Russian Architecture

Авторы обращаются к теме строительной истории древних Спасо-Преображенского и Михайло-Архангельского соборов Нижегородского кремля, рассматривая ее через призму археологических исследований XX века и ранних изобразительных источников XVI-XVII веков. Эти архитектурные памятники осмысляются как звено эволюции белокаменного зодчества Северо-Восточной Руси XIII века и как образцы уникального трёхглавого трёхпритворного типа храмовой архитектуры.

The authors turn to the topic of the building history of the ancient Transfiguration Cathedral and the Archangel Michael Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, examining it through the prism of archeological research of the XX century and early pictorial sources of the XVI–XVII centuries. These architectural monuments are interpreted as a link in the evolution of the white-stone architecture of North-Eastern Russia in the XIII century and as examples of the unique three-headed triple-vestibule type of church architecture.

Rencontre entre Catherine II, pour qui l'architecture n'est pas seulement une affaire de prestige mais une oeuvre personnelle, et de l'architecte parisien, cousin de Blondel, ayant passé par le voyage d'Italie... L'article examine le rapport entre le projet de l'architecture "à la française" et sa réalisation pétersbourgeoise.

The Church of the Vernicle was build in 1774 - 1783 in estate Rai-Semenovskoye near Moscow. On of the outstanding temples built by Russian architect Matvey Kazakov. The article is dedicted to its history and architecture. Most of the historical photos from the family archive of the last estate owners are published for the first time.

Приуроченное к 120-летию Новосибирска научно-популярное издание посвящено наиболее яркому периоду его истории — 20–30 годам ХХ века. В тексте дается развернутая характеристика периода становления планировочной
структуры и архитектурного облика исторического ядра города. Книга снабжена краткими биографиями архитекторов.
Иллюстративная часть представляет редкие материалы из фондов архивов, музеев и частных собраний, а также фотографии современного состояния памятников архитектуры конструктивизма.
Книга может быть рекомендована архитекторам, историкам, краеведам, всем интересующимся данным вопросом.

The paper is focused on the use of the meander motif in décor of the Old Rus’ church masonry from 11th to early 13th
century. Attention is drawn to compositional peculiarities and the diversity of patterns in meander frieze on church facades in Kiev (St. Sophia, Dormition and Saint Michael’s Golden Dome Monasteries, and The Saviour Church at Berestovo), Chernigov (Transfiguration and Saint Parascheva Piatnitsa Churches), and Polotsk (The Saviour Church in the Convent of Saint Euphrosyne). Comparing these with the contemporaneous phenomenon in Byzantine and Trans-caucasian architecture, the author comes to a conclusion that from the first half of 11th
century the simple non-directional П-shaped patterns and more complicated variants characteristic of the Constantinople builders’ style were used in parallel. Meander’s place in the façade composition in all the Old Russian churches was meant to disclose the internal structure of buildings.

Reference site: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429278891-32/breaking-silence-anna-sokolina.
Synopsis:
This chapter reconstructs and reframes latent legacies, delves into the reasons behind the prevalence of women in Russian architecture, and investigates the ways in which their work has been downplayed in the Soviet and Russian contexts. The inquiry is rooted in history informed by the 1917 October Revolution that secured transformative gains for women by putting into place civil laws, in theory declaring gender equality motivated by the vision of social liberation. Pioneering portfolios are highlighted of four largely unknown caryatids of Russian architecture—Lydia Komarova (1902–2002), architect of major university centers, noted scholar, and designer of the spiral skyscraper (1929); Tamara Kovalevskaya (1923–86), architect of primary public structures in the Russian North, educator, and public official; Nina Aleshina (1924–2012), head of the Design Department of the entire metropolitan transit system and architect of nineteen metro stations in Moscow; and Galina Balashova (b. 1931), first architect of spaceship interiors for the Soviet space program and design genius never officially celebrated by Russian authorities. The emphasis is placed on the professional leadership of these remarkable women. This work aims to break the silence around notable female designers: role models who defined built environments across borders.

