the planning principles laid down by Tamanyan....