Hello Everyone:
The space bar is officially not working and I'm still using the iPad to get my blog posts out. It's actually not an inconvenient thing. Like the fabled mail carrier, nothing shall keep me from my appointed round rounds. Today's post was inspired by a review in the current issue of the LA Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com) of a new exhibit at the Architecture and Design Museum (http://www.aplusd.org) by Wendy Gilmartin. Ms. Gilmartin reviews an exhibit dedicated to plans for the city of Los Angeles that never made it off the drawing table. Some it is rather quite fanciful but it got me thinking of speculative architecture from another era, 1920s Soviet Union. In particular, I'm thinking of the Constructivist architecture imagined by Soviet architects such as Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Vesnin for a "brave new world." These buildings never made off the table but it was intended to present a new form of architecture and design that was free of the past bourgeois conventions; demonstrating the superiority of Soviet architecture. It's very imaginative and work worthy of further consideration.
What is Constructivist architecture? Constructivist architecture is a genre of modern architecture that began in the former Soviet Union in the twenties, emerging from Constructivist art. This mode of art applied three-dimensional Cubism to abstract and non-objective elements. It combined straight lines and various geometric elements such as cylinders, squares, rectangles, and cubes. The principles of Constructivism emerged from Suprematism, Neo-Plasticism, and the Bauhaus. The elements of Constructivist art and architecture are: minimalism, geometry, spatial, architectonic, and experimental. Constructivism explores the opposition between different form and the contrast of surfaces-such as wall and windows- squares and rectangles. Movement was emphasized and took advantage of the possibilities of new materials such as concrete and glass. The steel frames that held large panes of glass were exposed. The joints between the parts of the buildings were also brought into full view. (Http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/architecture/constructivist_architecture.php).
The driving force behind Constructivist architecture was the idea that the laboring class-the worker- was the new consumer of architecture. To create architecture that would service the new consumer, Moisei Ginzburg (1892-1946) founded the Organization of Contemporary Architects (OSA) in 1925 with fellow architect Alexander Vesnin. The OSA were a group of men and women who were dedicated to: 1) the radical transformation of current architectural concepts, 2) command of the latest technical data, and form, and 3) derived from a mathematical solution of correctly stated problem. These goals served as the foundation for Constructivist architecture and what Ginzburg stood for the future of architecture. Eventually, the group fell by the wayside as the thirties approached. (Http://www.arch.ttu.edu/Architecture/Faculty/buelnckx_h/Fall2009/Theory/Student_pdfs/06.Constructivist_AmyWalker.pdf)
The post-World War I years in the fledgling Soviet Union were characterized by poverty which added to the paralysis in the construction industry. Thus, the job of creating new buildings for a new way of living became a powerful lure. Interestingly, none of the architects connected with the OSA fled the country. Unlike some of their Austrian counterparts (Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra), they stayed. I think part of it had to do with politics. In lectures and "paper" architecture projects in the twenties, trends were emerging that would leave their mark on architecture for the future. The most significant of these trends were the Constructivists and the Rationalists, who had much in common with each other. Both groups rejected the stylized superficial use of the new (modern) architectural language. They both studied the psychology of perception and applied their findings to their practice. Members of each group not only created completely new building typologies but also took a keen interest in urban planning. Together with "unaffiliated" architects, such as Konstantin Melnikov and Yakov Chernikov, the Rationalist and the Constructivists created the Russian architectural Avant-garde. (Http://www.narkomfin.ru/Eng/Architecture/Constructivism.aspx)
So what does this very brief look at a very rich subject mean? From an architectural stand point, the architects of the early Soviet Union were eager to use their art as a way to create an identity for their "new" country. They wanted to create a whole visual vocabulary that was not dependent on anything previously seen. The Constructivists were following a trend established by other newly modernizing nations in the early twentieth century such as Japan and Turkey. Both Japan and Turkey wanted to created a new visual identity for themselves that presented their countries as modern and progressive. Yet, they relied on established forms for that new identity. On the other hand, the Constructivists decided to take the bolder step and create something entirely new. On paper, it was exciting but in reality, it never got past the drawing table. Like the speculative work imagined for Los Angeles in the new exhibit up at the A+D, it's thrilling to see what the imagination can do when given room to roam and ideology is allowed to have free run. Even more exciting would be if any of it gets built.
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