Russian Architecture Research Articles

Русский взгляд на американскую архитектуру конца XIX – начала XX в. (часть 2)

In the second part of this article continue to be considered
 the technology of American urban development at the turn of
 19–20 centuries. Urban infrastructure development required a
 different approach to city development. All this prompted the
 Russian architects to study the information on technical innovations
 in Western Europe and the United States. The article deals with
 the study of the "American style" in architecture Russian architects
 of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

СКЛАДЧАТЫЕ КОНСТРУКЦИИ. ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ РАЗВИТИЯ НОВЫХ ФОРМ

This article describes the function of folded structures, as well as the diversity of species, underlined studies relevant in the search for new forms that will be technically effective and economically jus-tified; it shows the growing role of aesthetic and artistic trends in contemporary design, to assess the prospects of their use in various fields of architecture and construction. Examples of Russian and foreign architects.

America as a Representation of Modernity in the Russian Architectural Press, 1870–1917

<p class="WPNormal">По мере возникновения профессиональных организаций для поддержки российских архитекторов в 1860-е годы были созданы новые издания для распространения информации об архитекторах и архитектурных практиках в других странах. В числе лидеров были Московское архитектурное общество и Петербургское общество архитекторов. Последнее из них издавало журнал «Зодчий», в котором с 1872 по 1917 г. публиковались факты и новости для русских архитекторов.</p><p class="WPNormal">В статье особое внимание уделяется «Зодчему» как источнику информации об архитектуре в Америке, содержащему доклады и материалы об американских методах и технологиях строительства, архитектурном образовании, градостроительстве (к примеру, о перестройке Чикаго после пожара 1871 г.), основных урбанистических проектах, дизайне частных домов, небоскребах, транспорте, загрязнении окружающей среды, а также на другие темы, связанные с антропогенной средой. Помимо случайных отсылок к Генри Гобсону Ричардсону конкретным архитекторам уделялось мало внимания, а их деятельность, по всей видимости, казалась слишком далекой для русских архитекторов и инженеров. Быстрое развитие Америки в течение 50 лет после Гражданской войны продемонстрировало множество перспектив, которые могли быть полезны и для России. Все эти факты и идеи представляют собой значимый и малоизученный аспект отношений между Россией и Соединенными Штатами.</p>

Русский взгляд на американскую архитектуру конца XIX — начала XX в.

Technology American urban construction at the turn of 19th–20th centuries caused great interest of specialists all over the world. Urban infrastructure development required a different approach to city development. All this prompted the Russian architects to study the information on technical innovations in Western Europe and the United States. The article deals with the study of the "American style" in architecture Russian architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Анатомия механизма, или Саморегулирование по-русски

The article describes the situation in the contemporary Russian architecture, where the state control over business is legislatively called off, the public consumer control has not yet matured, the professional control is beyond the law, and such notions as ‘professional honour’, ‘conscience’, ‘reputation’ and ‘public opinion’ lose their value.

Revolution and Russian Architecture: The Case of Neo-classicism

Revolution and Russian Architecture: The Case of Neo-classicism

Ukrainian Architecture in 18th Century Russia: How and Why?

Many buildings with Ukrainian architectural features were built in 18th century Russia in the milieu of intense cultural exchange between Russia and Ukraine. The research aims to discuss how exactly and why Ukrainian elements were used in Russian architecture. Volume organization and decoration of Russian buildings having Ukrainian features are analyzed and compared. The results reveal a clear distinction between the buildings which intentionally copy Ukrainian models or singular elements and those unintentionally using some Ukrainian features as elements of architectural fashion. The detailed analysis of such cases is invaluable for the understanding of Russian architectural transformation in the 18th century.

The Participation of Russian Architects and Sculptors in Making the Art Deco Architecture in Serbia.

