Narkomtiazhprom, Vesnin brothers, 1934

Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. The Narkomtiazhprom was a 1934 architectural contest for the Commissariat of Heavy Industries to be constructed in Red Square, Moscow The Vesnin brothers were three brothers who became leading lights of the Russian Constructivist architecture movement during the 1920s This article is concerned with architectural aspects of Modernism; for the most recent developments in architecture see Contemporary architecture. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced many pioneering projects and finished buildings, before falling out of favour around 1932. Its effects have been marked on later developments in architecture.

Defining Constructivism

Tatlin's Tower, 1919

Constructivist architecture emerged from the wider constructivist art movement, which grew out of Russian Futurism. Tatlin’s Tower or The Monument to the Third International was a grand monumental building envisioned by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin Constructivism was an Artistic and architectural movement in Russia from 1919 onward which rejected the idea of " Art for art's sake " "Russian Futurists" redirects here For the band see The Russian Futurists. Constructivist art had attempted to apply a three-dimensional cubist vision to wholly abstract non-objective 'constructions' with a kinetic element. Cubism was a 20th century Avant-garde Art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European Abstract art uses a Visual language of form color and line to create a composition which exists independently of visual references to the world Kinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect After the Russian Revolution of 1917 it turned its attentions to the new social demands and industrial tasks required of the new regime. See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them Two distinct threads emerged, the first was encapsulated in Antoine Pevsner's and Naum Gabo's Realist manifesto which was concerned with space and rhythm, the second represented a struggle within the Commissariat for Enlightenment between those who argued for pure art and the Productivists such as Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and Vladimir Tatlin, a more socially-oriented group who wanted this art to be absorbed in industrial production. Antoine Pevsner ( 18 January 1886 - 12 April 1962) was a Russian sculptor and the older brother of Alexii Pevsner and Naum Gabo. Naum Gabo KBE, born Naum Neemia Pevsner ( August 5 1890 - August 23 1977) was a prominent Russian sculptor The Realistic Manifesto, written by sculptor Naum Gabo and cosigned by his brother Antoine Pevsner, is a key text of Constructivism. Narkompros (Наркомпрос is an abbreviation for the People's Commissariat for Education (Народный комиссариат просвещения the Productivism was an art movement founded by a group of Constructivist artists in post-Revolutionary Russia who believed that art should have a practical socially useful role Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (Александр Михайлович Родченко – December 3, 1956) was a Russian Artist, sculptor Varvara Fyodorovna Stepanova (Варвара Фëдоровна Степанова November 9 1894-1958 was a Russian artist associated with the ' Constructivist ' movement Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( Russian: Владимир Евграфович Татлин) ( – May 31, 1953) worked as a painter and architect ^[1]

A split occurred in 1922 when Pevsner and Gabo emigrated. The movement then developed along socially utilitarian lines. Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall Utility, that is its contribution to happiness The productivist majority gained the support of the Proletkult and the magazine LEF, and later became the dominant influence of the architectural group O. Proletkult is an Portmanteau of "proletarskaya kultura" (пролетарская культура Russian for "proletarian culture" LEF (" ЛЕФ " was the journal of the Left Front of the Arts (" Levyi Front Iskusstv " S. A.

A Revolution in Architecture

Collective Housing design by Nikolai Ladovsky, 1920

The first and most famous Constructivist architectural project was the 1919 proposal for the headquarters of the Comintern in St Petersburg by the Futurist Vladimir Tatlin, often called Tatlin's Tower. Nikolai Alexandrovich Ladovsky (Russian Николай Александрович Ладовский (1881 Moscow - 1941 Moscow was a Russian Avant-garde The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Futurist architecture (or Futurism) began as an early-20th century form of architecture characterized by anti-historicism Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( Russian: Владимир Евграфович Татлин) ( – May 31, 1953) worked as a painter and architect Tatlin’s Tower or The Monument to the Third International was a grand monumental building envisioned by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin Though it remained unbuilt, the materials—glass and steel—and its futuristic ethos and political slant (the movements of its internal volumes were meant to symbolise revolution and the dialectic) set the tone for the projects of the 1920s. ^[2]

