Authors

Wang Yajing , Volichenko Olga V.
Stages of development in the architecture of residential complexes in China

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (91) September, 2025

Residential complex is one of the main forms of urban residence. Over the 70 years since the founding of New China, residential complexes in the country have undergone significant changes. Architectural forms, building layouts and household designs have evolved in accordance with social needs and modifications of housing concepts in different historical periods. Based on the important turning points in the development of residential architecture in China, this article discusses the significant changes that have occurred in the design of residential complexes since 1949 to the present. Analysis points out five stages: the first is the period of planned economy from 1949 to 1978; the second is 1979-1990, the early period of reform and opening up; the third is 1990-2000, the period of commercial housing emergence; the fourth is the period of accelerated urbanization from 2000 to 2010; the fifth is the period from 2010 to the present day, in which the residential complex is entering the era of smart technology and ecology. This article considers the internal mechanism driving the evolution of the design of residential complexes in China taking into account the timeframe, housing policy, demographic structure and lifestyle of each stage. It also summarizes the characteristics of the current period of residential complex developments from the point of view of functional planning, energy conservation, environmental protection, and integration of the community. The findings provide a certain theoretical basis and reference material for subsequent studies.

Mussabayeva Veronika A., Volichenko Olga V.
MODERN APPROACHES TO CONCEPTUAL AND COMPOSITIONAL DESIGN OF LANDSCAPE PARKS IN KAZAKHSTAN

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (77) March, 2022

All areas of landscape architecture are solving the challenge of landscape design contributing to the development of a sustainable, eco-friendly and aesthetically fulfilling living environment (urban environments, recreation areas, parks, squares, courtyards, etc.). Conceptual design plays a part in the formation of emotional ties with the site designed and encourages individuality and ownership of the environment. The use of graphic interpretations of semantic manifestations of natural elements has a positive effect on the formation of ecological parks designed to unobtrusively introduce natural elements into the man-made environment. The article describes a design technique for introducing conceptually justified "curved lines" into the park landscape environment as a way of creating a contemporary natural environment composition.

Volichenko Olga V.
CONCEPTS OF NONLINEAR ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (44) December, 2013

The author proposes a classification of nonlinear architecture concepts and identifies characteristic features of three relatively independent creative concepts (movements): hypersuprematism (as a method developing the idea of flat suprematism), neosuprematism (as a concept treating the art form from the viewpoint of the theory of classical architectural composition), and surrealistic architecture/sculpture (as a creative concept developing the spiritual aesthetic energy and techniques of surrealist form generation into sculptural treatment of an architectural object. The creativity of the architects working in these movements is reviewed.

Volichenko Olga V.
THE EFFECTS OF WESTERN AVANT-GARDE MAINSTREAMS ON ARCHITECTURE IN CENTRAL ASIA

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (41) March, 2013

The architecture of Central Asia has experienced the influence of western mainstream avant-garde architecture. Reviewing the processes that have been taking place in the world over the last decade, we can find remarkable specimens of architectural creativity in such countries as the USA, China, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arabian Emirates, etc. Some of these developments have found their way into the architecture of some of the Central Asian countries. This has not been accidental: such architecture celebrities as Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Santiago Calatrava, Bernard Tschumi, Peter Eisenman, Manfredi Nicoletti, Eric Moos, Stern, etc. willingly offer their projects to almost all countries of this region. N. Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, demonstrates a special predilection for "star" architects. Such complexes as the National Library, Khan Shatyr, the Palace of Peace and Harmony, the International Airport, the Concert Hall in Astana; the Republic Square and the Marriott Hotel Almaty are good examples of the 21st century avant-garde architecture not only regionally, but also internationally. Widely acclaimed as an example of contemporary ‘symbiosis’ in the cooperation between architects internationally is the creativity of the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who won the bid for developing a master plan for the capital of Kazakhstan.The 21st century avant-garde architecture includes three popular mainstreams: nonlinear architecture (hypersuprematism, neosuprematism, surrealist architecture/sculpture), digital architecture (digital verticalism, megastructuralism, expressive structuralism, atectonic shells, temporal fold, digital grotesque, anthropomorphic metaphor), and fractal architecture (archiorganics, homogeneous fractality, iterative fractality, aqua-architecture).

Volichenko Olga V.
ATTRACTION AND OPPOSITION BETWEEN NATURAL AND ARCHITECTURAL FORMS (EVOLUTIONARY ASPECT)

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (35) September, 2011

Since its origin, architecture has been an art of embodying the perfect forms of Nature. Throughout the history of civilization, the architect has been trying to unravel the mystery and the secret harmony of the world and to comprehend its laws, aspiring to implement them in his products. Contemporary architecture has surprised us with an unexpected approach to the eternal theme by opening up the forgotten old in its aspiration to understand and materialise the secrets of nature. Today we are reviewing internal (rather than external), continuously changing and transforming structures that form the basis of natural creations.

Up until now it was possible to distinguish between two basic forms of imitation of nature: abstract (including cosmological, constructive tectonic or organizational contents) and sensorial/visual. Now we are attracted to the invisible, hidden and previously inaccessible aspects of natural life. Architects are drawn to the pulsating energy of the constantly changing, dynamic and spontaneous existence rather than to the surface of natural things. New ideals of beauty are emerging, based on constant transformation and modification, and on a combination of ephemerality, fluidity and dynamics. The standard of beauty is changing, being replaced by the trace of movement, the bend, the fracture. The prevalence of curvilinear surfaces over rectilinear ones in the 21st century architecture is a sign of dissatisfaction with the fact that architecture is not capable of giving what the individual needs for his/her soul today.

Contemporary architecture is trying to take on and, at the same time, fails to take on the mission of imitating and fully decoding the complex and contradictory mysteries of nature. Today architects give other answers to the same eternal question of human habitat, and their approach is cardinally different from that of the previous epochs. However, the attitude to natural forms as a factor generating and accumulating the energy of architectural form generation remains invariable. Natural form is the ideal for creativity. The ultimate goal of art is to recreate natural life, which is ever desired but unachievable – the secret of nature is not reproducible. Evolution demonstrates that these multiple imitations of natural forms constitute the ‘spiritual’ part of the language of architecture.