Mazmanyan, Michael Davidovich

Born on November 9 (21), 1899 in Tbilisi , in the family of a craftsman.

He received primary and secondary education in Tbilisi : he graduated from a four-year primary school ( 1907 - 1910 ), then Nersisyan Secondary School ( 1911 - 1918 ). From 1919 to 1921 he taught drawing in elementary schools.

Student years

In 1921, Michael Mazmanyan went to Moscow , where he entered VKhUTEIN : first at the painting department, then at the architecture department. He studied in the workshops of N. A. Ladovsky and A. A. Vesnin . Under their leadership, Mazmanyan masters the creative principles of rationalism and constructivism , trying to find ways to organically combine the new architecture with the national characteristics of Armenia (student work - theater in Yerevan , residential buildings for Armenia ). Mazmanyan's diploma work “Park of Culture and Rest in Moscow ” attracted the attention of specialists and was consecrated in the magazine “Moscow Construction” for 1929 . He was a founding member of OPRA .

1929-1937

In 1929, Mazmanyan graduated and was seconded to Armenia .

He worked as a senior architect in Armgorstroy ( 1929 - 1931 ), after the reorganization of which he was the head of the State Architectural and Planning Workshop No. 3 ( 1932 - 1937 ). He was the first director ( 1930 - 1935 ) of the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute and a teacher of architectural design ( 1930 - 1937 ).

Together with K. Alabyan and G. Kochar (or co-authored with one of them), Mazmanyan designs and builds a builders club in Yerevan in the late 1920s and early 1930s , the state insurance building, the building of the Geological Department, the residential building of YerGES , a rest house writers on the Sevan Peninsula . These works show tangible features of the innovative Armenian architectural school that was intensively formed in those years.

Considering that the buildings of folk architecture “surprisingly well meet the requirements of modern architecture”, Mazmanyan innovatively interprets their principles in his works: a peculiar arrangement of deep loggias typical of Armenian architecture in the house of Yerevan State Hydroelectric Power Station in Yerevan , a communal house project with a complex spatial solution creating associations with multi-tier mountain villages.

The steep relief was successfully used to create in the project of the Kafan settlement original “multi-storey” staged buildings, each apartment of which has an entrance from the street and all its premises are on the same level. In the early 1930s , Mazmanyan was doing a number of urban development works: planning the cities of Leninakan (now Gyumri ), Kirovakan (now Vanadzor ), a number of regional centers and villages.

Mazmanyan conducted research work on the history and theory of architecture. His articles “Apostle of Eclecticism”, “On National Architecture”, “Architecture of Soviet Armenia” are devoted to the problems of the development of the architecture of his time, but many of the ideas expressed in them are still relevant.

Since the mid-1930s, in connection with the general change in the direction of Soviet architecture, there have been changes in the work of Mazamanyan. In his works - the book house in Yerevan (together with O. Markayan ), the residential building of the NKVD workers (project), traditional compositional techniques, architectural forms and decor began to play an increasingly important role.

Mazmanyan was a member of the board of the Union of Architects of Armenia and at the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviet Architects in Moscow he was elected a member of the Board of the Union of Soviet Architects .

1937-1954

In September 1937, M. Mazmanyan was convicted on charges of nationalism and membership in the Trotsky-Bukharin group.

In 1939 he was exiled to Norilsk .

From 1939 to 1954 he worked in the Design Office of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine as a senior architect and head of the Planning Group of the city of Norilsk . During this period, Mazmanyan did a number of major works: the general design plan for the first polar city of the USSR Norilsk (together with G. Kochar and V. Nepokoichitsky ), the general design plan for the port city of Dudinka , the master plans for a number of complexes of industrial and mining enterprises, a number of settlements, projects residential, public and administrative buildings.

In 1954, Mazmanyan was rehabilitated.

1954-1971

In 1954, Mazmanyan returned to Yerevan and headed the master plan workshop of the Yerevanproject Design Institute.

In the 1960s , Mazmanyan led the creation of a new master plan for Yerevan with an estimated population for 2000 of 1 million 100 thousand inhabitants, which was approved in 1971. In his department, a detailed planning plan for the residential area of ​​Yerevan - Nork (1965), a detailed planning plan for the center of Yerevan (1966), and the residential areas Achapnyak , Aygestan and Araratyan were developed .

In 1957, Mazmanyan was elected a member of the Spiritual Council and until the end of his life he was chairman of the architectural and construction commission of St. Etchmiadzin .

Mikael Mazmanyan died on October 29, 1971 in Yerevan, was buried in the Yerevan city pantheon .

Implemented Projects

Projects

• Monument to S. Shaumyan . Together with K. Alabyan , G. Kochar . 1929 (competitive project)
• Labor Palace in Yerevan . 1930 (competitive project)
• Residential quarter in Kafan . 1930
• Residential building for the NKVD workers in Yerevan . 1935 (competitive project)
• State University of Yerevan . 1937 (competitive project)
• The master plan of the Botanical Garden in Yerevan . 1937 .

Scientific Papers

Scenography

• A. Haghonyan “Towards the Sun”. Armenian Drama Studio, Dir. Suren Khachaturian, artist M. Mazmznyan. Moscow , 1922
• Derenik Demirchyan “Teacher”. Armenian Drama Studio, Dir. Suren Khachaturian, artist M. Mazmznyan. Moscow , 1922
• Gabriel Sundukyan "Pepo". Armenian Drama Studio, Dir. Ruben Simonov , artists M. Mazmznyan, K. Alabyan . Moscow , 1924
• Hakob Paronyan “Highly Revered Beggars”. Armenian Drama Studio, Dir. Ruben Simonov , artists M. Mazmznyan, K. Alabyan . Moscow , 1924
• Hakob Paronyan "Baghdasar Ahpar". Armenian Drama Studio, Dir. Ruben Simonov , artists M. Mazmznyan, K. Alabyan . Moscow , 1924
• Anatoly Lunacharsky “The Red Mask”. Armenian Theater named after Sundukyan , Dir. Arkady Burjalyan , artists M. Mazmznyan, K. Alabyan . Yerevan , 1924
• Derenik Demirchyan “Brave Nazar”. Armenian Theater named after Sundukyan , Dir. Arkady Burjalyan , artists M. Mazmznyan, K. Alabyan . Yerevan , 1924 .

• In memory of M. D. Mazmanyan, a memorial plaque was installed in Yerevan on the house where he lived from 1955 to 1971 ( Isahakyan St. , 38).
• A street in Yerevan is named after M. D. Mazmanyan.

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor
• Order of the Badge of Honor
• Medals of the USSR
• Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR ( 1959 )
• Honored Architect of the Armenian SSR ( 1968 ).

• Masters of Soviet architecture about architecture. - M .: "Art" , 1975 . - T. 2.
• Dolukhanyan L.K. Architecture of Soviet Armenia. 1920s - Er. : “Sovetakan Grokh”, 1980 .
• Grigoryan A.G. , Tovmasyan M.L. Architecture of Soviet Armenia. - M .: Stroyizdat , 1986 .
• Grigoryan A.G. M. Mazmanyan. - Er. : “Union of Architects of Armenia”, 1999 .
• Khan-Magomedov S. O. One hundred masterpieces of the Soviet architectural avant-garde. - M .: “Union of Architects of Armenia”, 2004 .

• Mazmanyan Mikhail Davidovich - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Mikael Mazmanyan's Facebook page (in Armenian)