The aim of this paper is to present the participation of Russian artists in the emergence and development of the Art Deco style in Serbian architecture, the style that marked the period between two world wars. In emanations of this style in Serbia, Russian architects and sculptors were of great importance, though their role was not discussed in historiography as a separate phenomenon. The decorative attitude made this essentially modern style more accessible to the refined artistic taste of Serbian social elite, which made Art Deco part of the image of its representative identity. In this period, Belgrade engaged architects arriving from Russia, who followed the local artistic demands, oriented toward decorative but also modern architectural form, and produced significant artistic oeuvre. Art Deco in Serbia was based on the modernization of constructions and building forms, nevertheless focused on façade decoration, enriched with ornaments, stylized reliefs, sculptures and fine-detailed ironwork. Architect and sculptor Roman Verhovskoj interpolated elements of the Art Deco style in an expressive and powerful way. Vladimir Zagorodnjuk decorated many public and apartment buildings with reliefs. ViktorLukomski as the architect of the Yugoslav government designed the Palace of the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the State Hotel on Avala mountain. Architects Aleksander Medvedev, Valerij Stashevski, Andrej Papkov and Grigorij Samojlov embraced the style of softened, rhythmical, ornamentally enriched architecture, and developed a specific line of ornamental Art Deco. Creating the elaborate Art Deco interior of Cinema Belgrade, the most elite movie theater in Yugoslav capital, architect Grigorij Samojlov brought the spirit of Hollywood to Belgrade. The interwar development of the city and the quadruple increase in population were followed by the creation of its architectural identity, decisively marked by the modernity of Art Deco, following global trends that put it close to Paris, New York, Madrid, Casablanca, Havana, and Mumbai. In the oeuvre of Russian architects who worked in Serbia between two world wars, we notice a large variety of typical Art Deco motifs. Either contemporary or originating from classical, national, religious or mythological art, they are always transformed in accordance with contemporary modern spirit without direct application of topical templates. Already present in the early, initial phase of the style (1920–1927), related to Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, Russian architects and sculptors strongly reflected the new style in the mature stage of its development (1928–1934), adopting both ornamental and sculptural forms of Art Deco. In the 1930s, their involvement in public and private architecture alike intertwined with the activities of local builders, with whom they equally participated in winning markets and personal self-fulfillment. In the late stages of Art Deco style, which in Serbian architecture developed in the period of 1935–1941, the Russian builders expressed the “joie de vivre” spirit characteristic of Art Deco, which became the most explicit form of the positive, creative global connectivity bringing to life some highlights of Serbian architecture.

Faded Glory in Full Color: Russia’s Architectural History

Faded Glory in Full ColorRussia’s Architectural History Interview with William Craft Brumfield Correction: On page 388, the third paragraph incorrectly stated the abbreviation for the National Gallery of Art as NAG when it should have been NGA. The electronic version has been updated. History, by definition, depends on the existence of written records; everything before the appearance of writing is considered prehistory. Material objects have always informed scholars’ understanding of the past, and since the appearance of the Annales school almost a century ago, the study of the material world has taken on increasing importance. Even so, historical research tends to focus on documents—laws, letters, diaries, literature, and whatever other forms of written expression have survived the crises and catastrophes of time. Yet there is a certain magic in standing inside an ancient building—especially one where one’s research subject lived or worked—and sensing its weight, its colors, its smell, the patterns on its walls. To look at those soaring spires or cramped corners, to see how low the lintels lie compared to the head of the contemporary person standing next to them, or to imagine maneuvering through that set of narrow doors in skirts six feet wide is to experience the past in a visceral way. Although a photograph does not quite match that level of intensity, it creates its own kind of record, capturing a moment in time while allowing a deeper appreciation of both the whole and the individual details that make up that whole. The shape of the Solovki towers, the glorious blue of the Ferapontovo frescoes painted by Dionisii in 1502, the Transfiguration Church on Kizhi Island silhouetted against a blazing sunset: these images linger in the mind, anchoring the documentary descriptions in ways not easily accomplished by words alone. William Craft Brumfield has devoted much of his career to creating a photographic record of Russia’s architectural heritage. His works provide striking visual images to spark the historian’s imagination and the necessary academic context that explains how to interpret what we see. Professor of Slavic studies at Tulane University, he has been and remains a scholar of Russian literature, but he is now best known for his architectural photography, which [End Page 379] has won multiple awards.1 In addition to publishing six books in English and four times as many in Russian, as well as contributing chapters to and editing three more collections—all on Russian architectural history—he has mounted exhibitions of his photographs in the United States and abroad, including a large exhibit devoted to the Russian North in 2001.2 A list of online collections of Brumfield’s photographs appears at the end of this interview. Over the years, Brumfield’s many fellowships and grants have enabled him to take thousands of high-quality color and black-and-white photographs of buildings—some destroyed by revolution and war, others miraculously surviving almost intact for centuries, still others renovated or newly built after the collapse of communism. The churches of the North and Siberia, merchants’ houses and monasteries, the fortifications of western Russian towns invaded first by Napoleon and then by Hitler, and many more are documented in these photographs—a small selection of which appears in the color insert included with the interview. We at Kritika thank Professor Brumfield for his work, which vastly enriches our field. The conversation that follows reveals both what historians miss when they overlook the physical structures of Muscovy, imperial Russia, and the Soviet Union and the processes by which these enduring remnants of the Russian past have been captured in print. Your first book publication was Gold in Azure: One Thousand Years of Russian Architecture (1983), followed by The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture (1991). Few other historians of Russia pay much attention to architecture and the role it plays in human life. What are we missing? The architectural environment of any particular time and place is a compendium of historical layers defined by what has survived from the past. We can often learn as much about a society from what is not there (what has been destroyed or allowed to decay) as...