Настоящее научно-популярное издание, продолжающее тему «Архитектура и градостроительство Новосибирска в ХХ веке», посвящено архитектурному наследию 30–50-х годов прошлого столетия, рассмотренному в контексте мировой и отечественной архитектуры. Книга снабжена краткими биографиями архитекторов. Иллюстративная часть представляет ранее не публиковавшиеся материалы из фондов архивов, музеев и частных собраний, а также фотографии современного состояния важнейших градостроительных ансамблей и отдельных зданий. Книга рассчитана на специалистов в области архитектуры, градостроительства, искусствоведения, истории и краеведения; на читателей, интересующихся вопросами истории и архитектуры Новосибирска.

Проаналізовано особливості архітектурної композиції львівської церкви Успіння Пресвятої Богородиці (1591-1692); вивчається можливість зміни проектного рішення у процесі будівництва, вказано імовірний прототип первинного проектного задумупервісна церква св. Юра у Львові.

Much has been written on the impact of digital technology and its translation into architectural practice and education. This paper reconsiders this process of integration to question current trends in research and pedagogy. Recent efforts to expand architectural research in schools tend to focus on broadening its spectrum while reinforcing design as research. We argue that the relevance of digital technology to these discussions, and its role in expanding fields of research, depends on different 'research cultures' and their differing institutional contexts. Our interest is in 'cultures' that, as 'lines of thought', broaden the field of architectural research and make it heterodox, thickening a line of research with multiple interpretations. Tracing early experiences in the ‘paperless’ studios of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation, this paper questions how architectural pedagogies are developing in response to the current normalisation of digital design, with a focus on the Architecture Association's Design Research Lab (DRL) and the Strelka Institute in Moscow. Ultimately, the main question is addressed: in what ways can the digital be political? By referring to the DRL and Strelka research programmes, two distinct approaches have been critically explored. On the one hand, DRL has been pushing to the limit the idea of research by design, considering autonomous form as the materialisation of change in the design process, while Strelka has been practicing research as the information for design. If digital technology contributes to form generation at DRL, at Strelka it potentiates opinion generation, and the research product is information, rather than form itself. The triangulation of both approaches could eventually suggest a more thorough political expression by means of a 'digital redux'.

Описание творческого пути академика архитектуры Ивана Владиславовича Жолтовского (1867-1959), которое можно обнаружить в имеющейся литературе, содержит немало «белых пятен». Не освещёнными остаются целые периоды жизни мастера, что создаёт предпосылки для неоправданной мифологизации его личности. В предлагаемой статье автором предпринята попытка реконструировать некоторые этапы биографии зодчего, опираясь на архивные материалы, которые впервые вводятся в научный оборот.

During the First World War, Russia focused its propaganda efforts on the cultivation of anti-Germanic sentiment and the romanticization of the countryside. Wartime fervor gave the provinces bordering enemy territory a new significance as a site of patriotic heroism, and their architecture, modest but honest, came to be viewed as an antidote to eclecticism, or uncritical reliance on foreign models. Resistance to the German Werkbund and the Vienna Secession was particularly strong and produced a stylistic nationalism, while the interest in provincial architecture delineated a special kind of “primitivism.” If the West relegated the “primitive” strictly outside its geographical confines, Russians located it among themselves and cherished it. This self-fetishization motivated historians to examine the architecture of contested border regions like Galicia, Podolia, Bukovina and Lithuania in search of marks of Slavic identity. At the same time, British models came to the fore after the invalidation of German and Austrian ones, revealing an intention not to reject foreign influence entirely but simply to accept it with greater discernment. Additionally, timber’s amenability to the fulfillment of wartime construction needs was explored alongside the symbolic potential that it possessed as Russia’s traditional building material.

