As Bulgakov’s Yeshua said, there are no evil people. People always aim for goodness. But the problem is that the idea of goodness has not yet become common to all mankind. Sometimes, the notion of goodness has surprisingly controversial senses for different communities, groups of people, or different persons. The bloodiest wars and revolutions and the heaviest losses in cultural heritage of the mankind were caused by somebody’s pursuance of goodness and profit.
In the 1st century AD, the famous Roman lawyer Cassian Longin Ravilla formulated a logical principle that makes it...
The discussion is focused on the analysis of the design and construction practices in Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region. It raises the question of advantages / drawbacks of transformation of the urban environment depending on the policy of regional authorities and developers. The participants of the discussion review the problems concerning the colouristic environment of the city, protection of the architectural heritage, downtown density, as well as the change in perception of the city in light of the popularity of the 130 Quarter.
The emblem of the Federal Education and Science Supervision Service contains a crossing of the scroll (a symbol of knowledge) and the so-called fasces, Lictor’s axe and a bundle of rods. The Romans borrowed this sinister symbol from the Etruscans. It meant the right of authorities to execute and punish their people. The same symbol can be seen in the emblems of two more government agencies: Federal Penal Service and Federal Bailiff Service.
It comes to mind that “fascism” derives from “fasces”, doesn’t it?
The character of the present-day government policy towards the...
There is a Latin tag “cui prodest?” meaning “who stands to gain?”. When it is not immediately apparent which political or social groups, forces or alignments advocate certain proposals, measures, etc., one should always ask: “Who stands to gain?”. (V. I. Lenin, Who Stands to Gain?)
An unsettling problem of the future renovation of the certain generation of houses aroused in the late spring in Moscow and spread immediately around Russian cities, since, as you know, khrushchevki can be found everywhere. However, the need for renovation is felt differently in different parts of the...
The point at issue is not their good intentions (of those who have any), but the objective significance of their policy, i.e., what its results are, cui prodest – whom it benefits, to whose mill it actually brings grist.(V. I. Lenin, A Talk 0n “Cadet-Eating”)
It seems that a terrible page of the “Big Terror” was turned over long ago. We can forget it and move on. But it fails. There are still certain people in our country who keep to the principle “no man /monument / cultural heritage site – no problem”. The terror aimed against cultural values still exists in our days.
It seems that the awareness of the importance of history and identity has come to us, so we’ll move to the future together with our architectural and historical heritage. Irkutsk – with the unique wooden quarters of its historical center. But it is on the general level of ideology. However, when it comes to a certain plot of a certain owner, it is not that simple.
How to arrange heritage renovation, repairs and restoration so as to ensure the highest authenticity? To revitalize the woodcarving school, to restore mining of such traditional materials as sandstone and natural stone,...
The authors and participants of the project and the expert community analyze the problems related to the realization of a big-scale concept of renovation of the historical center “Irkutsk Quarters”. They discuss preservation of wooden architecture of the city, changes in social functions of the territory, inclusion of the new facilities in the fabric of the area, as well as the problems of the territory’s tourist function and preservation of the identity of Irkutsk downtown.
The article reviews the monography “Design today: from the virtual space to the objective and environmental reality. Design school in Irkutsk” written by O. Zheleznyak and her co-authors. The researchers focus on the urgent problem of the contemporary design concerning the interrelation between the virtual space and the objective and environmental reality. Design is interpreted as a system of identification of the region and branding of the city through discussion of the peculiarities of the image of the territory and regional trends in design. The same technique is used for featuring...
The monography by V. G. Lisitsyn “The Irkutsk architect K. V. Mital: from modernism to postconstructivism” presents the first overall study of the professional activity of the Irkutsk architect Kazimir Voitsekhovich Mital, traces his life and creative activity, as well as attributes and thoroughly describes all his projects and realizations. The monography features the establishment and development of the fundamental architectural styles in Irkutsk (modernism, eclectics, constructivism and postconstuctivism). It analyses the peculiarities of the forced transformation of the provincial...
Some fragments from the article published in Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda in 1982 were presented in the previous issue of Project Baikal (Lidin, K. (2017). Such Different Stars. Project Baikal, 14(52), 126-127). The article aroused a keen interest among readers. At their request, we publish the full text of the old (but presently topical) article.