Naples in the Works of Alexander Bryullov and his Contemporaries. Speaking of Romanticism

Pensioner practice of the Russian artists, who lived or studied abroad in different periods of their lives, is a subject of heightened attention of art historians. The study of this important periods of the artists’ professional career enables to reproduce their creative contacts, to trace the process of formation of their worldview and creative method, and, consequently, to assess the degree of infl uence of other countries on the national culture. This theme is important today because of the particular attention of modern specialists to the international cultural relations and the results of the integration process in the sphere of art. At the beginning of the 19th century, the foreign practice for the Academy of Arts graduates became regular. The geographic area and travel route for those trips were chosen considering the training program focused on ancient samples. Therefore, the main place for this probation was Italy, and especially Rome, where the rising artists studied the classical architecture and the art works of the Renaissance masters. Unlike Rome, Naples did not form a colony of Russian artists. However, this city entwined the fates of the artists of different genres and directions, attracted by the romance of common people’s life by the sea, idyllic landscapes and archaeological sites. Under the infl uence of the romantic atmosphere of the city, the artists created the works that became masterpieces of the Russian art. The article reviews the Neapolitan period of creativity of the Russian architects and artists of the fi rst half of the 19th century. Particular attention is given to Alexander Bryullov (1798-1877), for whom the stay in this city became crucial. The text contains references to modern periodicals and archival documents of that period.

Residential architecture of George Pavlovic Kovalevsky in interwar Belgrade

George Pavlovic Kovalevsky, architect and urban planner, belongs to the most significant authors who created in the period between the Two World Wars in Belgrade. Yet, his work and life have rarely been the subject of scholarly literature, while the study of his housing projects has been overlooked. This paper discusses housing projects designed by Kovalevsky mainly in collaboration with another Russian architect Vladimir Bilinski. The analysis of the projects is based on original archival plans, documents and photographs. Residential buildings designed during 1921-1923 by these two architects include small single-storey houses, multi-storey building and spacious villas. Although of different surface, volume and shape, they have some common characteristics such as: classical construction, equable aesthetic quality that followed the spirit of the late Secession or the modernized Academicism, and were designed in line with the requirements of the property-owners. Buildings created by Kovalevsky and Bilinski cannot be considered among the most important achievements of the interwar Belgrade residential architecture, but their study is important because it contributes to a better understanding and evaluation of the work of these authors, as well as the overall architectural production of that period. In a broader sense, this paper builds upon general rise in interest in the revaluation of cultural, social and historical values of residential architecture in Belgrade that was created in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century, as an important segment of the material and immaterial cultural heritage and the identity of the city and contributes to its more adequate interpretation and preservation.

ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ АРХИТЕКТУРНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В РОССИИ И ЗА РУБЕЖОМ

The article deals with the organization features of architectural education in Russia, in comparison with Western European countries, the USA and Canada; and reveals the differences in organization and plan content. Russian architectural education has passed the same way in its development, as the architectural education in other countries: from craft-labor approach in training (X-XVII centuries) to the academic knowledge. Before the October revolution in 1917, the architectural education in Russia and all over the world was artistic and engineering. But after the October revolution, this division of higher school of architecture, existing in Western countries, has been lost; architectural education has become universal: combining artistic and technical, and independent, getting in specialized institutions. The universality of the Russian architectural education complicates its comparison with the architectural education abroad in terms of content. Modern Russian model of architectural education, as the continuation of the Soviet education, stands against the Anglo-American model, with full liberalization of the education sector, free from the state; the French model, with a fully government-regulated educational standard, and the German model, with strong research component. Besides the superficial differences in the training of architects in Russia and abroad, there are deep differences with social conditionality. These differences are determined by the roles of architects in Western society, which are wider than the functions of Russian architects; and other social order, other requirements, that Western society has for the erected buildings and structures.

Западные мотивы и формы в поствизантийской живописи Московии. Предварительные размышления.

The paper deals with the important issue of West European influence on Russian painting of the late 15th–16th centuries. While Western components in Russian architecture of this period, as well as in the 17th century architecture and painting have been explored quite extensively, there are only few case studies of European motifs used by Russian painters before the Time of Troubles (1605–1613). Our paper can’t cover all significant cases and types of adaptation of Western forms in this period. It aims to show chronological frames of the process which started circa 1530s; the ways of interpretation of adopted motifs that sometimes would affect only iconography of compositions, but rather often transformed their style of Byzantine origin, and the stylistic nature of forms in question. The author argues that Russian painters mainly used not Italian Renaissance but rather archaic late Gothic or Northern Renaissance models, as well as Post-Byzantine Greek works which, having been considered as Orthodox, included Western (Gothic or Proto-Renaissance) elements of iconography and style. It seems that in the 16th century Russia, Western as well as revived Palaeologan forms were used as the instruments of creating new emotional style appropriate for peculiar features of religious mind of the period.Alongside compositions including Western elements, there are some other phenomena in Russian 16th century art that could be defined as a result of European influences. Among them one should point at the new concept of church interior created by Italian architects at the service of Moscow sovereigns. These unified spaces became a serious obstacle for making wall-paintings traditional for Byzantine and Russian churches of the previous period. Still, as time passed, some of these churches were decorated with murals, whose structure appeared to be influenced by “Renaissance” architecture of such buildings. The aspects of the Western impact on Russian 16th century painting are yet to be explored. However, in general, such contacts can be considered as one of the most significant features of Late Medieval Muscovite culture. They reveal its specific “imperial” nature as well as its inner kinship with Post-Byzantine Greek culture and the South Slavic world which developed in a dialogue with Renaissance Europe since the 15 th century.

New Directions in Russian Orthodox Church Architecture at the beginning of the Twentieth Century

At the beginning of the 20th century certain influential voices in Russian architecture began to question the highly ornamental approach to church design that had reigned during the latter half of the 19th century. In the opinion of these architect-critics, the so-called Ostankinshchina style (named after the late 17th-century Church of the Trinity at Ostankino) seemed to deform the aesthetic purity of medieval Russian church architecture, even as it lessened the spiritual meaning of the church itself. In response, a number of architects, such as Aleksei Shchusev and Vladimir Pokrovskii, explored new paths in church design by combining a study of early medieval Russian forms with new technological methods.

