Constructivism in architecture examples of buildings. Constructivism - history in architecture. Architects who worked in constructivism

18.11.2021

Probably, there are no more Soviet symbols than the famous sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" and, of course, the Lenin Mausoleum - monuments of constructivism. And although this grandiose style did not rule in the minds and hearts for long, its scope, fundamentality and spiritual rationality are associated with the Soviet era much more strongly than the “Stalinist” Empire style and “Khrushchev's” industrial buildings.

From Europe to the Union: the history of constructivism

Despite the fact that constructivism is most often called the architectural method that arose within the framework of avant-garde in the early Soviet years, it originated earlier, and not in the Soviet Union, which did not exist then ...
The forerunners of architectural constructivism are called the pavilions for the first World Exhibition, held in 1851 in London, and the Eiffel Tower. But the term itself - constructivism - was proposed to the world by Soviet artists and architects.
The 1920s were a period of struggle between the old and the new, traditional and revolutionary, a time of searching for innovative forms and concepts. Those who were the first to call themselves constructivists called for abandoning art for the sake of art, arguing that the latter is obliged to create purely useful things and serve production. The task of the new architecture, they proclaimed, was "the communist expression of material values."

So there were impressive buildings in the style Soviet constructivism- giant houses of culture, palaces of trade unions, kitchen factories, residential complexes.

The difference between constructivism and similar styles

Understandable, you say, but how did this Soviet constructivism differ from other minimalist trends, for example, from functionalism? After all, he also preaches extreme practicality and simplicity of presentation.
Perhaps the main difference lies in the fact that the constructivists tried to combine the high functionality of buildings with artistic expressiveness. This was achieved not due to decorative elements, but due to forms and materials.

Conceptual features of constructivism:

solidity (even very large, fragmented buildings are perceived as a whole);
segmentation (houses often consist of sections that pass one into another);
a greater variety of forms than is inherent in functionalism. Of course, the constructivists did not offer anything pretentious, but there was definitely a play with forms: the squares of the walls flowed into cylinders of balconies, the parallelepipeds into cubes and risalits of stairs.

In addition to the listed features, Soviet buildings built by constructivists are also characterized by flat roofs, elongated windows, and massive pillars.

If we talk about ideological differences, then they can be formulated as follows: in general, he uses simple materials and stingy forms because he puts convenience at the forefront, and constructivists also because they see beauty in it.

Materials and style palette

Concrete and glass are the main "elements" from which most of all buildings in the spirit of constructivism came out. Later, metal, plastic and other modern raw materials joined them.

As for paints, the most common colors of constructivism are:

light grey,
slate,
white,
beige,
Dark red,
red-brown.

The buildings of this genre are characterized by a muffled and even tone. And additional color is brought by the brilliance of metal and glass.

Oblivion and return of the ideas of constructivism

Even in the 1920s, when avant-garde trends flourished, constructivism did not win mass sympathy. Spears of criticism flew at him from those who defended, originating in ancient times, and from those who proved the superiority of other, no less new architectural ideas.

Soon, however, the dispute ended: the rhythmic, strict lines characteristic of constructivism were suddenly declared bourgeois formalism ... And romantic, but harsh, utopian, but rational, proletarian asceticism was replaced by buildings, the style of which was later called Soviet neoclassicism and "Stalin's" Empire style.

Updated constructivism returned in the 70s, during the years of another "fight against excesses". Well, the third coming of this style took place recently, at the beginning of this century. Yes, constructivism is relevant again, and not in the city, but outside it.

Modern constructivism: exterior features

His successor today is Scandinavian countryside architecture, and the style is called that - Scandinavian constructivism.

The laconic geometry and high expediency inherent in constructivism are today intertwined with naturalness, naturalness, an abundance of light and space.

Due to the external simplicity, such houses organically and effectively fit into any landscape, any natural environment. They do not focus solely on themselves, thanks to which the trees, a reservoir or a hillock, which are nearby, do not become secondary, but beautifully frame the building, continue it.