Another famous early Constructivist project was the Lenin Tribune by El Lissitzky (1920), a moving speaker's podium. (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий על ליסיצקי November 23 1890 – December 30 1941 better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий was a During the Russian Civil War the UNOVIS group centred around Kasimir Malevich and Lissitzky designed various projects that forced together the 'non-objective' abstraction of Suprematism with more utilitarian aims, creating ideal Constructivist cities- see also El Lissitzky's Prounen-Raum or the 'Dynamic City' (1919) of Gustav Klutsis. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed UNOVIS (also known as MOLPOSNOVIS and POSNOVIS) was a short-lived but influential group of Russian Artists, founded and led by Kazimir Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (Казимир Северинович Малевич Kazimierz Malewicz Ukrainian Казимир Северинович Малевич sɛʋɛˈrɪnoʋɪtʃ This term is not to be confused with Supremacism. black circle Gustav Klutsis ( Latvian: Gustavs Klucis, Russian: Густав Густавович Клуцис (b In this and Tatlin's work the components of Constructivism could be seen to be an adaptation of various high-tech Western forms, such as the engineering feats of Gustave Eiffel and New York or Chicago's skyscrapers, for a new collective society. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( December 15, 1832 &ndash December 27, 1923; in French efɛl in English usually ˈaɪfəl was a French A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable Building. There is no official definition or a precise cutoff height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper

ASNOVA and Rationalism

El Lissitzky, Wolkenbügel, 1925

Immediately after the Russian Civil War the USSR was too impoverished to commission any new building projects. (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий על ליסיצקי November 23 1890 – December 30 1941 better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий was a The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed Nonetheless, the Soviet avant-garde school Vkhutemas started an architectural wing in 1921, which was led by the architect Nikolai Ladovsky, which was called ASNOVA (association of new architects). Vkhutemas (Вхутемас Acronym for ru Высшие художественно-технические мастерские Higher Art and Technical Studios was Nikolai Alexandrovich Ladovsky (Russian Николай Александрович Ладовский (1881 Moscow - 1941 Moscow was a Russian Avant-garde ASNOVA (Russian АСНОВА; abbreviation for Ассоциация новых архитекторов, "Association of New Architects" The teaching methods were both functional and fantastic, reflecting an interest in gestalt psychology, leading to daring experiments with form such as Simbirchev's glass-clad suspended restaurant^[3]. Gestalt psychology (also Gestalt of the Berlin School) is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic Among the architects affiliated to the ASNOVA (Association of New Architects) were El Lissitzky, Konstantin Melnikov, Vladimir Krinsky and the young Berthold Lubetkin. (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий על ליסיצקי November 23 1890 – December 30 1941 better known as El Lissitzky (Эль Лисицкий was a Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin ( December 14 1901 — October 23 1990) was a Russian émigré architect who pioneered modernist ^[4]

Zuev Workers' Club, 1927

Projects from 1923-5 like Lissitzky and Mart Stam’s Wolkenbügel horizontal skyscrapers and Konstantin Melnikov’s temporary pavilions showed the originality and ambition of this new group. The Zuyev Workers' Club (Дом культуры имени С Mart Stam ( Aug 5 1899, Purmerend - Feb 21 1986, Zürich) was a Dutch architect urban planner and chair designer Melnikov would design the Soviet Pavilion at the Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts of 1925, which popularised the new style, with its rooms designed by Rodchenko and its jagged, mechanical form. ^[2] Another glimpse of a Constructivist lived environment is visible in the popular science fiction film Aelita, which had interiors and exteriors modelled in angular, geometric fashion by Aleksandra Ekster. Aelita ( Аэлита) also known as Aelita Queen of Mars, is a silent Film directed by Soviet filmmaker Yakov Protazanov Alexandra Ekster or Exter ( Александра Александровна Экстер January 6, 1882 - March 17, 1949) was a The state-run Mosselprom department store of 1924 was also an early modernist building for the new consumerism of the New Economic Policy, as was the Vesnin brothers' Mostorg store, built three years later. For the Malaysian New Economic Policy see Malaysian New Economic Policy. Modern offices for the mass press were also popular, such as the Izvestia headquarters^[5]. For the Thoroughbred racehorse see Izvestia (horse Izvestia (Известия) is a long-running high-circulation daily Newspaper This was built in 1926-7 and designed by Grigori Barkhin^[6]

