“Architecture is a social manifestation and is thus indissolubly linked with the structure of society at a given point of time. Once separated from the society of its age, it becomes an empty sham and a toy for the infatuated followers of vulgar fashion.” Hannes Meyer, 1933 Continue reading
What has remained largely unexamined in the study of avant-garde architecture and urbanism in the USSR is the activity of a large number of foreign technicians who went to work after 1928. Continue reading
An appraisal of the Mel’nikov house in light of the architect’s other work, as well as comparable structures from the time. Continue reading
During recent years comrade Malevich has worked exclusively in the field of volumetric Suprematist compositions, on problems of the volumetric and spatial forms of material masses. Continue reading
“We begin with the most primitive, the most elementary motions and carry out the mechanization of man himself.” Aleksei Gastev, 1924 Continue reading
Table of Contents I. Introduction: Soviet Urbanism and the Fate of the International Avant-Garde II. A Structural Overview of the Proceeding Work: The Sociohistoric Phenomenon of the International Avant-Garde and Soviet Urbanism as Its Decisive Moment III. The Dialectic of … Continue reading
THE SOVIET AVANT-GARDE — INTERNATIONAL REFLECTIONS OF THE OSA-ASNOVA (CONSTRUCTIVIST-RATIONALIST) SPLIT THE EFFICACIOUS VS. THE AESTHETIC In his landmark structural analysis of the antinomical tendencies existing within Russian culture (broadly termed “Culture One” and “Culture Two”),[1] Vladimir Paperny locates a … Continue reading
INTRODUCTION Comrades! The twin fires of war and revolution have devastated both our souls and our cities. The palaces of yesterday’s grandeur stand as burnt-out skeletons. The ruined cities await new builders[…] To you who accept the legacy of Russia, … Continue reading
Download Ross Wolfe’s “The Graveyard of Utopia: Soviet Urbanism and the Fate of the International Avant-Garde” Comrades! The twin fires of war and revolution have devastated both our souls and our cities. The palaces of yesterday’s grandeur stand as burnt-out skeletons. … Continue reading
INTRODUCTION (CONTINUED) [Continued from here] It is therefore little wonder that the tenor of the debates over Soviet urbanism should have been cast in such stark terms. The fate of the entire avant-garde, if not society itself, hung in the … Continue reading