Modern constructivism is not only experiments with shapes and lines, but environmental friendliness and high energy efficiency of building and finishing resources, the widespread use of the latest techniques, as well as a large glass area.

Wood is no longer banned, as are stone, ceramic tiles, expanded clay panels, cladding, strictly shaped bricks, as well as the latest materials. By the way, they should not only be of high quality and catchy texture, but also tactilely pleasant in order to give the household maximum comfort.

Wide, simple verandas and terraces (including those on flat roofs), panoramic windows and even whole glass walls that create the illusion of merging with nature; gray, black-and-white, restrained gamma - such is the language of modern constructivism.

The exterior decor of such houses is, first of all:

dynamics and a combination of strict, vertical and horizontal lines;
diversity of segments - windows, terraces and canopies;
chasing, expressiveness of entrance portals;
finish texture, moderate glass glimmer;
the contrast of light and dark tones, white plaster and, for example, dark gray stone.

It is characterized by rigor, geometrism, conciseness of forms and monolithic appearance.

In architecture, the principles of constructivism were formulated in the theoretical speeches of A. A. Vesnin and M. Ya. Ginzburg, they were practically embodied for the first time in the project of the Palace of Labor for Moscow created by the brothers A. A., V. A. and L. A. Vesnin (1923 ) with its clear, rational plan and the constructive basis of the building (reinforced concrete frame) identified in the external appearance.

Owenhatherley, Public Domain

In 1926, the official creative organization of the constructivists, the Association of Modern Architects (OCA), was created. This organization was the developer of the so-called functional design method, based on the scientific analysis of the features of the functioning of buildings, structures, urban complexes. Characteristic monuments of constructivism are kitchen factories, labor palaces, workers' clubs, communal houses.

In relation to foreign art, the term "constructivism" is largely arbitrary: in architecture it denotes a trend within functionalism, which sought to emphasize the expression of modern structures, in painting and sculpture it is one of the avant-garde trends that used some formal searches for early constructivism (sculptors I. Gabo, A . Pevzner).

During this period, the constructivist literary movement also existed in the USSR.

The emergence of constructivism

As Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote in his essay on French painting: “For the first time, not from France, but from Russia, a new word of art arrived - constructivism ...”

In the context of the ongoing search for new forms, which meant the oblivion of everything "old", innovators proclaimed the rejection of "art for art's sake". From now on, art was supposed to serve production, and production - the people.

Most of those who later joined the constructivist movement were ideologists of utilitarianism or the so-called "production art". They called on artists to "consciously create useful things" and dreamed of a new harmonious person who uses convenient things and lives in a well-organized city.

Thus, one of the theorists of "production art" Boris Arvatov wrote that “... they will not portray a beautiful body, but will educate a real living harmonious person; not to draw a forest, but to grow parks and gardens; not to decorate the walls with paintings, but to paint these walls ... "

“Production art” became nothing more than a concept, but the term constructivism itself was uttered precisely by the theorists of this direction (in their speeches and brochures, the words “construction”, “constructive”, “construction of space” were also constantly encountered).

In addition to the above direction, the development of constructivism was greatly influenced by futurism, suprematism, cubism, purism and other innovative trends in the visual arts of the 1910s, however, it was precisely “production art” with its direct appeal to modern Russian realities of the 1920s that became the socially conditioned basis. (epochs of the first five-year plans).

The birth of the term

The term "constructivism" was used by Soviet artists and architects as early as 1920: Alexander Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin, the author of the project of the Third International Tower, called themselves constructivists. For the first time, constructivism was officially designated in the same 1922 in the book of Alexei Mikhailovich Gan, which was called “Constructivism”.

Gosznak, Public Domain

A. M. Gan proclaimed that "... a group of constructivists sets as its task the communist expression of material values ... Tectonics, construction and texture are the mobilizing material elements of industrial culture."

That is, it was explicitly emphasized that the culture of the new Russia is industrial.