THE POSSIBLE APPLICATION OF MODERN STAGE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIAN AUDITORIAL HALLS WITH SCENIC SECTIONS

The present book is the first research in the history of design in
the Republic of Armenia, which discusses and investigates local and
overseas auditorial halls with stage/scenic sections, and offers a variety
of innovative methods to modernize the mentioned buildings and their
stage sections.
The research consists of an Introduction and three parts (“Soviet
Armenian Architectural Premises with Scenic Sections and their
Documentation”, “The Transformation of Auditorial Halls: Scenic
Technologies and Design in International Parallels”, “Auditorial
Premises with Scenic Sections Inherited from Soviet Armenia:
Reconstruction and Creative Design”). Each part (with the exception of
the last one) is divided into sub-parts. The investigation is summed up in
the Conclusion, which is followed by a list of references to numerous
professional sources. The Appendix is an integral and important part of
the investigation. It presents the results of the documentary work carried
out in the research: lists, listings, illustrative tables, schematic
explanatory notes, as well as samples of documents.
The objective of this study is to investigate the above mentioned
legacy of Soviet Armenian architecture, as well as a number of foreign
auditorial halls with scenic sections in an attempt to find possible ways,
methods and options of facilitating the renovation and modernization of
the Armenian auditorial halls with scenic sections.
The research presents the list/documentation of Armenian
auditorial halls with scenic sections located in different cultural clubs,
schools, universities, libraries and other institutions. A historical
overview for each premise precedes the documentation.
The listing of the premises is a serious and time-consuming task.
Nevertheless, it has been carried out through a scrupulous study and analysis of a wide variety of archival and library materials, on-site visits,
mapping surveys, documents and other documented sources provided
by different administrative bodies. Research based on computer
graphics and 2D or 3D design observations has been carried out as well.
As an ultimate result of the listing, the current state of the given
premises, the spheres of their functioning today, major architectural
peculiarities, designing features and other details have been singled out.
The next phase following the documentation of the premises under
consideration includes on-site surveys, data collection, measurement and
estimation of scenic sections of auditorial halls, description of the
current state of their design.
The on-site investigations and observations have been carried out
not only in the Republic of Armenia but also in other countries. The
premises studied in Armenia include Kanaz House of Culture, Echmiatsin
House of Culture, Palace of Culture of Railwaymen, Club in the Village
of Gndevaz, Young Armenians’ Centre (Hayordats Youth Centre) in Nor
Nork District, Young Armenians’ Centre (Hayordats Youth Centre) in the
City of Echmiatsin, Young Armenians’ Centre (Hayordats Youth Centre)
in Arabkir District, National Academic Theatre after G. Sundukian, State
Russian Dramatic Theatre after K. Stanislavski, State Musical Comedy
Theatre after H. Paronyan, State Puppet Theatre after H. Toumanian,
State Dramatic Theatre after V. Achemian, Yerevan School No. 134,
American University of Armenia, Children’s National Library after
Khnko-Aper, Union of Architects (House of Architects). The National
Opera House in Lyon (France) and the Grand Theatre in Geneva
(Switzerland) are also included in the list of on-site investigations. The
auditorial halls, the scenic sections and the design of the following
premises have been studied online: Dresden Opera House (Germany),
Thomas L. Wells Public School in Toronto (Canada), Canada Water
Library in London (UK).
Most thoroughly have been investigated and discussed the
methodology and principles of modern design with the intention of
discerning possible and right ways of modernizing the technologies and
design of the mentioned Armenian premises. The investigation of prestigious foreign auditorial halls with scenic
sections and ways and methods of application of modern technologies in
them, have served a good basis for finding solutions referring to
technological and design adaptation of Armenian auditorial halls with
scenic sections.
Being evaluated highly by the State Science Committee of the
Ministry of Science and Education, RA and international experts, the
present investigation has been granted a financial award within the
frames of the “Post Graduate Research Support Program-2012” project.
The results of the investigation and possible solutions proposed
concerning renovation of Armenian auditorial halls with scenic sections
have been summed up in the Conclusion. Around ten modifications have
been mentioned to enable the adaptation of the mentioned premises.
The list of references includes over 80 research books by different
authors in Armenian, Russian, English and French languages and a
dozen of archival materials in addition to dictionaries, encyclopedias,
professional journals, as well as web sites.