OSA

Barsch/Sinyavsky, Moscow Planetarium, 1929

A colder and more technological Constructivist style was introduced by the 1923/4 glass office project by the Vesnin brothers for Leningradskaya Pravda. The Vesnin brothers were three brothers who became leading lights of the Russian Constructivist architecture movement during the 1920s Pravda (Правда "The Truth" was a leading Newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the In 1925 the OSA Group, also with ties to Vkhutemas, was founded by Alexander Vesnin and Moisei Ginzburg- the Organisation of Contemporary Architects. The OSA Group (Union of Contemporary Architects was an architectural association in the Soviet Union, which was active from 1925 to 1930 and considered the first group Alexander Aleksandrovic Vesnin (Александр Александрович Веснин (1883 Yuryevets – 1959 Moscow together with his brothers Leonid Aleksandrovic Moisei Ginzburg (Моисей Яковлевич Гинзбург ( Minsk &ndash January 7, 1946, Moscow) was a Soviet constructivist This group had much in common with Weimar Germany’s Functionalism, such as the housing projects of Ernst May. Ernst May ( 27 July 1886, Frankfurt am Main &mdash 11 September 1970, Hamburg) was a German architect and ^[2] Housing, especially collective housing in specially designed dom kommuny to replace the collectivised 19th century housing that was the norm, was the main priority of this group. The term social condenser was coined to describe their aims, which followed from the ideas of V. From Soviet constructivist theory the social condenser is a spatial idea practiced in Architecture. I Lenin, who wrote in 1919 that the real emancipation of women and real communism begins with the mass struggle against these petty household chores and the true reforming of the mass into a vast socialist household. ^[7]

Chekists Village, Yekaterinburg, by Antonov and Sokolov, 1933

Collective housing projects that were built included Ivan Nikolaev’s Communal House for students (Ordzhonikidze St, Moscow, 1930), and Ginzburg’s Moscow Gosstrakh flats and, most famously, his Narkomfin Building. Yekaterinburg (Екатеринбу́рг also romanized Ekaterinburg, formerly Sverdlovsk) is a major city in the central part of Russia The Narkomfin Building is a block of flats in Moscow, designed by Moisei Ginzburg with Ignaty Milinis in 1928 and finished in 1932 ^[6] Flats were built in a Constructivist idiom in Kharkiv, Moscow and Leningrad and in smaller towns. Ginzburg also designed a government building in Alma-Ata, while the Vesnin brothers designed a School of Film Actors in Moscow. Almaty ( Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata ( Алма-Ата) also Verniy, (Верный is the largest city in Kazakhstan Ginzburg critiqued the idea of building in the new society being the same as in the old: treating workers' housing in the same way as they would bourgeois apartments. . . the Constructivists however approach the same problem with maximum consideration for those shifts and changes in our everyday life. . . our goal is the collaboration with the proletariat in creating a new way of life. ^[8] OSA published a magazine, SA or Contemporary Architecture from 1926 to 1930. The leading rationalist Ladovsky designed his own, rather different kind of mass housing, completing a Moscow apartment block in 1929. A particularly extravagant example is the 'Chekists Village' in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) designed by I. Yekaterinburg (Екатеринбу́рг also romanized Ekaterinburg, formerly Sverdlovsk) is a major city in the central part of Russia Antonov, V. Sokolov and A. Tumbasov, a hammer and sickle shaped collective housing complex for members of the secret police, which currently serves as a hotel.

The Everyday and the Utopian

Narkomfin Building by Moisei Ginzburg. The Narkomfin Building is a block of flats in Moscow, designed by Moisei Ginzburg with Ignaty Milinis in 1928 and finished in 1932 Moisei Ginzburg (Моисей Яковлевич Гинзбург ( Minsk &ndash January 7, 1946, Moscow) was a Soviet constructivist Currently under threat of demolition, the building is at the top of UNESCO's 'Endangered Buildings' list, and there is an international campaign to save it

The new forms of the Constructivists began to symbolise the project for a new everyday life of the Soviet Union, then in the mixed economy of the New Economic Policy. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 For the Malaysian New Economic Policy see Malaysian New Economic Policy. ^[9] State buildings were constructed like the huge Gosprom complex in Kharkiv^[10] (designed by Serafimov, Folger and Kravets, 1926-8) which was noted by Reyner Banham in his Theory and Design in the First Machine Age as being, along with the Dessau Bauhaus, the largest scale Modernist work of the 1920s. Peter Reyner Banham (1922-1988 was a prolific architectural critic and writer best known for his 1960 theoretical treatise "Theory and Design in the First Machine Age" Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland (Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt ("House of Building" or "Building School" is the common term for the, a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts and was famous ^[11] Other notable works included the aluminum parabola and glazed staircase of Mikhail Barsch and Mikhail Sinyavsky’s 1929 Moscow Planetarium.

Shukhov Tower, Moscow, 1922. The Shukhov radio tower (Шуховская башня also known as the Shabolovka tower is a Broadcasting Tower in Moscow Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Currently under threat of demolition, and there is an international campaign to save it.