Constructivism in architecture

In 1922-1923, in Moscow, which began to recover after the Civil War, the first architectural competitions were held (for the projects of the Palace of Labor in Moscow, the building of the Moscow branch of the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper, the building of the Arkos joint stock company), in which architects, Moisei Ginzburg, the Vesnin brothers, Konstantin Melnikov, Ilya Golosov and others, who began their creative path even before the revolution. Many projects were filled with new ideas, which later formed the basis of new creative associations - constructivists and rationalists. Rationalists created the association "ASNOVA" (Association of New Architects), whose ideologists were architects Nikolai Ladovsky and Vladimir Krinsky. Constructivists, on the other hand, united in the OCA (Association of Modern Architects), headed by the Vesnin brothers and Moses Ginzburg. The key difference between the two currents was the question of the perception of architecture by a person: if the constructivists attached the greatest importance to the functional purpose of the building, which determined the design, then the rationalists considered the function of the building to be secondary and sought to take into account, first of all, the psychological characteristics of perception.

The constructivists saw it as their task to increase the role of architecture in life, and this should have been facilitated by the denial of historical continuity, the rejection of the decorative elements of classical styles, the use of a functional scheme as the basis of spatial composition. The constructivists were looking for expressiveness not in the decor, but in the dynamics of simple structures, verticals and horizontals of the structure, freedom of the building plan.

Early constructivism

The activity of talented architects - the brothers Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin - had a great influence on the design of constructivist public buildings. They came to realize a laconic "proletarian" aesthetic, already having a solid experience in building design, in painting and in book design.

For the first time, constructivist architects loudly declared themselves at the competition for projects for the building of the Palace of Labor in Moscow. The Vesnins' project was distinguished not only by the rationality of the plan and the correspondence of the external appearance to the aesthetic ideals of our time, but also implied the use of the latest building materials and structures.

The next stage was the competitive design of the building of the newspaper "Leningradskaya Pravda" (Moscow branch). The task was extremely difficult - a tiny plot of land was intended for construction - 6 × 6 meters on Strastnaya Square. The Vesnins created a miniature, slender six-story building, which included not only an office and editorial premises, but also a newsstand, a lobby, a reading room (one of the tasks of the constructivists was to group the maximum number of vital premises in a small area).

The closest associate and assistant of the Vesnin brothers was Moses Ginzburg. In his book Style and Age, he reflects that each style of art adequately corresponds to "its" historical era. The development of new architectural trends, in particular, is connected with what is happening "...continuous mechanization of life" and the car is "... a new element of our life, psychology and aesthetics." Ginzburg and the Vesnin brothers organize the Association of Modern Architects (OSA), which includes leading constructivists.

Since 1926, the constructivists began to publish their own magazine - "Modern Architecture" ("SA"). The magazine has been published for five years. The covers were designed by Aleksey Gan, Varvara Stepanova and Solomon Telingater.

Rise of constructivism

Architects of mature constructivism used a functional method based on a scientific analysis of the features of the functioning of buildings, structures, urban complexes. Thus, ideological-artistic and utilitarian-practical tasks were considered together. Each function corresponds to the most rational space-planning structure (the form corresponds to the function).

novdan , Public Domain

On this wave, the constructivists are fighting for the "purity of the ranks" and against the stylistic attitude towards constructivism. In other words, the leaders of the OCA fought against the transformation of constructivism from a method into a style, into an external imitation, without comprehending the essence. So, the architect Grigory Barkhin, who created the Izvestia House, was attacked.

In the same years, the constructivists were fascinated by the ideas of Le Corbusier: the author himself came to Russia, where he fruitfully communicated and collaborated with the leaders of the OCA.

Among the OCA, a number of promising architects are being promoted, such as the brothers Ilya and Panteleimon Golosov, Ivan Leonidov, Mikhail Barshch, Vladimir Vladimirov. Constructivists are actively involved in the design of industrial buildings, kitchen factories, cultural centers, clubs, residential buildings.

