Authors

Galikberova Anna V.
THE INFLUENCE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN AVANTE-GUARD ON THE IMAGE OF SIBERIAN CITIES

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (36) December, 2011

The period of the second half of the 1920s – early 1930s is characterised by the broadening of international relations in the field of architecture and town-planning. At that time, a lot of experts were invited to come and work in the USSR. On the one hand, the USSR needed professionals in connection with increasing scales of construction; on the other hand, foreign architects had their reasons to work in Russia, the two main factors being financial incentives and creativity opportunities. The financial context wad defined by the global economic crisis of 1929-1933 and shrinking building construction volumes whereas in the USSR, on the contrary, building construction was on the rise in the context of the first five-year plan (industrial construction and construction of whole new cities, etc.). Also, the creative work of Soviet architects stirred interest among western colleagues.

At that time, Western Siberia presented a region of active industrial development: major industrial facilities were being built, accompanied by construction of residential areas. The most significant influence on Siberian cities was produced by the groups of European professionals led by the German architect Ernst May and the Dutch architect Johannes van Loghem, who belonged to the avant-garde functionalist movement. Their activities in Siberia provoked varied response and later were subjected to rather sharp criticism (particularly E.May's projects). However, it should be admitted that their projects were rationally organised, enabled fast mass construction, and their structural proposals took into account the local climatic and engineering conditions. In some cases, their buildings contain references to their national architectures (for example, apartment houses and a school building in Kemerovo by van Loghem).

Galikberova Anna V.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ‘SOTSGOROD’ CONCEPT IN SOUTH-WESTERN SIBERIA

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (32) December, 2010

The article is devoted to the development and realization of the ‘Sotsgorod’ concept in South-Western Siberia. The timeframe of the study covers the 1920-1930s, which was a period of emergence of new cities in this region and active town-planning ventures.