ВОЗМОЖНОЕ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ СОВРЕМЕННЫХ СЦЕНИЧЕСКИХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ В РЕКОНСТРУКЦИЯХ ЗРИТЕЛЬНО-СЦЕНИЧЕСКИХ ЗДАНИЙ В АРМЕНИИ

Книга является тем первым научным исследованием в истории
дизайна Республики Армения, которое рассматривает и исследует
ряд помещений зального типа в республике и предлагает
актуализировать и модернизировать помещения зального типа и их
сценические части.
Исследование состоит из предисловия, трех глав («Помещения с
составляющими зального типа архитектурного наследия Советской
Армении и их фактография», «Трансформация залов здания
зального типа, технологии сценических частей и их дизайн в
международных параллелях», «Помещения зального типа, унаследо-
ванные от Советского Союза, перестройка их сценических частей и
художественный дизайн»), которые (кроме третьей главы) имеют
подразделы. В работу включены заключение, а также ссылки к
представленному множеству источников. Важными и неотъемлемыми
частями диссертации являются приложения, которые включают
списки, иллюстративные таблицы, схематичные объяснения, а также
образцы документов.
Важной целью исследования является изучение сценических
частей и предложение возможных путей и вариантов модернизации
этих помещений.
В первой главе представлен подробный перечень помещений
зального типа в Армении (клубные, культурные, школьные,
вузовские, библиотечные и другие помещения), которому
предшествует исторический очерк о каждом сооружении зального
типа.
Составление перечня является серьезным процессом,
требующим много времени. Оно было осуществлено на основе
исследования множества архивных и библиотечных материалов, местных посещений, документов и других материалов,
предоставленных разными административными структурами.
Выполнены также компьютерные, графические, двухмерные,
трехмерные дизайнерские работы. В результате составления перечня
окончательно выяснились существующее состояние указанных
помещений, сферы их деятельности, основные архитектурные и
дизайнерские функции и другие подробности.
На этапе документации, который следует за этапом составления
перечня вышеуказанных помещений, были выполнены исследо-
вания, сбор документально-библиографической информации, изме-
рение зальных частей, описание нынешнего состояния зальных
частей и другие работы.
Местные исследования и наблюдения были выполнены в
помещениях Армении и других стран, имеющих зальную и
сценическую часть. Это Дома культуры Каназа (Ереван),
Эчмиадзина, Дом культуры железнодорожников, Клуб села Гндеваз,
Молодежные центры «Айордац» в Нор Норке, Эчмидзине, Арабкире,
Национальный академический театр имени Габриела Сундукяна,
Государственный Русский драматический театр имени Константина
Станиславского, Государственный театр комедии имени Акопа
Пароняна, Государственный кукольный театр имени Ованнеса
Туманяна, Государственный драматический театр имени Вардана
Аджемяна, Ереванская средняя школа № 134, Американский уни-
верситет Армении, Детская национальная библиотека имени Хнко-
Апера, Дом архитекторов, Национальный оперный театр Лиона,
Женевский Большой театр. Были выполнены также виртуальные
дизайнерские исследования в следующих помещениях зального
типа: Дрезденский оперный театр, школа Томаса Уэльса в Торонто,
Библиотека Канада Уотр в Англии.
Подробнейшим образом были исследованы и изучены методика
и основы дизайна с целью модернизации указанных помещений с
правильным и возможным применением сценических технологий.
Исследования известных международных помещений зального
типа и новейших сценических технологий также могут стать основой для адаптации возможных дизайнерских технологий к помещениям
зального типа и их сценических частей в Армении.
Тема удостоилась денежного вознаграждения в рамках
программы «Поддержка исследований аспирантов-2012»,
инициированной Министерством образования и науки Армении,
пройдя экспертизу международных экспертов.
Результаты исследования основных проблем, предложенные
решения обобщены в заключении, где указано около десятка
необходимых изменений, с помощью которых возможно
модернизировать помещения зального типа и их сценические части в Армении.
В списке использованной литературы представлено около 80
научных трудов на армянском, русском, английском, французском
языках, более десятка архивных материалов, словарей,
энциклопедий, профессиональных журналов, а также веб-сайтов.