Svetlov Artem, CC BY-SA 3.0

The most common type of public buildings, which embodied the basic principles of constructivism, were the buildings of clubs and houses of culture. An example is the house of culture of the Proletarsky district of Moscow, better known as the Palace of Culture ZiLa; construction was carried out in 1931-1937 according to the project of the Vesnin brothers. When creating the project, the authors relied on the well-known five principles of Le Corbusier: the use of pillars instead of massive walls, free planning, free design of the facade, elongated windows, and a flat roof. The volumes of the club are emphatically geometric and are elongated parallelepipeds, into which the projections of stairwells and cylinders of balconies are embedded.

A characteristic example of the implementation of the functional method was the communal houses, the architecture of which corresponded to the principle expressed by Le Corbusier: "a house is a machine for living." A well-known example of buildings of this type is the dormitory-commune of the Textile Institute on Ordzhonikidze Street in Moscow. The author of the project, implemented in 1930-1931, was Ivan Nikolaev, who specialized mainly in industrial architecture. The idea of a communal house presupposed the complete socialization of everyday life. The concept of the project was proposed by the students themselves; the functional scheme of the building was focused on creating a rigid daily routine for students. In the morning, the student woke up in the living room - a sleeping cabin measuring 2.3 by 2.7 m, containing only beds and stools - and headed to the sanitary building, where he passed successively showers, charging rooms, and locker rooms as if on a conveyor belt. From the sanitary building, the tenant went down the stairs or ramp to a low public building, where he went to the dining room, after which he went to the institute or to other premises of the building - halls for team work, booths for individual studies, a library, an assembly hall. In the public building there were also nurseries for children under three years old, and an open terrace was arranged on the roof. As a result of the reconstruction of the hostel carried out in the 1960s, the original plan of a strict daily routine was violated.

A special figure in the history of constructivism is considered to be A. Vesnin's favorite student - Ivan Leonidov, a native of a peasant family, who began his career as a student of an icon painter. His largely utopian, future-oriented projects did not find application in those difficult years. Le Corbusier himself called Leonidov "a poet and hope of Russian constructivism". Leonidov's works still delight with their lines - they are incredibly, incomprehensibly modern.

Constructivism is banned

Even at that time, when constructivism, rationalism and other innovative trends were dominant, they were already opposed by staunch “conservatives”. They defended their right to speak the language of traditional forms originating in ancient Greece, Rome, in the masterpieces of Palladio and Piranesi, Rastrelli and Bazhenov.

The most famous among them are the Leningrad master Ivan Fomin with his “red dorika” and the Moscow architect Ivan Zholtovsky, an admirer of the Renaissance.

In the early 1930s, the political situation in the country, and consequently in art, changed to a large extent. Innovative and avant-garde movements were first subjected to sharp criticism, and then they were completely banned as bourgeois. As the constructivist M. Ginzburg wrote, each era has its own style of art.

The romantic-utopian, strict and revolutionary asceticism was replaced by the magnificent forms of the totalitarian baroque and the arrogant redundancy of Stalin's neoclassicism. The following fact seems strange - in the USSR there was a struggle against “right angles”, against “bourgeois formalism”, against “Leonidism”, and palaces in the style of Louis XIV began to be considered completely proletarian.

The constructivists were in disgrace. Those of them who did not want to "rebuild" eked out a miserable existence until the end of their days (or even were repressed). However, Ilya Golosov, for example, managed to fit into the conjuncture of the 1930s and was able to create really interesting buildings. The Vesnin brothers also participated in the creative life of the USSR, but they no longer had such authority as before.

According to S. O. Khan-Magomedov and A. N. Selivanova, in the USSR in 1932-1936. there was a transitional style, conditionally called "post-constructivism".