Two articles by A. Bokov are bound by the common narrative. The author reviews present-day relationships between architecture, construction, urban studies and management. The author expresses deep concern over the trends launched in the period of Khrushchev’s reforms. Starting from the 1960s, architects have been gradually losing their mission of the bearer of the coherent view of the developing city. Developers pursue their own narrow and not always legal interests, while imposing on the architect the role of an obedient executor.
The article indicates the necessity for a fundamental reform of the Town Planning Code. It involves the laws on architectural activity, architectural copyright, the state procurement and other regulatory acts, which should be thoroughly systematized.
The article is devoted to the history of construction of the Hotel Sibir in Irkutsk in the hard formative period of the USSR building industry in the 1930s. It reveals the features of the provincial building inhereтt in the hard, but very bright period of domination of the constructivist style.
We continue to publish the myths of the 130 Quarter. They are told by an honored crooner, collector of the modern city folklore Kozma Kvartalov. Please do not treat his stories as historical accounts. They are more like fairy tales where the historical truth is interlaced with contemporary fiction. The occurrence of such myths evidences a vivid interest and development of the city. Or at least a city quarter.
The article tells about the benefits of city trees. It tells how much urban greenery costs, how trees work for us, and what loss we have when we thoughtlessly annihilate them or treat them in a wrong way.
The scope of development and even the existence of the shadow economy are recognized by the official economic science rather unwillingly. In the meanwhile, the shadow (“grey”) economy is not only the way of economic behavior, but also a style of life. It corresponds to a complex of urban planning and architectural principles. The creative activity of some contemporary architects (such as Alejandro Aravena) takes into account the wide spread of the “grey” style of life, which makes it possible to decrease the social tension.
The report presented at the Annual Conference of the Union of Moscow Architects on the theme “Space of Quality” traces the connection between the quality of the environment and professional rights of architects as the specialists creating this environment. The author reviews the history of the issue and analyses the current legal status of architects in Russia in comparison with the status of the profession in the world practice and international documents. The author forecasts the condition of the environment in case if this situation remains unchanged.
Architectural science and the institutions that are meant to support it are bureaucratized and sunk into a deep crisis. The authorities demand reports and awards. Nobody is interested in the content of the work. There is a lack of new ideas and scientific discussions.
The article analyses the current situation in the architectural education concerning the changes in the way of acquiring information, the abundance of knowledge, the possibility to get a distance education, etc. The problems are formulated, and their solutions are proposed.
Architecture is the most vulnerable part of culture, almost doomed to destruction of its fundamentals, while the rise of its intellectual and creative level is badly needed. However, neither the resort to postmarxist French philosophy nor bringing the results of development of science and technology into architecture, neither computerization nor peculiarities of parametricism and deconstructivism are helpful. It can be stated that in the beginning of the third millennium architecture and architectural education are in stalemate. The way out is in a “radical” switch from comprehension of...
Being rebuilt or renovated, architectural profession does not need to ‘move closer to practice'. On the contrary, it should break away from it. ‘Architectural professionalism’ is not a homogeneous or inert body. It split up long ago. It is not a single profession, but a complex heterogeneous field that demands multilayer strategies.
The article presents the experience of Moscow Information and Technological University – Moscow Architecture and Construction Institute (MITU MACI) in creating an advanced model of architecture school focused on an innovative approach in education to intensify the educational process. The article touches upon “impermeability” of the architectural profession and the possible ways out with the help of introduction of new forms of education and an interdisciplinary approach.
In the late 19th – early 21st centuries architecture experienced revolutionary changes. Professional paradigms changed several times. Inside those paradigms, there was a formation of different comprehensions of goals and tasks of architecture, of necessary professional knowledge and skills, and of a new framework of categories and concepts. The vision of an architectural form changed correspondingly. The nature of a professional also changed.
The active discussion of the program of renovation of the prefabricated housing stock in Moscow has caused reconsideration of the solutions for the regional problem in the towns of Pribaikalie. It is obvious that the narrow technical approach should be substituted by a broad town-planning approach that takes into account social aspects of the problem related to transformation of the urban environment. The article speaks about seismic retrofit of the 1-335c-series housing stock, which is a serious social and economic problem for the Baikal region. The variants of the further use of the...
