HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
CONSTRUCTIVISM
SUBMITTED BY:
DHARA SHARMA
WHAT IS CONSTRUCTIVISM
Constructivism was
an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated
in Russia beginning in 1919, a rejection of the idea of
autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as
a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a
great effect on modern art movements of the 20th
century, influencing major trends such as
the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements. Its influence was
pervasive, with major impacts upon architecture,
graphic and industrial design, theatre, film, dance,
fashion and to some extent music.
PHILOSOPHY n inspiration
AS A RESPONSE TO CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY AND
CONTEMPORARY LIFE, IT ADVOCATED A CHANGE IN THE
ART SCENE, AIMING TO CREATE A NEW ORDER IN ART AND
ARCHITECTURE THAT REFERENCED SOCIAL AND
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
TATLIN EMPHASIZED DESIGN PRINCIPLES BASED ON THE
INNER BEHAVIOR AND LOADING CAPACITIES OF MATERIAL.
IT WAS THIS WORK WITH MATERIALS THAT INSPIRED THE
CONSTRUCTIVIST MOVEMENT IN ARCHITECTURE AND
DESIGN.
ARCHITECTURE
Constructivist architecture was a form
of modern architecture that flourished
in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and
early 1930s. It combined advanced
technology and engineering with
Communist social purpose. Although it
was divided into several competing
factions, the movement produced
many pioneering projects and finished
buildings, before falling out of favour
around 1932. Its effects have been
marked on later developments in
architecture.
REVOLUTION IN
ARCHITECTURE
The first and foremost constructivist
architectural project was the 1919
proposal for headquarters of the
comintern in st. petersburg by Vladimir
Tatlin, called as TATLIN’S TOWER.
Tatlin’s tower was to be built from
industrial materials: iron, glass and
steel. In materials, shape and function, it
was a towering symbol of modernity. It
would have dwarfed the Eiffel Tower in
Paris. The tower's main form was a
twin helix which spiraled up to 400 m in
height.
The main framework would contain four large suspended geometric
structures. These structures would rotate at different rates of speed.
At the base of the structure was a cube which was designed as a
venue for lectures, conferences and legislative meetings, and this
would complete a rotation in the span of one year. Above the cube
would be a smaller pyramid housing executive activities and
completing a rotation once a month. Further up would be
a cylinder, which was to house an information centre, issuing news
bulletins and manifestos via telegraph, radio and loudspeaker, and
would complete a rotation once a day. At the top, there would be a
hemisphere
There were alsoforplans
radiotoequipment.
install
a gigantic open-air screen on the
cylinder, and a further projector
which would be able to cast
messages across the clouds on
any overcast day.
CONSTRUCTIVIST BUILDINGS
Tatlin's Tower project by Vladimir Tatlin
Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage by Konstantin Melnikov
Kauchuk Factory Club, by Konstantin Melnikov
Melnikov House, by Konstantin Melnikov
Narkomfin Building by Moisei Ginzburg
Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage by Konstantin Melnikov
Rusakov Workers' Club, by Konstantin Melnikov
Shukhov Tower by Vladimir Shukhov
Svoboda Factory Club by Konstantin Melnikov
WESTERN CONSTRUCTIVISM
El Lissitzky's contacts in Germany,
Switzerland and the Netherlands, as
well as the impact of Melnikov's Paris
Pavilion, led to many architects outside
the USSR considering their work as
Constructivist by the late 1920s. The
shift of the Bauhaus in 1922 towards
'art and technology — a new unity' was
Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam
often considered to be a Constructivist
one.
Perhaps the best known examples of
Western Constructivism of the 1920s
are some buildings in the Netherlands.
TOWN PLANNING IN
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Narvskaya Zastava district
of Leningrad is main example of
Constructivism. Beginning in 1925
communal housing was designed for
the area by architects like A.
Gegello and OSA's Alexander
Nikolsky, as well as public buildings
like the Kirov Town Hall by Noi
Trotsky. Many of the Constructivists
hoped to see their ambitions realised
during the 'Cultural Revolution' that
accompanied the first Five Year
Plan. At this point the
Constructivists were divided
between urbanists and disurbanists
END OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
The 1932 competition for the Palace of the Soviets, a project to rival the Empire
State Building, featured entries from all the major Constructivists as well
as Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn and Le Corbusier. However, this
coincided with widespread criticism of Modernism, which was always
difficult to sustain in a still mostly agrarian country. There was also the
critique that the style merely copied the forms of technology while using
fairly routine construction [Link] winning entry by Boris Iofan marked
the start of eclectic historicism of Stalinist Architecture, a style which bears
similarities to Post-Modernism.
By the end of the 1920s Constructivism was the country's dominant architecture,
and surprisingly many buildings of this period survive. Initially the reaction
was towards an art decoesque Classicism that was initially inflected with
Constructivist devices, such as in Iofan's House on Embankment of 1929–32.
For a few years some structures were designed in a composite style sometimes
called Postconstructivism.