Photo gallery

Constructivism in design and photography

Constructivism is a direction that is primarily associated with architecture, however, such a vision would be one-sided and even extremely wrong, because, before becoming an architectural method, constructivism existed in design, printing, and art. Constructivism in photography is marked by the geometrization of the composition, shooting from dizzying angles with a strong reduction in volume. Such experiments were carried out, in particular, by Alexander Rodchenko.

In graphic forms of creativity, constructivism was characterized by the use of photomontage instead of hand-drawn illustration, extreme geometrization, subordination of the composition to rectangular rhythms. The color scheme was also stable: black, red, white, gray with the addition of blue and yellow. In the field of fashion, there were also certain constructivist trends - in the wake of the global passion for straight lines in clothing design, Soviet fashion designers of those years created emphatically geometrized forms.

Among fashion designers, Varvara Stepanova stands out, who, since 1924, together with Lyubov Popova, developed fabric designs for the 1st cotton-printing factory in Moscow, was a professor at the textile faculty of VKhUTEMAS, and designed models of sports and casual clothes.

The most famous fashion model of those years was the famous Lily Yuryevna Brik.

Constructivism in literature

In 1923, a number of manifestos proclaimed constructivism as a trend in literature (primarily in poetry), and the "Constructivist Literary Center" was created. It was attended by poets Ilya Selvinsky, Vera Inber, Vladimir Lugovskoy, Boris Agapov, literary critics Kornely Zelinsky, Alexander Kvyatkovsky and others. Constructivist writers proclaimed the closeness of poetry to “industrial” topics (characteristic names of collections: “State Planning Committee of Literature”, “Business”), essayism, the widespread use of “prosaisms”, the use of a new meter - tactics, experiments with recitation. By 1930, the Constructivists became the object of harassment by the RAPP and announced their dissolution.

Architects

Vesnin brothers
Moses Ginzburg
Alexander Gegello
Ilya Golosov
Boris Gordeev
Boris Iofan
Joseph Karakis
Mikhail Kondratiev
Le Corbusier
Ivan Leonidov
Oleg Lyalin
Konstantin Melnikov
Vladimir Sherwood - Forerunner of the Constructivists
El Lissitzky

Style Features

It is characterized by rigor, geometrism, conciseness of forms and monolithic appearance. In architecture, the principles of constructivism were formulated in the theoretical speeches of A. A. Vesnin and M. Ya. Ginzburg, they were practically embodied for the first time in the project of the Palace of Labor for Moscow created by the brothers A. A., V. A. and L. A. Vesnin (1923 ) with its clear, rational plan and the constructive basis of the building (reinforced concrete frame) identified in the external appearance. In 1926, the official creative organization of the constructivists, the Association of Modern Architects (OSA), was created. This organization was the developer of the so-called functional design method, based on the scientific analysis of the features of the functioning of buildings, structures, urban complexes. Typical monuments of constructivism are kitchen factories, labor palaces, workers' clubs, communal houses.

During this period, the constructivist literary movement also existed in the USSR.

The emergence of constructivism

Constructivism is considered to be a Soviet phenomenon that emerged after the October Revolution as one of the directions of the new, avant-garde, proletarian art, although, like any phenomenon in art, it cannot be limited to one country. So, the forerunner of this trend in architecture can be considered, for example, such structures as the Eiffel Tower, which used the principle of an open frame structure and demonstrated structural elements in external architectural forms. This principle of detecting structural elements became one of the most important techniques of architecture of the twentieth century and was the basis of both the international style and constructivism.

The birth of the term

Early constructivism

A great influence on the design of constructivist public buildings was exerted by the activities of talented architects - the brothers Leonid, Viktor and Alexander Vesnin. They came to realize a laconic "proletarian" aesthetic, already having a solid experience in building design, in painting and in book design.

Rise of constructivism

On this wave, the constructivists are fighting for the "purity of the ranks" and against the stylistic attitude towards constructivism. In other words, the leaders of the OCA fought against the transformation of constructivism from a method into a style, into external imitation, without comprehending the essence. Thus, the architect Grigory Barkhin, who created the Izvestia House, was attacked.

