Rationalism (architecture)

Rationalism is known (and realized) much worse than modern constructivism , but this does not make this direction less interesting.

The founder of the style in Russia was Apollinarius Kaetanovich Krasovsky .

In the field of architecture, all future rationalists went through a neoclassical high artistic level (school of Ivan Zholtovsky). Many rationalists were good artists and graphic artists, and from different styles - from the style of the World of Art to cubism .

In the 1920s , in the midst of heated debate between conservative neoclassicists and innovators, rationalists occupied their niche much earlier than the constructivists and were not as radical as the latter.

Thus, the creative leader of rationalism N. Ladovsky did not completely deny the achievements of the past, as the leaders of constructivism did. On the contrary, he urged the study of the classical heritage and in no way be limited to the utilitarian function of the designed building.

In addition, the main point in the creative program of rationalism was the concept of space. N. Ladovsky wrote: " Architecture is an art that operates in space." He noted that an architecturally designed space ( building ) is always perceived by a person in a special way: the psychological characteristics of perception should also be taken into account during construction .

In 1920, an exhibition of the works of members of Zhivskulparkh was held , which can be called the first public speech of the avant-garde supporters (their work was clearly opposed to neoclassicism). Ladovsky's projects made him incredibly popular in a creative environment.

In 1921 - 1922, work was carried out to form a creative concept of rationalism. (Note that constructivism in those years has not yet taken shape).

If the constructivists were grouped around the Vesnin brothers , then rationalism was the absolute leader Nikolai Alexandrovich Ladovsky . To educate the “younger generation” of architects N. Ladovsky created the Obmas workshop (United workshops) at VKHUTEMAS .

Obmass lasted only three years ( 1920 - 1923 ), however, it was here that the first steps were taken to create innovative Soviet architecture. Here they taught the art of an architect in a completely different way. So, a special discipline was introduced - “Space”.

Ladovsky believed that an architect should think in a volumetric- spatial composition , sketch not on paper , but in volume, and only then transfer the worked-out composition to paper. The introduction of the mock design method helped to show imagination and develop new techniques and means of artistic expression.

At the turn of 1922 - 1923 . a group of like-minded Ladovsky has already formed a creative organization. The organization was named the Association of New Architects (ASNOVA) (registered July 13, 1923 ).

The founders of the organization were: N. Ladovsky himself and his colleagues - professors N.V. Dokuchaev and V.F.Krinsky , students A. Rukhlyadev , V.S. Balikhin and others. ASNOVA at different times included such prominent artists as Lazar (El) Lissitzky and Konstantin Melnikov . In 1923, the chairman of the association was A.F. Loleit .

ASNOVA has repeatedly attempted to create its own print organ. In 1926, the first and only issue of ASNOV Izvestia was edited by L. Lisitsky. However, nothing happened with their own newspaper , and the rationalists published their articles in the Moscow Construction magazine, in Krasnaya Niva and other publications .

Rationalists were very skeptical of the first project contests (in particular, the Labor Palace in Moscow). Due to the refusal to participate in this competition, rationalists have enabled constructivists to take a leading position in the architectural environment.

1923 - 1926 were marked by controversy between ASNOVA and the OCA (the association of constructivists). Rationalists accused their opponents of "limitation" and "turning the engineering structure into a fetish."

In 1928, ASNOVA split. The reason was the insurmountable contradictions that arose between Ladovsky and his radically minded colleague - V. Balikhin, as well as the creation of Ladovsky by the Association of Architects-Urbanists (AGU) .

In 1927, the Moscow City Council ordered the architects of ASNOVA to develop a project for the residential complex. Moreover, the mandatory requirements were: compact development, low cost of construction and artistic and aesthetic expressiveness.

A small block , close to the square, was allotted for construction in the district in the area of Shabolovka (not far from the Shukhov Tower . The project of the group of N. Travin was recognized as the best.

A total of 24 five-six-story residential buildings, a kindergarten and a boiler room were designed. The guiding idea for facade solutions is to maximize the use of sunlight .

Hence the formation of small, semi-insulated courtyards, around which are located sun-drenched " southern " facades with balconies that completely fill the planes. The main living rooms come out here. The “ northern ” facades are devoid of balconies and are almost unremarkable. This includes kitchens, bathrooms.

Much attention was paid to the organization of the internal space (including from the point of view of organizing visually-finished perspectives . It seems that the courtyards “flow” into each other, creating a feeling of bright and very open space (and this despite the fact that the building is very dense, and during the design process the architects tried to use every piece of land).

In 1928, one of Ladovsky’s favorite students, Georgy Krutikov, presented his graduation project , which immediately became a sensation. It was the concept of a “flying (or rather, a soaring) city”. Krutikov posed the question: is it possible not to tie housing and other buildings to the ground, is it possible to free the vast territories occupied by buildings?

The architect offered to leave the land for work , leisure and tourism , but to move to the communes soaring in the clouds .

The communication between the earth and “transcendental” buildings should be carried out using a universal and multifunctional cabin, which can move through air , land and water . Actually, the cities themselves would not be “flying” (they were treated as motionlessly placed in a strictly allotted space). The inhabitants of these cities were supposed to fly.

Krutikov (given the development of aeronautics in the USSR ), was fond of ideas related to astronautics , flights to the stratosphere and believed that the architecture of the future would be inseparable from airways.

This project was perceived by many as “a new word in science, ” while others responded very skeptically. The newspaper "Construction" wrote a devastating article, "Soviet Jules Verne, " where Krutikov’s project was severely criticized.

In the early 1930s, the creative atmosphere in the USSR ceased to be so free and conducive to the full self-realization of the artist. Now it was required not the search for new forms, but the systematic exaltation of the Leader and the accomplishments of the Soviet people. With the help of rationalistic and constructivist means of expressiveness, this was simply impossible to do - the eternal classics came to the aid of the leaders. As they joked then: “Neoclassicists defeated the polemic of rationalists and constructivists”, bearing in mind the fact that neoclassicism (with elements of Baroque and Art Deco ) became the dominant style in the USSR .

• See Stalin's Empire Style .

Rationalists, like their constructivist opponents, were accused of “following bourgeois views on architecture”, “of the utopianism of their projects”, and “of formalism ”. Actually, the constructivists were still scolded less - they were fond of not so much the form as the functionality of the designed rooms. The rationalists were also charged with passion for psychoanalysis , which was not recognized in the USSR.

N. Ladovsky, forgotten by everyone, died in 1941 , although he had the opportunity to become one of the leading Stalinist architects, since he was the author of the ground pavilion of the Krasnoye Vorota metro station.

By the end of the 1950s, the names of architects — rationalists — ceased to be hushed up or were referred to as “pests — formalists”: the heritage of the 1920s was rethought.

Many of the ideas of rationalists in the field of urban development were adopted by architects of the Thaw period.

• Printing house of the magazine "Spark"

• Khan-Magomedov S. O. Rationalism - "formalism". - M. , 2007.
• Khan-Magomedov S. O. Architecture of the Soviet avant-garde. - M. , 2001.
• Ikonnikov A.V. Moscow Architecture. XX century. - M. , 1984.