Architecture at the end of the Earth: photographing the Russian North

Carpeted in boreal forests, dotted with lakes, cut by rivers, and straddling the Arctic Circle, the region surrounding the White Sea, which is known as the Russian North, is sparsely populated and immensely isolated. It is also the home to architectural marvels, as many of the original wooden and brick churches and homes in the region's ancient villages and towns still stand. Featuring nearly two hundred full color photographs of these beautiful centuries-old structures, Architecture at the End of the Earth is the most recent addition to William Craft Brumfield's ongoing project to photographically document all aspects of Russian architecture. The architectural masterpieces Brumfield photographed are diverse: they range from humble chapels to grand cathedrals, buildings that are either dilapidated or well cared for, and structures repurposed during the Soviet era. Included are onion-domed wooden churches such as the Church of the Dormition, built in 1674 in Varzuga; the massive walled Transfiguration Monastery on Great Solovetsky Island, which dates to the mid-1550s; the Ferapontov-Nativity Monastery's frescoes, painted in 1502 by Dionisy, one of Russia's greatest medieval painters; nineteenth-century log houses, both rustic and ornate; and the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Vologda, which was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in the 1560s. The text that introduces the photographs outlines the region's significance to Russian history and culture. Brumfield is challenged by the immense difficulty of accessing the Russian North, and recounts traversing sketchy roads, crossing silt-clogged rivers on barges and ferries, improvising travel arrangements, being delayed by severe snowstorms, and seeing the region from the air aboard the small planes he needs to reach remote areas. The buildings Brumfield photographed, some of which lie in near ruin, are at constant risk due to local indifference and vandalism, a lack of maintenance funds, clumsy restorations, or changes in local and national priorities. Brumfield is concerned with their futures and hopes that the region's beautiful and vulnerable achievements of master Russian carpenters will be preserved. Architecture at the End of the Earth is at once an art book, a travel guide, and a personal document about the discovery of this bleak but beautiful region of Russia that most readers will see here for the first time.

Socialist Postmodernism. Conceptual and comparative analysis of recent representative architecture in Pyongyang, Astana and Ashgabat, 1989-2014

Following the architectural guidelines of the socialist countries, the architecture of North Korea has been formally classified either as architecture of socialist realism or of socialist modernism, with the particularity of the two formal systems coexisting over the years in response to the official ideological discourse. Studies of socialist architecture have rarely included postmodernism until the fall of the Berlin Wall, identifying the appearance of the neo-historicist or technologically inspired forms with the restoration of capitalism, as an opposition to reduced forms (colours and materials) of socialist modernism. In this sense, the architecture of North Korea produced after 1989 -- i.e. since the construction related with the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students in Pyongyang -- remains in a kind of conceptual limbo: still maintaining the socialist character as well as carefully chosen historicist references according to the prescriptions of the Juche theory.Postmodernism appears in Western architecture starting from the 1970s, claiming historical references and the expression of relationship between the building and its physical and social context. However, the use of these references is rational and depends on a specific narrative; therefore the theorist Robert Venturi introduces concepts like "irony" or "double meaning" in the analyses of architectural works (Venturi et al 1972). The connecting line between socialist realism (as defined by Boris Groys, 1992) and postmodernism refers to this rational and industrial use of traditional forms, traced by Romanian historian and theorist of architecture Augustin Ioan (1999) and more recently by Rem Koolhaas in one of his lectures on Russian architecture (2014).The article investigates the post-modern nature of North Korean architecture of the last twenty-five years and relates it to similar examples from Russia, China, and the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan where the newly built capital cities have followed the representative trend of Pyongyang.

Construction innovation diffusion in the Russian Federation

Purpose – The aim of this study is to explore the current situation in the Russian construction industry and the obstacles, drivers and strategies that affect innovation implementation most significantly. The Russian construction industry is highly conservative and is often criticised for its lack of innovation. Construction firms invest relatively little in innovation adoption, development of new ideas and formal research and development. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilised an extensive literature review followed by a questionnaire survey incorporating some post hoc interviews with 52 experts from the Russian architecture, engineering and construction industry to identify the most significant drivers, enablers, barriers and strategies related to innovation diffusion in construction. Findings – Findings indicated that economic and financial difficulties, as well as inappropriate legislation, are the most significant barriers to innovation. Financial incentives, legislative improvements and the promotion of alternative construction procurement methods were viewed as the most critical strategies to improve the current lacklustre rate of innovation diffusion. Originality/value – While there is anecdotal evidence that the Russian construction industry is lagging in terms of technological advancement, its closed nature means that there is still little reported evidence on what are the main barriers to innovation diffusion in this country. Hence, there is a lack of focus on innovation diffusion rates in different construction sectors, such as building and civil infrastructure and limited consideration on how effectively the research and development sector contributes to innovation.