In the same years, the constructivists were fascinated by the ideas of Le Corbusier: the author himself came to Russia, where he fruitfully communicated and collaborated with the leaders of the OCA.

A number of promising architects are being promoted among the OCA, such as the brothers Ilya and Panteleimon Golosov, Ivan Leonidov, Mikhail Barshch, Vladimir Vladimirov. Constructivists are actively involved in the design of industrial buildings, factory-kitchens, cultural houses, clubs, residential buildings.

The most common type of public buildings, which embodied the basic principles of constructivism, were the buildings of clubs and houses of culture. An example is the houses of culture of the Proletarsky district of Moscow, better known as the Palace of Culture ZIL; construction was carried out in -1937 according to the project of the Vesnin brothers. When creating the project, the authors relied on the well-known five principles of Le Corbusier: the use of pillars instead of massive walls, free planning, free design of the facade, elongated windows, and a flat roof. The volumes of the club are emphatically geometric and are elongated parallelepipeds, into which the projections of stairwells, cylinders of balconies are embedded.

A characteristic example of the implementation of the functional method was communal houses, the architecture of which corresponded to the principle expressed by Le Corbusier: "a house is a machine for living." A well-known example of buildings of this type is on Ordzhonikidze Street in Moscow. The author of the project, implemented in -1931, was Ivan Nikolaev, who specialized mainly in industrial architecture. The idea of a communal house presupposed the complete socialization of everyday life. The concept of the project was proposed by the students themselves; the functional scheme of the building was focused on creating a rigid daily routine for students. In the morning, the student woke up in the living room - a sleeping cabin measuring 2.3 by 2.7 m, containing only beds and stools - and headed to the sanitary building, where he passed successively showers, charging rooms, and locker rooms as if on a conveyor belt. From the sanitary building, the tenant went down the stairs or ramp to a low public building, where he went to the dining room, after which he went to the institute or to other premises of the building - halls for team work, booths for individual studies, a library, an assembly hall. In the public building there were also nurseries for children under three years old, and an open terrace was arranged on the roof. As a result of the reconstruction of the hostel carried out in the 1960s, the original plan of a strict daily routine was violated. Another well-known example is the house of the People's Commissariat of Finance in Moscow. It is interesting as an example of a “transitional type” house from traditional apartment housing to a communal house. Six or four similar houses were built in Moscow, one each in Yekaterinburg and Saratov; not all have survived to this day.

Leningrad constructivism

Leningrad constructivists:

Kharkov constructivism

Being the capital of Ukraine in 1919-1934, Kharkov turned out to be one of the largest centers of constructivist development in the Soviet Union. The generally recognized symbol of constructivism in Kharkov is the ensemble of Svoboda Square (until 1991 - Dzerzhinsky Square) with the dominant building of Gosprom (Derzhprom). Numerous buildings in the constructivist style occupy the area around the square (the so-called "Zagospromie"); among them is the house "Word", built in 1928 by a cooperative of writers and having a symbolic shape of the letter "C" in plan ( glory."word"). Bright constructivist buildings in Kharkov are the house of culture of railway workers, the post office, the hostel of the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute "Giant".

In 1931, the Kharkov Tractor Plant was built in the southeastern part of the city. Sotsgorod KhTZ (architect P. Aleshin) is an outstanding example of residential development in the constructivist style.

Minsk constructivism

An example of constructivism in Minsk is the house government of the Republic Belarus - the largest public building of Joseph Langbard, one of the best monuments of constructivism, which marked the beginning of the formation of a new city center.

Constructivism in design and photography

Constructivism is a direction that is primarily associated with architecture, however, such a vision would be one-sided and even extremely wrong, because, before becoming an architectural method, constructivism existed in design, printing, art. Constructivism in photography is marked by the geometrization of the composition, shooting from dizzying angles with a strong reduction in volume. Such experiments were carried out, in particular, by Alexander Rodchenko.

