Arthur Kharitonov

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

A history of the international exhibitions goes back to more than 160 years. Since the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London such events have received increased public attention. The exhibits themselves, mainly art and technical objects, as a festive atmosphere in a host сity for an exhibition were of special interest. Organisation of such events, their architectural and expositional arrangement have assumed major importance.
The aim of my report is to describe architecture and interior arrangement of the Russian pavilions. An exhibition space and a display itself are of particular interest to me. It is also very important to me to explore the role of architecture in design of the exhibitions. For this reason in the report the pavilions will be discussed and their typology will be defined.

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Olga Korchagina

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

One of the most important events in the development of the Far Eastern region of the Russian Empire was the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (1897–1903), which became a powerful incitement for the revival of the remote area. The development of the CER line was marked by a wave of urban development, which involved the appearance of city plans of Dalian, Port Arthur (both 1898) and Harbin (1899).
For the two major seaports (Port Arthur, Dalian) areas on the shore of beautiful bays, where the railway went towards the ocean, were selected by the CER Company. The third of the cities (Harbin) was constructed as a trade city over the Songhua River, at the intersection of railways.
Professional design engineer teams who planned all of these cities, during their work took into account hypsography and used functional zoning methods.
In their zeal to avoid regular planning, architects created polycentric schemes consisting of independent parts, which were accentuated by their special attention to informal arrangements, street layout, and erection of churches of various denominations.
The housing stock was based on the large areas of private cottage houses. In addition to well-appointed public spaces there was necessary infrastructure. Architects’ specialization on the neoclassical and neo-Russian architecture brought a “national” — sense of a triad of S. Uvarov into the appearance of remote outposts.
Characteristics of these plans with due regard for economic independence and legal management of the CER Company are remarkably similar to the principles of the Howard’s garden-cities theory, published in the book “Tomorrow: peaceful path to real reform” (1898). The extremely rapid penetration of the theory to the Far East became possible because of the determination of St. Petersburg intelligentsia. The authors of those Far East city plans were K. Skolimowski, A. von Gogen and I. Oblomievsky. They worked together in the “Zodchiy” magazine in the 1890s — 1910s with future translator of the book and personal friend of Howard — Alexander Bloch. Almost the direct impact of the English urban planning theory and the attempt of its realization on the most remote piece of the Russian Empire (as the only possible site, away from the royal sight) played a major role in the history of the Russian urban development. For the short period that these towns belonged to Russia, we had real garden-cities.

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Svetlana Babadzhan

State Institute of Art Studies, Moscow, Russia

Neoclassical style in Russian architecture of the 1910s is a multicompound and contradictory phenomenon. However, contemporaries comprehended it in the context of the iconographic evo­lution: from the neo-empire style to the revival of “taste of Italian architects” of the Renaissance. Construction in Moscow is only a partial subject to this concept, formulated by G. Loukomski, a St. Petersburg architect. The Renaissance design of the construction of mansions is not widespread in Moscow, where stylistic treatments are mostly focused on the heritage of Russian classicism of the second half of the 18th — first quarter of the 19th century. Nevertheless, the work of a prominent architect D. Adamovich shows a deviation from the Art Nouveau stylizations to the image of a classic manor house and, finally, to the Renaissance architectural approach, clearly manifested in S. Ryabushinsky’s mansion (1915–1916).
The Renaissance design of the construction of neoclassical mansions, as a separate problem, is not widely investigated by researchers. The established conclusion is that the neoclassical mansion inherits the methods of planning developed in the era of eclecticism and Art Nouveau. The purpose of the report is not only to indicate the ability of the neoclassical style to affect the ordering of the plan and the spatial composition of the mansion, but also to show that the Renaissance stage of the neoclassical style is able to demonstrate the most independent and completed in their principles versions of plan, spatial patterns, facade compositions and interior decoration.
The report will examine the evolution of the neoclassical style in the construction of mansions by D. V. Adamovich, whose work has not yet been honored with the research, and also will touch upon a number of neo-classical mansions, which are not examined in the specialized literature.

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Ksenia Smirnova

Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Russia

An opened competition for architectural projects of monuments to the heroic defenders of Leningrad was held in 1964. Professional and non-professional architects who took part in this competition created projects closely associated with the development of the new city regions as well as projects which allowed the reconstruction of the historical center.
Some architects proposed to establish a memorial in the western part of Vasilyevsky island, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland so it could be regarded as the city’s propylaeum. The most magnificent project was developed by architects A. Tarantul, S. Sokolova and represented a large ensemble, which included not only fraternal burial, eternal flame and stele, but also a new metro lobby, parking, existing and newly-planned residential quarters.
Memorial composed by V. Volkova, V. Kisilgof and T. Belenkaya follows the shape of a broken ring strung on piles growing out of the water. The searchlight mounted in the center of it allows using it as a beacon.
Non-professional architect V. Klimov creates a grandiose project on the Neva River, by the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns. His idea was to extend a symmetrical composition of the existing historical ensemble by creating an artificial island with an obelisk and museum. Architects V. Maslov and G. Skorohodov suggested building a new monument directly behind the Old Stock Exchange, thus significantly changing the historical area. V. Popov and S. Ushakov proposed to set the new memorial directly in front of the main facade of the Admiralty building.
Many architects considered the southern regions of Leningrad as a perfect site for the new memorial. I. Malkov develops an extended complex included in the transport interchange. Project by V. German and A. Kozhuhov assumes location of the monument in the very center of the transport interchange, where the roads to Moscow, Kiev and airport begin. Many projects of the south area may be regarded as the forerunners to the monument on the Victory Square created in 1975.
With the help of the studied materials we can trace the development of the memorial typology dedicated to the defenders of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic war.

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