Book: "Parallel Architecture" of the Thaw and Stagnation Periods. Visionaries of the Last Soviet Thirty Years
Author: Andrey Bokov
Architecture: Leonid Pavlov
Project: Reconstruction of Moscow, 1966
The publishing house of the Garage Museum sent me an intriguing book by Andrey Bokov, "Parallel Architecture." It reveals the theme of little-known and informal design activities of Soviet architects in the 1960s-1980s.
I was intrigued by the section on Soviet competitions, their approach to conducting, and the nature of selection. Translating information from the book to modern times, I see clear parallels with what is happening in the market now.
If in Stalin’s times architectural competitions were events of national character, from the 1960s, they acquired a local and professional character. On the other hand, this specific club of competition practice, unlike project practice, allowed ambitious and energetic professionals to dive into the "game" and escape from the project routine. It was almost the only way of self-realization.
The competition subculture was filled with its heroes, ratings, and judgments. The stronger the gap between practice and competition, the more clearly emerged the "by-product" they generated, called vision. The author calls vision the "only valuable dry residue," but I would add that this "residue" became almost the main event in the architectural environment of that time, as the competition subculture revealed many talented architects during the USSR. And the tradition of conducting competitions to this day remains a springboard for strong and ambitious specialists.
PS As an example, I will cite the competition project for the redesign of Moscow in 1966 from the book, which became the precursor to the main Master Plan of 1971.
@gorkjournal
Author: Andrey Bokov
Architecture: Leonid Pavlov
Project: Reconstruction of Moscow, 1966
The publishing house of the Garage Museum sent me an intriguing book by Andrey Bokov, "Parallel Architecture." It reveals the theme of little-known and informal design activities of Soviet architects in the 1960s-1980s.
I was intrigued by the section on Soviet competitions, their approach to conducting, and the nature of selection. Translating information from the book to modern times, I see clear parallels with what is happening in the market now.
If in Stalin’s times architectural competitions were events of national character, from the 1960s, they acquired a local and professional character. On the other hand, this specific club of competition practice, unlike project practice, allowed ambitious and energetic professionals to dive into the "game" and escape from the project routine. It was almost the only way of self-realization.
The competition subculture was filled with its heroes, ratings, and judgments. The stronger the gap between practice and competition, the more clearly emerged the "by-product" they generated, called vision. The author calls vision the "only valuable dry residue," but I would add that this "residue" became almost the main event in the architectural environment of that time, as the competition subculture revealed many talented architects during the USSR. And the tradition of conducting competitions to this day remains a springboard for strong and ambitious specialists.
PS As an example, I will cite the competition project for the redesign of Moscow in 1966 from the book, which became the precursor to the main Master Plan of 1971.
@gorkjournal