Among fashion designers, Varvara Stepanova stands out, who, since 1924, together with Lyubov Popova, developed fabric designs for the 1st cotton-printing factory in Moscow, was a professor at the textile faculty of VKHUTEMAS, and designed models of sports and casual wear.

Constructivism in literature

A. Mosolov became the most important representative of this trend in Russian music. His symphonic episode "The Plant" from the unrealized ballet "Steel" became a symbol of constructivism in Russian music. Constructivism also manifested itself in such works as the foxtrot "Electrificat" (), orchestral "Telescopes" (4 pieces, -) L. Polovinkin; piano piece "Rails", opera "Ice and Steel" by Vl. Deshevova and others. It is customary to attribute the ballets of the great Soviet composers Bolt () Shostakovich and Steel Jump () Prokofiev to constructivism. However, neither the authors of Prokofiev's biographies, musicologists I. V. Nestyev, I. I. Martynov, I. G. Vishnevetsky, nor the composer himself characterized the music of the ballet "Steel Skok" as constructivist, while the scenery for the ballet was called constructivist

Appearance:

In 1923-1925. in Soviet architecture, a new direction was developing - constructivism and the rallying of supporters of the new direction around the leaders, who became the Vesnin brothers. In the projects of public buildings of the Vesnin brothers, who participated in the first competitions of the 1920s, the appearance of a new architecture that met the spirit of the times was recorded.

Peculiarities:

It is characterized by rigor, geometrism, conciseness of forms and monolithic appearance. In 1924, the official creative organization of constructivists, the OCA, was created, whose representatives developed the so-called functional design method based on a scientific analysis of the features of the functioning of buildings, structures, urban complexes. Characteristic monuments of constructivism are kitchen factories, Labor Palaces, workers' clubs, communal houses of the indicated time.

Architects who worked in constructivism:

Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin, Moses Yakovlevich Ginzburg, Konstantin Melnikov, Ivan Leonidov, Alexander Gegello, Ilya Golosov, Boris Iofan, Joseph Karakis, Charles Le Corbusier, Oleg Lyalin and many others.

Examples of constructivism in architecture:

Palace of Culture of the Likhachev Plant on Vostochnaya Street in Moscow.

Built according to the project of the Vesnin brothers in 1937.

House of Culture named after S. M. Zuev, architect. I.A. Golosov, 1927-1929.

Settlement project at the Magnitogorsk Combine, arch. I. I. Leonidov, 1930.

Posted: November 26, 2007

CONSTRUCTIVISM(lat. - building) - a direction in the art of the 20th century, successively associated with cubism and futurism and giving rise to its own artistic style, which affected Soviet ARCHITECTURE, painting, applied art and poetry of the 20s-beginning. 30s; main installation constructivism there was a convergence of art with the practice of industrial life along the line of form: the geometrization of contours and the exposure of the technical basis of construction in architecture, functionally justified design in applied art and architecture.

Constructivism- This is the style of architecture of the Soviet Union of the period of the 1920s and early 1930s. This style combines advanced technology, engineering systems and a clear communist social focus. Although this style was divided into several competing directions, many interesting projects were created, some of which were implemented. In the early 1930s, this style fell out of fashion among those in power. Constructivism had a great influence on the further development of architecture.

The term "constructivism"

Constructivism came to architecture from a broader direction of constructivist art, which itself came out of Russian futurism. Constructivist art attempted to apply a three-dimensional cubist vision to absolutely abstract non-objective constructions with a kinetic element. After the revolution of 1917, all attention was turned to the new social requirements and industrial tasks of the new time. Two clear directions emerged: the first - in the realistic manifesto of Antoine Pevzner and Nahum Gabo, dedicated to space and rhythm, and the second - represented the struggle in the Enlightenment commissariat between those who defended pure art and prodactivists (constructivist practices), such as Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and Vladimir Tatlin, a group of socially oriented artists who believed that art should also participate in industrial production. Applied constructivism.

