The word IMAGE has a wide semantic field with diffuse edges. At one edge, this field intercrosses with the meanings of the word VISUALITY. Visual thinking, which is the basis for architecture and other arts, is still the last purely human thing beyond the scope of a computer.The other edge of the field of IMAGE merges into the meaning of BUSINESS REPUTATION, a crucial element of contemporary economy. The image is important for a person, a company, a city, a region and a country and is especially relevant in hard times, in the context of growing competition in the struggle for human...
Mark Meerovich. An associate, co-author, sometimes a brilliant opponent, in big and important matters - always an associate and partner.
He is a keen researcher of the history of Soviet architecture and urban planning.
A teacher who raised a plethora of grateful students.
Architect, who worked fruitfully in a wide range - from interior design to concepts of new residential areas.Organizer of innovative educational and design structure - Urban Planning School, supervisor of the International Winter University of Urban Planning.
Artistic nature,...
The discussion is focused on the questions relating to creation of Irkutsk’s brand, including the team work on the logo of the city. The external and internal, negative and positive images are differentiated. The slogans promoting the images of different cities are compared. The participants of the discussion highlight the significance of architectural iconic buildings and monumental sculptures for the image of the city.
In fact, image is mythological. According to Roland Barthes, a myth is like a bottle with the content different from what the label says, like cold coffee in a coke bottle. Another European thinker, Umberto Eco said that the contemporary civilization, our ‘current time’ is built on myths and illusions.
Our permanent author Kozma Kvartalov will present the reader with his new myths about the Quarter 130. They speak about dragons and cats. These mythological animals travel through time. By the way, the mythological Babr (the symbol of Irkutsk) came to the Quarter a long time ago....
To see the city as a whole, it is necessary either to rise to a height of several kilometers above it or to live in it for many years; either to size it up at a glance, regardless of details, or to gradually assemble a number of concrete details and impressions into an overall picture. But the image of the city is more often composed of several most outstanding landmarks. The image of the city is like an identikit picture: a haircut, a forehead, eyes, a nose, a chin… The kit of elements that make the image of the city recognizable used to be published as a kit of postcards in the Soviet...
If we look for some examples of effective image handling in the world culture, Japan will probably be the most impressive one. It inherited from the centuries of isolationism the image of an exotic country stuck in the medieval manners and customs. This haughty image was created by western countries, but it flew into flinders during the Russian-Japanese war. At that time, the West (including Russia) established the image of Japan as a dangerous and cruel country of blood-thirsty samurai. The prewar years brought Japan quite a negative reputation of a predator and an invader. Anger, fear...
The article presents the open architectural competitions for the projects of the Concert Hall on Tsesovskaya Embankment in Irkutsk and their results. The competitions are focused on preservation and development of the unique historical environment of the city, as well as on raising the rating of Irkutsk as a cultural center. The article describes the siting requirements for the Concert Hall and the characteristics of town-planning solutions for both projects.
The interview with the president of the G. P. Shchedrovitsky Institute for Development Petr Shchedrovitsky was held by the architect Elena Grigoryeva and the member of the Board of the Siberian Laboratory of Urbanistics Sergey Mayarenkov and touched upon the strategies of urban development. The participants discussed the unevenness in the economic and social development, the conditions of formation of new social groups, the dependence of managing the family budget on cultural values, as well as the case studies of different cities.
Sergey Astapov, descendent of a sculptor’s family from St Petersburg, is ironic and quick-witted. His academic education allows for working in different genres. But in any genre, he aims at doing his job to the best of his ability. He calls his style ‘enigmatic realism’. The mythologemas known from childhood acquire a new dimension in Sergey Astapov’s compositions. The sculptor’s monumental works beautify St Petersburg, and his chamber sculptures are kept in museums and private collections.
The graphical works by architect Sergey Gladkov are analyzed from the point of view of Wittgenstein philosophy. The article makes an assumption that the thesis on the value of silence can be a basis for searching for new architectural images.
The article analyses architect I. S. Androsov’s years-long activity, his creative credo and his point of view on contemporary national architecture, basing on the onsite studying of his projects and personal communication with the architect. The article features his projects which changed the image of Yakutsk and became iconic landmarks of the city. It analyses the most architecturally significant buildings and complexes designed by I. S. Androsov in Yakutsk and the Sakha Republic. The article touches upon the architect’s creative credo and his attention towards the roots of national...
The more popular the 130 Quarter becomes, the more there are legends related to historic houses and events. The honored crooner and collector of urban folklore Kozma Kvartalov is opening another mythological layer in the existence of this rather small city area. The storyline was initiated by the art event held at the Gallery of Siberian Art.
The image of the place is discussed as a socio-psychological and economic category. The mechanisms of perception of this image are well-known and actively studied. But the results of such studies are insufficiently used in the territorial development practices. The reasons of this lagging are considered in the article.