The results of the typological study of the Old Kievan bricks of the premongol period are presented. Three main technological traditions  of brickmaking, based on the mould types, are revealed, which were in use consequently from the late 10th to early 13th centuries. The paper is accompanied with the table, including the references to the samples in the collections in Kiev, Novgorod, and St.Petersburg.

The article considers the Church of Our Saviour in Berestovo (Kiev) in terms of its place in the early Russian architecture of the premongol period. Several outstanding architectural features point us to the
architecture of Polotsk, namely the cross-shaped layout arranged with porticoes, the trefoil shape of the portico vaulting, and the recessed brickwork without applying the rubble stone courses. The degree of innovation embodied in these features however is defined by the dating of the church, which differs much in the recent literature, from 1060s to 1120s. The new observations on the brick features and foundations technology made on the base of the field documentation of the excavations of 1914, 1989–1991, and 2003 expand the characteristic of the building methods used for the construction of the church and lead to the conclusion that only approximate dating (late 11 th — early 12th century) is possible. This dating has an importance in defining the chronology of the architecture of Polotsk

The article is dedicated to the “orientalizing” tendency of the “Russian style”. For the describing this problem we have based on the constructivist theory of nation-building. In case the producing a nation as a concern of the elites, the “nationalization” of architectural language should be viewed as a part of this activity. Being the official style of the empire, which has been describing itself as the “Russian kingdom”
since at least the 1850s, the “Russian style” served not only a means of communication between the government
and the society, but also a way to organize of a wide imperial territory, from St. Petersburg to Tashkent or from Warsaw to Vladivostok.
However, another function of the “Russian style” related to the representation of Russia abroad is no less significant. It is well known that, starting in the 1860s, Empire regularly appeared at international
exhibitions, insisting on the association of itself with a village hut or palaces from Russian fairy tales. So, the “Russian style” was born first of all as a fantastic vision. It is notable that Russian architects and designers had not enough knowledge on the native tradition and they had to base in their practice on various foreign sources, e.g. Tyrolean, Romanesque or Byzantine. In 1877 Eugen Viollet-le-Duc published his monography on the Russian art (Russian edition in 1879).
This fact became scandalous one because the author, famous French architect, restorer and theorist, depicted Russian artistic tradition as having Asian roots. In the controversy that unfolded among Russian
intellectuals around this book, the most important was a conflict of two positions from which Russia in its historical and artistic originality was recognized or not recognized as part of Western civilization. At
the same time, the search for the Asian sources of Russian art was supported not only by foreign experts, but also by upper crust of Russian Empire…
Such a transforming of Russia’s image through architecture and design not only hurt the feelings of “Russian Europeans” like Count Sergey Stroganov, but also significantly corrected the idea of Russian
identity. Obviously, this culture metamorphosis forwarded a shift from the idea of the Slavic brotherhood in Europe of the 1860s to the Eurasianism of the beginning 20th century, which called to formalize political and economic actions in Siberia and the Far East.

The astonishing career of a self-styled Venetian architect in Putin's Russia. Mysteries and shadows of an Italian who, from a small architect's office, brought luxury to the villas of the Russian oligarchs. Although his project of the residence of the president on the Black Sea was denied by the Kremlin

The piece of furniture known in Russian as the Tsar's “Place of Prayer” of the Moscow Kremlin was demolished in the 1960s and had not been studied properly ever since. In this article its form has been reconstructed based on the 19th-century drawings, 20th-century photographs and church inventory records.
The architectural form of the Tsar’s “Place of Prayer” with its unusual 16–faceted star-shaped canopy placed on an octagonal base has analogies with two Russian buildings: the Moscow Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed (1555–1561) and the Murom Church of Sts Kosmas and Damianos (1555–1556). These analogies allow the author to date the Tsar’s “Place of Prayer” in the Annunciation Cathedral back to the mid-16th century, exactly when, after the ruinous fire of 1547, its interior has been reconstructed. Later, this installation was reconstructed many times. Its only original surviving pieces are the three icons of the Holy Trinity, Saint Boris and Saint Gleb. The icons are the work of court icon-painters of the first third of the 17th century and might have been inserted into the gables that framed the base of the canopied top of the Tsar’s “Place of Prayer”.
The article is accompanied with an appendix, which includes all available textual descriptions of the Tsar’s “Place of Prayer” from the inventories of the Annunciation Cathedral.

