Unrealized Architectural Projects of the 1920s: The Value of Constructivism Ideas

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the most interesting topics: the ideological heritage of constructivism and evaluation of its value. The no­velty of the research is determined by the choice of its subject: unrealized projects of Soviet architects of the 1920s (I.I. Leonidov, K.S. Melnikov, V.A. Vesnin, A.A. Vesnin, L.A. Vesnin and N.A. Ladovsky) as a source of promising ideas for the architecture and design of the late 20th—early 21st century. The paper aims to assess the creative and artistic value of the unrealized projects of Soviet constructivists for the modern architectural design. The main result is the attempt to present a historical and conceptual overview of the origin and features of constructivism and rationalism as trends in urban planning. The 1920s, when the principles and trends in constructivist architecture were formed, became the time of development of a new production and architectural model. The combination of rationalist approach with utopian functionality of most of these projects was the reason for rejection of a truly constructivist trend in Soviet architecture in favor of the “Stalin Empire Style”, and later — deconstructivism. The problematics of constructivist solutions of the 1920s in the field of urban planning and environmental management largely determined the methodology of architectural space organization of the USSR cities in the 1930s, when the stan­dard of “industry oriented” socialist society became a priority. The author considers theoretical studies and scientific publications about the works of Soviet constructivist architects, gives examples of explicit translation of the principles of constructivism in the 21st century architecture, and makes an assumption about the relationship between the ideolo­gical heritage of Soviet constructivists and the artistic and creative process of modern architects and desig­ners (founders of high-tech style R. Piano, N. Foster; deconstructivists F. Gehry, Z. Hadid, D. Libeskind).The article concludes that the constructivist ima­ges and stylistics of the analyzed period, though not translated by modern designers and architects “directly”, become the basis for implementation of new conceptual solutions.