The popularity of the new aesthetic led to traditionalist architects adopting Constructivism, as in Ivan Zholtovsky’s 1926 MOGES power station or Alexey Shchusev’s Narkomzem offices, both in Moscow^[12]. Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky (Иван Владиславович Жолтовский 1867-1959 was a Russian Soviet Architect and Educator. Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev (Алексе́й Ви́кторович Щу́сев September 26, 1873, Kishinev &mdash May 24, 1949 Similarly, the engineer Vladimir Shukhov’s Shukhov Tower was often seen as an avant-garde work and was according Walter Benjamin in his Moscow Diary 'unlike any similar structure in the West'^[13]. Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (Владимир Григорьевич Шухов ( - February 2 1939) was a Russian Engineer - Polymath The Shukhov radio tower (Шуховская башня also known as the Shabolovka tower is a Broadcasting Tower in Moscow Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( July 15, 1892 &ndash September 27, 1940) was a German - Jewish Marxist Shukhov also collaborated with Melnikov on the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage and Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage. Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage was a public Bus garage in Moscow, designed in 1926 by Konstantin Melnikov (floorplan concept and architectural design and Novoryazanskaya Street Garage, also spelled Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage and known as " Horseshoe garage" was designed by Konstantin Melnikov ^[2] Many of these buildings are shown in Sergei Eisenstein’s film The General Line, which also featured a specially built mock-up Constructivist collective farm designed by Andrey Burov. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was

A central aim of the Constructivists was instilling the avant-garde in everyday life. From 1927 they worked on projects for Workers’ Clubs, communal leisure facilities usually built in factory districts. Among the most famous of these are the Kauchuk, Svoboda and Rusakov clubs by Konstantin Melnikov, the club of the Likachev works by the Vesnin brothers, and Ilya Golosov’s Zuev Workers' Club. Kauchuk Factory Club (Клуб завода «Каучук» is a 1927-1929 constructivist public building designed by Konstantin Melnikov, located in Khamovniki Svoboda Factory Club ( Russian:Клуб фабрики "Свобода" conceived as Chemists Trade Union Club (Клуб Химиков also known The Rusakov Workers' Club (Дом культуры имени И Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, Ilya Alexandrovich Golosov (born 1883 Moscow - died 1945 Moscow was a Russian Soviet architect The Zuyev Workers' Club (Дом культуры имени С

Svoboda Factory Club by Melnikov, Moscow

At the same time as this foray into the everyday, outlandish projects were designed such as Ivan Leonidov’s Lenin Institute, a high tech work that bears comparison with Buckminster Fuller. Svoboda Factory Club ( Russian:Клуб фабрики "Свобода" conceived as Chemists Trade Union Club (Клуб Химиков also known Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Ivan Ilich Léonidov (born February 9, 1902, Tver Oblast - 1959, November 6, Moscow) was a Russian constructivist Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller ( July 12, 1895 &ndash July 1, 1983) was an American Architect, Author This consisted of a skyscraper-sized library, a planetarium and dome, all linked together by a monorail; or Georgy Krutikov’s self explanatory Flying City, an ASNOVA project that was intended as a serious proposal for airborne housing. Georgy Tikhonovich Krutikov (1899–1958 was a Russian constructivist Architect and Artist, Melnikov House and his Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage are fine examples of the tensions between individualism and utilitarianism in Constructivism. Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage was a public Bus garage in Moscow, designed in 1926 by Konstantin Melnikov (floorplan concept and architectural design and There were also projects for Suprematist skyscrapers called ‘planits’ or ‘architektons’ by Kasimir Malevich, Lazar Khikeidel and Nikolai Suetin. This term is not to be confused with Supremacism. black circle Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (Казимир Северинович Малевич Kazimierz Malewicz Ukrainian Казимир Северинович Малевич sɛʋɛˈrɪnoʋɪtʃ Nikolai Suetin ( Russian: Николай Суетин, 1897 – 1954 was a Russian Suprematist artist The fantastical element also found expression in the work of Yakov Chernikhov, who produced several books of experimental designs - most famously Architectural Fantasies (1933) - earning him the epithet ‘the Soviet Piranesi’. Yakov Georgievich Chernikhov (Яков Георгиевич Чернихов (5 (17 December 1889 Pavlovgrad, Ukraine - 9 May 1951, Moscow