Image and branding are modern trends and a topical discourse, a simulation space, a virtual world and the facts of life of civilization, an eternal reflection of authenticity and universality of the promoted product. They influence the achievement of positive reputation of states, regions/territories, cities, corporations/firms, entities, goods and their investment attractiveness. Working with a real space, milieu and culture of the territory allows for revealing the most typical features of the image of the territory and demonstrates both individual, personalized interpretations of the...
The article describes a travel around the Italian region Apulia. It features architecture and the city space in the small towns of Apulia and considers how their urban fabric depends on the peculiarities of the topoi.
Architecture of any epoch reflects the real situation in human society. The surroundings turn today’s tenants of square meters in residential complexes into sensation-seeking consumers. Being a kind of architectural ‘flavour intensifiers’, amusement buildings satisfy their demands for a short time. With their sophisticated form, they look like a bright wrapping. We live in the culture of wrapping that treats content with contempt, in the culture of simulacra. Architects, their clients and those for whom such consumer structures are built fail to realize that they live their only life...
The phenomenon of the labyrinth in architecture and culture is viewed together with its origin, typology, meanings and mythopoetic content. The image of the labyrinth goes through the centuries of architectural history, still remaining a virtual hero without incarnation, existing at the boundaries of everyday life.
The image of labyrinth reflects the complicated contemporary world and worldviews. The one who enters the labyrinth is different from the one who leaves it. It is already a reborn person. The labyrinth is a place for reincarnation. Architecture does not hide and does not exist beyond its essence. Being initially invisible, the labyrinth becomes itself in pursuit of the secret. Contemporary architecture with its artificial or natural passion for transparency, good orientation and ling-sightedness deprives the city of iconic labyrinths and wonders.
The article describes the collection and the architecture of the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden. It presents the architectural and construction peculiarities of the museum, as well as a fragment from Richard Meier’s text about the project of the Museum Frieder Burda. The article highlights the significance of the natural environment, the light and the air for the dynamic architecture of the Museum Frieder Burda.
The article describes the collection and the architecture of the Kunsthalle in Schwäbisch Hall. It presents the architectural and construction peculiarities of the museum. The article highlights the relevance of the medieval atmosphere of the German city for the Kunsthalle.
The weight and the prestige of British education are mostly built on the unique image of a traditional English college. The article vividly describes the author’s impressions after visiting Winchester College, one of the oldest educational institutions of Europe.
In some fundamental categories of Japanese culture, which are used for preserving and updating traditions in contemporary architecture of the country, "transparency" takes a special place. "Space transparency" denies the idea of boundary or barrier in architecture. In modern Japanese architecture, the "transparency" of space is emphasized and enhanced by its emptiness. In the content of the "transparency" concept in the European consciousness and in the Japanese one, some fundamental differences can be found. If the European mentality associates "transparency" with something illusory and...
The authors of the article compare the information collected about contemporary Japanese architecture. They present the biography and ideas of Japanese architect Taira Nishizawa concerning the future of architecture, as well as his projects and their characteristics.
Taking as an example the excavation and reconstruction of several significant prehistoric settlements, the article studies the development paths of Japanese architecture of the Neolithic and Bronze periods (the Jomon and Yayoi eras). It describes the main types and constructions (such as tateana and takayuka) and analyses foreign influences and original features of Japanese architecture of the early evolution stages. The article tells about social and religious conditions of development of the Japanese society in that period and touches upon the main artistic artefacts of the Neolithic...
The article analyzes the development of Japanese teahouse architecture as well as the aesthetic philosophy of the Way of Tea in Japanese society of those times. It describes the history of teahouse architecture formation, the main types and constructions of the buildings, the rules and peculiarities of surrounding garden landscape shaping. The turning point of Japanese tea ceremony establishment was achieved due to Sen-no-Rikyu, a tea master who outlined the aesthetics of tea ceremony, tea-house architecture of soan style, garden landscape rodji and tea utensils basing on the traditional...
The article is devoted to the work of the modern Japanese architect Tadao Ando and his method of creating form, organizing space and establishing connections of his buildings with any cultural and historical context. Great example of his Italian work - Benetton Research Center in Treviso, shows how his techniques, rooted in the Japanese tradition, interact with the European context. Author's shaping is built under the influence of two acting forces: the Japanese architectural tradition and the architectural tradition of the place where Ando works at the moment. At the same time, the...
The article is based on the interview with Riichi Miyake, Japanese architectural critic. It touches upon the identity of Japanese architectural tradition of the 20th century, its interrelation with European ideas and streams, as well as the influence of technology on the minds of Japanese architects. It features the sources of innovations in Japanese architecture. It addresses the question of identity of contemporary Japanese architecture.
The article presents the idea of Etretat Gardens and the significance of plein-air sculpture in development of a new space. It describes “Meditation” sculpture by Dashi Namdakov located in the green labyrinth. Its peculiar arrangement in the landscape of the labyrinth is featured.