Wood in the modern architectureof small forms

The modern world dictates severe conditions, involving people in a continuous process of changes in the environment. Active building and construction work, urban densification are rapidly transforming environment, creating a new architectural space with intense impact on people. In this regard, there is much tension around the issue of provision of urban amenities, forming comfortable environment for a full human life. The comfort of the urban environment is determined by a set of visual perception of the constituent elements of this environment: architecture, design, landscape and their harmonious unity with nature. A remarkable component of visual perception, making urban space aesthetically appealing, is small architecture.Small architecture in Russia has always played a special role. Being perceived in the context of space, creating at the same time a certain mood and emotions, small forms diversified architectural environment, making it aesthetically appealing. The question about the direction of urban policy in the field of provision of urban amenities was made in 1921, when the first Congress on improvement of populated areas took place. With this legislation originated overall urban development approach as inseparable system layout of the city, its architectural appearance and landscaping. Architectural workshops developed model projects of small forms with recommendations for improvement, which helped to inexpensively create individual features in urban development. At present, the provision of urban amenities have moved to a new level, becoming more grandscale, capital-intensive.The main requirements for small architectural forms are to create a harmonious space, the fusion of architecture with the natural elements. The most harmonious perception of small architectural forms in the environment is achieved through the use of natural building materials. The use of natural materials in urban environment represents nature, creates a comfortable environment psychologically close to a person. Wood, among other natural materials, has an undoubted advantage. Absolute compatibility, unique design quality, expressive possibilities of the material and its ability to form a comfortable living environment, harmoniously combined with other materials, provide greater demand for wood in modern architecture.In the architecture of small forms wood is used everywhere: on the territories of residential quarters, parks and recreation areas, areas of office and commercial development, road environment, etc. A leading role in shaping the public space belongs to small structures for various functional purposes, such as benches, gazebos, sheds, sports facilities, children’s playgrounds.In the modern wooden architecture of small forms two directions are clearly traced. In the first one there is the desire to escape from the boring similar forms, transforming small architectural forms in art objects representing not only material, but also artistic value. The second direction is based on the centuries-old practice of folk art. Having been formed for centuries folk culture and national traditions fully meet the artistic tastes of the modern society. Summing up, it should be noted that the use of wood in architecture of small forms is a universal solution to shape the ecological framework of the urban environment, which is especially important in solving the problems of the modern city.

Dmitrii Mileev and the Restoration of Wooden Architectural Monuments in Early Twentieth‐Century Russia

This article brings to light the professional life of Dmitrii Vasil'evich Mileev (1878–1914), one of the leading Russian architects and architectural restorationists of the twentieth century. For various reasons, Mileev's work has not received much attention in Russian scholarly literature, and this article seeks to fill this gap by delving into the archives and publications of the Imperial Architectural Commission, as well as using other documents from the early 1900s. The focus is on the restoration of wooden architectural monuments of the Russian North, since Mileev was the first Russian architect to work out a systematic method of preservation that he followed while working on over fifty such buildings. The article continues its exploration into the Soviet period, taking note in particular of the theoretical and practical work of A. V. Opolovnikov, who continued Mileev's work. Together, their contribution to Russian culture was priceless, and their legacy helped to set the course for future Soviet restorationist efforts.

“As the Measure and Beauty Suggest”: Traditional Principles of geometry in Russian Orthodox Churches

This article proposes that the “Trinity diagram” was used for designing the plans for Russian churches. The “diagram” is a combination of squares which form the principal structure of the building; it has a semantically rich meaning refiecting the doctrines and ideology of the Middle Ages. The hypothesis is con.ftrmed by numerous examples from Western European, Byzantine, and Russian church architecture.