The split occurred in 1922 when Pevzner and Gabo emigrated. Now the movement developed with a socially utilitarian focus. Most of the product activists won the support of Proletkult and the LEF magazine (Left Front of the Arts) and later became the dominant force in the OCA architectural group.

Revolution in architecture

The first and most famous constructivist project was presented in 1919 for the Comintern in St. Petersburg by the futurist Vladimir Tatlin. This project is often called the Talin Tower. And although it remained unrealized, the materials - glass and steel - and its futuristic character and political background (the movement of its internal volumes symbolized revolution and dialectics) set the tone for all projects of the 1920s.

Another well-known project in the style of constructivism is the Lenin Tribune (author El Lissitzky (1920) in the form of a moving podium for a speaker. During the Civil War, the UNOVIS group (Affirmative of the New Art) was formed, headed by Kazimir Malevich and Lissitzky. The creators of Suprematism built utopian cities. Components of constructivism can be clearly seen in Western high-tech projects, such as Gustav Eiffel and the skyscrapers of New York and Chicago.

ASNOVA and Rationalism

Immediately after the civil war, the treasury of the USSR was empty and there was nothing to build new houses. And yet, in 1921, the Soviet avant-garde school Vkhutemas (Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops) appeared, headed by the architect Nikolai Ladovsky, who organized ASNOVA (association of new architects). The teaching methods were fantastic; elements of the psychology of form (Gestalt psychology) were used, bold experiments with form were carried out (for example, Simbirchev's glass hanging restaurant). Among the architects included in this association were: El Lissitzky, Konstantin Melnikov, Vladimir Krinsky and the young Bertold Lyubetkin.

Working Club. Zueva, 1927.

The projects of 1923-1935, such as the horizontal skyscrapers of Lissitzky and Mart Shtam, and the pavilions of Konstantin Melnikov, demonstrate the originality and ambition of this group. Melnikov designed the Soviet Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Fine Arts Exhibition, where he promoted the new style. Its rooms were designed by Rodchenko. Another example of constructivism can be seen in the film Aelita (1924), where Alexander Exter's exteriors and interiors are modeled in an angular geometric form. The 1924 Mosselprom State Store was also built in early modernist style for a new generation of New Economic Policy shoppers; Mostorg architects Vesnin brothers, built three years later. Modern offices for the public were also popular, such as Izvestia's head office. It was built in 1926-1927 by Grigory Barkhin.

OCA (organization of contemporary architects)

A colder and more technological style of constructivism appeared in 1923-24, as an example, the project of the office building of the Vesnin brothers for Leningradskaya Pravda. In 1925, the OCA group was founded by Alexei Vesnin and Moisei Ginzburg, which was associated with Vkhutemas. This group had much in common with Weimar German functionalism (Ernst May's building designs). Residential buildings (commune houses) replaced nineteenth-century cohabitation buildings. Term "social condenser" described their goals, which were based on the ideas of Lenin.

Houses of joint residence, for example, the house of the commune of the Ivan Nikolaev Textile Institute (Ordzhonikidze St., Moscow, 1929-1931) and the Gosstrakh apartment building built by Ginzburg, and the Narkomfin house, also built according to his project. Apartment buildings in the constructivist style were built in Kharkov, Moscow, Leningrad and other cities. Ginzburg designed the government building in Alma-Ata. The Vesnin brothers - a film actor school in Moscow. Ginzburg criticized the idea of building the buildings of a new society on the old principles: the attitude towards shared houses is the same as towards bourgeois apartments. The constructivist approach is to take into account as much as possible all the changes in everyday life ... our goal is to work together with the proletariat to create a new way of life. The OSA published the journal SA (Modern Architecture) from 1926 to 1930. The rationalist Ladovsky designed his own original cohabitation house in 1929. Extravagant project: Chekist village in Serdlovsk (today Yekaterinburg) designed by Antonov, Sokolov and Tumbasov. A residential complex in the form of a sickle and a hammer was designed for members of the Cheka, today it is a hotel.