Western Constructivism

The Van Nelle Factory, Rotterdam

El Lissitzky's contacts in Germany and Switzerland, as well as the impact of Melnikov's Paris Pavilion, led to many architects outside the USSR considering their work as Constructivist by the late 1920s. Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Architects of the New Objectivity like Lissitzky's collaborators Mart Stam and the ABC Group led by Hannes Meyer embraced Constructivism's severe geometry and technologically advanced aesthetic, despite their remoteness from their original context. The New Objectivity, or Neue Sachlichkeit (new dispassion was an art movement that arose in Germany in the early 1920s as an outgrowth of and in opposition to Mart Stam ( Aug 5 1899, Purmerend - Feb 21 1986, Zürich) was a Dutch architect urban planner and chair designer Hannes Meyer ( November 18, 1889 – July 19, 1954) was a Swiss Architect and second director of the Bauhaus in The shift of the Bauhaus in 1922 towards 'art and technology - a new unity' was often considered to be a Constructivist one, while the Czech critic and designer Karel Teige's 1932 book The Minimum Dwelling uses Functionalism and Constructivism as interchangeable terms. Karel Teige ( December 13, 1900 – October 1, 1951) was the major figure of the Czech Avant-garde movement Devětsil Perhaps the best known example of Western Constructivism is the Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam, by Brinkmann and Van der Vlugt with Stam as its main designer. Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of

The Sotsgorod and Town Planning

Town Hall by Noi Trotsky, Leningrad, 1932-4

Despite the ambitiousness of many Constructivist proposals for reconstructed cities, there were fairly few examples of coherent Constructivist town planning. However the Narvskaya Zastava district of Leningrad became a focus for Constructivism. Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Beginning in 1925 communal housing was designed for the area by architects like A. Gegello and OSA's Alexander Nikolsky, as well as public buildings like the Kirov Town Hall by Noi Trotsky (1932-4), an experimental school by G. A Simonov and a series of Communal laundries and kitchens, designed for the area by local ASNOVA members. ^[14] Many of the Constructivists hoped to see their ambitions realised during the 'Cultural Revolution' that accompanied the first Five Year Plan. The First Five-Year Plan (Five-Year Plan of Russia was a list of economic goals that was designed to strengthen the USSR 's economy between 1928 and 1932 making the At this point the Constructivists were divided between urbanists and disurbanists who favoured a garden city or linear city model. The linear city was an urban plan for an elongated urban formation The Linear City was propagandised by the head of the Finance Commissariat Nikolai Miliutin in his book Sotsgorod (1930). This was taken to a more extreme level by the OSA theorist Mikhail Okhitovich. Mikhail Okhitovich was a Bolshevik sociologist town planner and Constructivist architectural theorist most famous for his 'Disurbanist' proposals of 1929-30 His disurbanism proposed a system of one-person or one-family buildings connected by linear transport networks, spread over a huge area that traversed the boundaries between the urban and agricultural, in which it resembled a socialist equivalent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City. Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8 1867 &ndash April 9 1959 was an American (of Welsh descent Architect, Interior designer, Writer, and educator who Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright late in his life The disurbanists and urbanists proposed projects for new cities such as Magnitogorsk were often rejected in favour of the more pragmatic German architects fleeing Nazism, such as 'May Brigade' (Ernst May, Mart Stam, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky), the 'Bauhaus Brigade' led by Hannes Meyer, and Bruno Taut. Magnitogorsk (Магнитогóрск roughly translated as magnet-mountain city) is a mining and industrial city located by the Ural River in Ernst May ( 27 July 1886, Frankfurt am Main &mdash 11 September 1970, Hamburg) was a German architect and Mart Stam ( Aug 5 1899, Purmerend - Feb 21 1986, Zürich) was a Dutch architect urban planner and chair designer Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky ( January 23, 1897 &ndash January 18, 2000) was the first female Austrian Architect and Hannes Meyer ( November 18, 1889 – July 19, 1954) was a Swiss Architect and second director of the Bauhaus in Bruno Julius Florian Taut ( 4 May 1880, Königsberg, Germany &ndash 24 December 1938, Istanbul) was a prolific German