The restoration program launched by the Moscow authorities is analyzed in terms of the history of Soviet architecture and society. It is criticized for its nonconformity with the current legislation, breaches of procedures of declaring buildings in disrepair, weak ecological, procedural, social and other aspects of the program, refusal to use international experience in reconstruction of five-storey buildings, in particular, the German experience. The article reveals that the Draft Federal Law, amending the Federal Law “On the status of the capital of the Russian Federation” and serving...
The article is based on the book by V. A. Berdinskikh and V. I. Menkovsky (Berdinskikh & Menkovsky, 2017). The repressive policy of the Soviet government toward the Soviet people is viewed in the context of the aim to form the most powerful military and industrial complex set by the party leaders under the name of “Industrialization Program”. As a state entity of the territorial and economic activity, GULAG was committed to certain production tasks, which caused the necessity to provision it with a slave “labour fund”. The prehistory of the formation of the slave labour structures in...
While taking black or white threads from the fanciful, absurdist and far from black-and-white pattern woven by the time of changes into the strong fabric of the Soviet history of the 1920s-30s, we get simple models of the real life processes. Basing on such models, we get an opinion, that avant-garde art and architecture of the 20s had a great support in the post-revolutionary society, the voluntary twist toward “implementation of classics” was irreparably wrong, and the twist toward modernism in the 60s was too late, that is why architecture of that period was secondary. The refusal of...
The jurisdiction of Stellenbosch, located adjacent to, but outside of, the Cape Town metropolitan area in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, comprises over one thousand square kilometers of landscapes spanning: spectacular mountain wilderness areas; many productive rural valleys that are an integral part of the celebrated Cape Winelands; and a number of historic, characterful urban centres founded during the 17th century. Overall, this blend of domains attracts increasing numbers of tourists, while the places are also home to a growing population. The pressures for change and...
As a follow-up to the theme of integration between architecture and nature started in the previous issues of Project Baikal (PB 49, 50, 51), the article reviews the principle of using natural forms and also features the history and the current state of the ideas and practices based on imitation and representation of natural forms in architecture. The author analyses the natural basis for using of orthogonal geometry in architecture and reviews utilization of nonlinear geometry with the elements of randomness in the world and national practice.
The article presents the concept of ‘contemporary architecture’ as an embodiment of new architectural ideas based on the movement towards the future, innovations and progress. The article studies development of world architecture from the classic period, through post-modernism, functionalism and minimalism and back to the classical elements and the contemporary architecture. Taking into account the remarkable extension of the contemporary idea of style, beauty and harmony, the author predicts the ‘multistylistic’ stage in the development of architecture described as postfunctionalism....
Despite the untimely death of its founder and leader, Zaha Hadid Architects remains one of the most active studios in London, producing designs all over the world. But in the early 1990s, when this interview was being held in her studio on 10 Bowling Green Lane in London, Zaha Hadid was mostly famous for her ‘quazi visionist’ projects with magnificent presentations that resemble abstract works by Kandinsky and Malevich rather than architectural designs of buildings and complexes…
Since the establishment of partnership between Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, the studio had focused on...
The topic of the issue aroused a keen interest among many authors of our journal. Below is a selection of their answers to the following topical questions:
– What phenomena and processes in modern architecture, town planning and architectural education seem to you the most strange, absurd or harmful? What causes your negative reaction?
– To whose profit are such negative phenomena and processes? What groups, layers or strata are most interested in the existence of these phenomena, negative for us (and positive for them)?
– What profit does the...
The article reviews the results of the urban studies workshop of the All-Russian Project “Summer School”. It presents two variants of the Volga waterfront development on Savelovskaya side of Kimra in the Tver region. The development concepts were worked out by two teams of students and young specialists. Not only architects, but also politologists, philosophers, geographers, economists and mathematicians took part in the workshop.
The article describes how the land use and development rules were worked out for the area of complex regeneration of the historic development of the 130 Quarter in Irkutsk. The article presents the content of the rules and describes the problems of economic use of the territory that arose in the previous years, in the absence of the rules. It also features the current stage of operation of the renovated Quarter and the restrictions imposed by the new land use and development rules.