Spatial Revolution is the first comparative parallel study of Soviet architecture and planning to create a narrative arc across a vast geography. The narrative binds together three critical industrial-residential projects in Baku, Magnitogorsk, and Kharkiv, built during the first fifteen years of the Soviet project and followed attentively worldwide after the collapse of capitalist markets in 1929.

Among the revelations provided by Christina E. Crawford is the degree to which outside experts participated in the construction of the Soviet industrial complex, while facing difficult topographies, near-impossible deadlines, and inchoate theories of socialist space-making.

Crawford describes how early Soviet architecture and planning activities were kinetic and negotiated and how questions about the proper distribution of people and industry under socialism were posed and refined through the construction of brick and mortar, steel and concrete projects, living laboratories that tested alternative spatial models. As a result, Spatial Revolution answers important questions of how the first Soviet industrialization drive was a catalyst for construction of thousands of new enterprises on remote sites across the Eurasian continent, an effort that spread to far-flung sites in other socialist states—and capitalist welfare states—for decades to follow.

Thanks to generous funding from Emory University and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other repositories.

The main purpose of this research project will be to connect two of the Soviet Union's major goals in the first fifteen years following the October Revolution; on the one hand, the political aim brought forward by the Bolsheviks, the goal of engineering a higher type of human being, a "New Soviet Man", and on the other hand, the architectural ideal advanced by the Constructivists, who strove to build a communist urban utopia in which this "New Man" could live life to the fullest.

In the first chapter I will discuss the conflicting views regarding the future of the city, and how architects and planners suggested that the Soviet population be distributed across the country. In the second chapter I will look at why the Bolsheviks wanted to dismantle the traditional family structure, and how the Constructivists sought to facilitate this process. In the final chapter I will discuss the importance of culture, leisure and rest, and assess the means used to transform humans outside of the workplace.

One Yaroslavl monument, the Church of the Decapitation of John the Baptist at Tolchkovo, fascinated not only Prokudin-Gorsky but also the eminent artist Vasily Vereshchagin, who visited the church in 1888 and made sketches and paintings of the church galleries.  My photographic documentation of the Tolchkovo church extends three decades, from 1987 to 2017.
The Church of the Decapitation of John the Baptist was created between 1671 and 1687 in the prosperous Tolchkovo district near the Kotorosl River, a small tributary of the Volga. In 1671 the proposal for a new church received the blessing of Jonah Sysoevich, the powerful Metropolitan of Rostov. Support for construction was provided not only by local parishioners but by donors from Kazan, to the south on the Volga. Leading benefactors included the Yeremin family, whose wealth derived from leather workshops located in the district.
The monumental exterior of the Church of John the Baptist leads to an equally remarkable interior covered with frescoes. It is something of a miracle that the Tolchkovo ensemble and the frescoes have, for the most part, survived, as documented in this article.

Объект исследования — археологические остатки памятников монументального зодчества к. X в. на Старокиевской горе (церкви Богородицы Десятинной и дворцовых построек). Использованы методы комплексного источниковедения. Проведен подробный историографический анализ исследований XIX—XX в. Выполнен свод архитектурно-археологических материалов всех монументальных сооружений на Старокиевской горе. Уточнена строительная техника и хронология памятников. Разработаны реконструкции строительной истории Десятинной церкви в Киеве и дворцово-храмового комплекса в целом. На археологическом материале проверены гипотезы реконструкции архитектурного облика Десятинной церкви. Определено значение комплекса в градостроительном развитии древнего Киева. Полученные выводы могут применяться в научных исследованиях по истории архитектуры и культуры Византии и Древней Руси.