A 'disurbanist' plan by Ginzburg and Barsch, 1930

The city-planning of Le Corbusier found brief favour, with the architect writing a ‘reply to Moscow’ that later became the Ville Radieuse plan, and designing the Tsentrosoyuz government building with the Constructivist Nikolai Kolli. Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier ( October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965) was a Swiss The Tsentrosoyuz Building or Centrosoyuz Building (Центросоюз is a government structure in Moscow constructed in 1933 by Le Corbusier and The duplex apartments and collective facilities of the OSA group were a major influence on his later work. Another famous modernist Erich Mendelsohn designed Leningrad's Red Banner Textile Factory, and popularised Constructivism in his book Russland, Europa, Amerika. Erich Mendelsohn ( 21 March 1887 &ndash 15 September 1953) was a German Jewish Architect, known for his The Red Banner Textile Factory (Трикотажная фабрика «Красное Знамя» Trikotazhnaya fabrika "Krasnoye Znamya") in Leningrad A Five Year Plan project with major Constructivist input was DnieproGES, designed by Victor Vesnin et al. The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (or DniproHES) is the largest Hydroelectric power station in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe. Viktor Aleksandrovich Vesnin (RussianВиктор Александрович Веснин 1882-1950 was a Russian Soviet architect El Lissitzky also popularised the style abroad with his 1930 book The Reconstruction of Architecture in Russia.

The end of Constructivism

Intourist Garage by Konstantin Melnikov, 1933

The 1932 competition for the Palace of the Soviets, a grandiose project to rival the Empire State Building, featured entries from all the major Constructivists as well as Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn and Le Corbusier. Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, The Palace of Soviets (Дворец Советов Dvorets Sovetov) was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco Skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street Walter Adolph Georg Gropius ( May 18, 1883 &ndash July 5, 1969) was a German Architect and founder of Bauhaus Erich Mendelsohn ( 21 March 1887 &ndash 15 September 1953) was a German Jewish Architect, known for his Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier ( October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965) was a Swiss However, this coincided with widespread criticism of Modernism, which was always difficult to sustain in a still mostly agrarian country. There was also the critique that the style merely copied the forms of technology while using fairly routine construction methods. ^[15] The winning entry by Boris Iofan marked the start of the eclectic historicism of Stalinist Architecture, a style which bears similarities to Post-Modernism in that it reacted against modernist architecture's cosmopolitanism, alleged ugliness and inhumanity with a pick and mix of historical styles, sometimes achieved with new technology. Boris Mihailovich Iofan ( April 28, 1891 &ndash1976 was a Russian Soviet architect known for his Stalinist architecture buildings like 1931 Stalinist architecture (also referred to as Stalin 's Empire style Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Housing projects like the Narkomfin were designed for the attempts to reform everyday life in the 20s, such as collectivisation of facilities, equality of the sexes and collective raising of children, all of which fell out of favour as Stalinism revived family values. The styles of the old world were also revived, with the Moscow Metro in particular popularising the idea of 'workers' palaces'. The Moscow Metro (Московское метро which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is the world's second most heavily used Rapid-transit

School 518 by Ivan Zvezdin, 1935

For more details on this topic, see Postconstructivism. School 518 is a high school in the historical Balchug area of Moscow, Russia. Postconstructivism was a transitional Architectural style that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s typical of early Stalinist architecture before

By the end of the 1920s Constructivism was the country's dominant architecture, and surprisingly many buildings of this period survive. Initially the reaction was towards an art decoesque Classicism that was initially inflected with Constructivist devices, such as in Iofan's House on Embankment of 1929-32. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial The House on Embankment (Дом на набережной is a block-wide apartment house in downtown Moscow, Russia. For a few years some structures were designed in a composite style sometimes called Postconstructivism. Postconstructivism was a transitional Architectural style that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s typical of early Stalinist architecture before

After this brief synthesis, Neo-Classical reaction was totally dominant until 1955. Rationalist buildings were still common in industrial architecture, but extinct in urban projects. Last isolated constructivist buildings were launched in 1933-1935, such as Panteleimon Golosov’s Pravda building (finished 1935)^[16], the Moscow Textile Institute (finished 1938) or Ladovsky’s rationalist vestibules for the Moscow Metro. Panteleimon Alexandrovich Golosov (born 1882 Moscow - died 1945 Moscow was a Russian Constructivist architect and brother of Ilya Golosov. Pravda (Правда "The Truth" was a leading Newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the The Moscow Metro (Московское метро which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is the world's second most heavily used Rapid-transit Clearly Modernist competition entries were made by the Vesnin brothers and Ivan Leonidov for the Narkomtiazhprom project in Red Square, 1934, another unbuilt Stalinist edifice. The Narkomtiazhprom was a 1934 architectural contest for the Commissariat of Heavy Industries to be constructed in Red Square, Moscow Traces of Constructivism can also be found in some Socialist Realist works, for instance in the Futurist elevations of Iofan’s ultra-Stalinist 1937 Paris Pavilion, which had Suprematist interiors by Nikolai Suetin. Futurist architecture (or Futurism) began as an early-20th century form of architecture characterized by anti-historicism

Legacy

Hammer and Sickle Architectural Fantasy by Yakov Chernikhov, 1933

Due in part to its political commitment - and its replacement by Stalinist architecture - the mechanistic, dynamic forms of Constructivism were not part of the calm Platonism of the International Style as it was defined by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock. Yakov Georgievich Chernikhov (Яков Георгиевич Чернихов (5 (17 December 1889 Pavlovgrad, Ukraine - 9 May 1951, Moscow Stalinist architecture (also referred to as Stalin 's Empire style Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism The International style was a major Architectural style of the 1920s and 1930s Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8 1906&ndash January 25 2005 was an influential American Architect. Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903-1987 was the leading American architectural historian of his generation Their book included only one building from the USSR, an electrical laboratory by government team led by Nikolaev^[17]. During the 1960s Constructivism was rehabilitated to a certain extent, and both the wilder experimental buildings of the era (such as the Globus Theatre) and the unornamented Khrushchyovka apartments are in a sense a continuation of the aborted experiment, although under very different conditions. Globus (in Russian Новосибирский академический театр Глобус - novosibirskiy akademicheskiy teatr globus, or briefly globus Khrushchovka (хрущёвка is a type of low-cost panelled or brick three to five-storied Apartment building which was introduced in Nikita Khrushchev's Outside the USSR Constructivism has often been seen as an alternative, more radical modernism, and its legacy can be seen in designers as diverse as Team 10, Archigram and Kenzo Tange, as well as in much Brutalist work. Team 10, just as often referred to as "Team X" was a group of architects and other invited participants who assembled starting in July 1953 at the 9th Congress of C This article is about an architectural group for other uses see Archigram (disambiguation. was a Japanese Architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for Architecture. The term Brutalist Architecture originates from the French Béton brut, or "raw concrete" a term used by Le Corbusier to describe Their integration of the avant-garde and everyday life has parallels with the Situationists, particularly the New Babylon project of Guy Debord and Constant Nieuwenhuys. Guy Ernest Debord ( December 28, 1931 - November 30, 1994) was a Marxist theorist French writer Filmmaker, hypergraphist Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys ( July 21, 1920 &ndash August 1, 2005) was a Dutch painter and one of the foremost innovators of Unitary Urbanism

High Tech architecture also owes a debt to Constructivism, most obviously in Richard Rogers’ Lloyd's building. Richard George Rogers Baron Rogers of Riverside, CH, FRIBA (born 23 July 1933) is a British Architect noted The Lloyd's Building is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London, and is located at One Lime Street, in the City of London, England Zaha Hadid's early projects were adaptations of Malevich's Architektons, and the influence of Chernikhov is clear on her drawings. Zaha Hadid (زها حديد CBE (born October 31 1950 Baghdad, Iraq) is a notable British Iraqi deconstructivist Architect Deconstructivism evokes the dynamism of Constructivism, though without the social aspect, as in the work of Coop Himmelb(l)au. Deconstructivism in architecture also called deconstruction, is a development of Postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s Coop Himmelb(lau (1968- is a Cooperative architectural design firm primarily located in Vienna, Austria and which now also maintains offices In the late 70s Rem Koolhaas wrote a parable on the political trajectory of Constructivism called The Story of the Pool, in which Constructivists escape from the USSR in a self-powering Modernist swimming pool, only to die, after being criticised for much the same reasons as they were under Stalinism, soon after their arrival in the USA. Remment Lucas Koolhaas, 'rɛm 'kɔːlhas (born) is a Dutch Architect, architectural theorist, Urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture Meanwhile, many of the original Constructivist buildings are poorly preserved or in danger of imminent demolition.

Gallery

Lenin Tribune, El Lissitzky (1920/24)	Leningradskaya Pravda (Vesnin brothers, 1923)	Mosselprom Building (David Kogan, 1923-4)	Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage (Melnikov, 1926)
Gostorg Building, Moscow (Velikovsky with Barsch et al, 1926)	Red Banner Textile Factory, St Petersburg (Erich Mendelsohn, 1926)	Izvestia Building, Moscow (Grigori & Mikhail Barkhin, 1926)	Lenin Institute (Ivan Leonidov, 1927)
Svoboda Factory Club (Melnikov, 1927)	Kauchuk Factory Club (Melnikov, 1927)	Flats, Zamoskvorechye, Moscow (late 1920s)	Rusakov Workers' Club (Melnikov, 1927)
Narkomzem Building (Alexey Shchusev, 1928)	Tank Engine Offices (Ivan Fomin, 1929)	Narkomfin Building (Moisei Ginzburg, 1930)	Tsentrosoyuz building, Moscow (Le Corbusier/Nikolai Kolli, 1930-6)
MPS Building, Moscow (Ivan Fomin, 1930s)	Red Carnation Factory, St Petersburg (Yakov Chernikhov)	Likachev Palace of Culture, Moscow (Vesnin brothers, 1930-8)	Architectural Fantasy (Yakov Chernikhov, 1933)
Intourist Garage (Melnikov, 1934)	Krasniye Vorota Metro Station (Nikolai Ladovsky, 1935)	Textile Institute, Moscow (1930-8)

Constructivist Buildings and other Modernist Projects in the former USSR

Flying City by Krutikov, 1928

• Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage by Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov
• DnieproGES by Viktor Vesnin and Nikolai Kolli
• Gosprom, by Serafimov, Folger and Kravets
• Kauchuk Factory Club, by Konstantin Melnikov
• Melnikov House, by Konstantin Melnikov
• Narkomfin Building by Moisei Ginzburg
• Narkomtiazhprom Project
• Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage by Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov
• Palace of the Soviets Project
• Red Flag Textile Factory, by Erich Mendelsohn
• Rusakov Workers' Club, by Konstantin Melnikov
• Shukhov Tower by Vladimir Shukhov
• Svoboda Factory Club by Konstantin Melnikov
• Tatlin's Tower project by Vladimir Tatlin
• Tsentrosoyuz, by Le Corbusier and Nikolai Kolli
• Zuev Workers' Club by Ilya Golosov

References

Melnikov House near Arbat Street in Moscow. Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (Russian Константин Степанович Мельников;, Moscow - November 28 1974, "Arbat" redirects here For other uses see Arbat (disambiguation. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Currently under threat of demolition, the house is at the top of UNESCO's 'Endangered Buildings' list, and there is an international campaign to save it. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16

Bibliography

• Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (Architectural Press, 1972)
• Victor Buchli, An Archaeology of Socialism (Berg 2002)
• Campbell/Lynton (eds), Art and Revolution (Hayward Gallery, London 1971)
• Catherine Cooke, Architectural Drawings of the Russian Avant-Garde (MOMA, 1990)
• Catherine Cooke, The Avant Garde (AD magazine, 1988)
• Catherine Cooke, Fantasy and Construction- Iakov Chernikhov (AD magazine, vol 59 no 7-8, London 1989)
• Catherine Cooke & Igor Kazus, Soviet Atrchitectural Competitions (Phaidon, 1992)
• Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: a Critical Introduction (Thames & Hudson, 1980)
• Moisei Ginzburg, Style and Epoch (MIT, 1981)
• S. Peter Reyner Banham (1922-1988 was a prolific architectural critic and writer best known for his 1960 theoretical treatise "Theory and Design in the First Machine Age" Kenneth Frampton (born 1930 Woking, UK) is a British architect critic historian and the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture Moisei Ginzburg (Моисей Яковлевич Гинзбург ( Minsk &ndash January 7, 1946, Moscow) was a Soviet constructivist Khan-Magomedov, Alexander Vesnin and Russian Constructivism (Thames & Hudson 1986)
• S. Khan-Magomedov, Pioneers of Soviet Architecture (Thames & Hudson 1988), ISBN 978-0500341025
• Rem Koolhaas, 'The Story of the Pool' (1977) included in Delirious New York (Monacelli Press, 1997) ISBN 978-1885254009
• El Lissitzky, The Reconstruction of Architecture in the Soviet Union (Vienna, 1930)
• Karl Schlögel, Moscow (Reaktion, 2005)
• Karel Teige, The Minimum Dwelling (MIT, 2002)

External links

• Heritage at Risk: Preservation of 20th Century Architecture and World Heritage - April 2006 Conference by the Moscow Architectural Preservation Society (MAPS)
• Archive Constructivist Photos and Designs at polito.it
• The Moscow Times' Guide to Constructivist buildings
• Guardian article on preserving Constructivist buildings
• Constructivism in Architecture at Kmtspace
• Campaign for the Preservation of the Narkomfin Building
• Constructivist designs at the Russian Utopia Depository
• Constructivism and Postconstructivism at St Petersburg's Wandering Camera