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28-726: Like the ASNOVA group, OSA grew out of the avant-garde wing of the VKhUTEMAS school in Moscow . The group's founders were Moisei Ginzburg , well known for his book Style and Epoch (a Soviet response to Le Corbusier 's Vers une Architecture ) and the painter, designer and architect Alexander Vesnin . Unlike the earlier association the OSA group claimed for itself the name Constructivist, in that it was, in its utilitarianism and concentration on function rather than form, an architectural equivalent to

56-465: A capable project manager, successfully implementing so-called flow methode of moving construction crews between buildings in different construction stages. This was followed by equally grand Leninsky Prospekt (1939-1940), Bolshaya Polyanka (1940), Moskva River embankments (1940-1941) and Novinsky Boulevard (1939-1941) projects. This work earned him Stalin Prize in 1941; incidentally, Mordvinov himself

84-680: The Mostorg department store in Moscow, and the Ivanovo bank and DneproGES power station; works by Mikhail Barsch , such as Moscow Planetarium (with Sinyakvsky) and the Gostorg office block (as part of a team headed by Boris Velikovsky); works by Ivan Nikolaev , such as the electrical-technical complex in Moscow (with Fissenko; this work was featured in MOMA 's 1932 International Style exhibition) and

112-486: The VOPRA group of Arkady Mordvinov and Karo Alabian , coining the phrase 'Leonidovism' to attack this 'Western' group: in a 1929 editorial SA trenchantly defended Leonidov, but this was a sign of what was to come, with Mikhail Barsch being targeted in an 'anti-bourgeois' campaign at VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN. OSA took an avant-garde position with respect to urban planning as well as architecture, one that sometimes differed from

140-417: The great purge , with the exceptions of Alexei Gan and Mikhail Okhitovich, who were both murdered. With the general rehabilitation of Modernism in the 1960s the issues of SA were reprinted, after decades of suppression. ASNOVA ASNOVA ( Russian : АСНОВА ; abbreviation for Russian : АСсоциация НОВых Архитекторов , Association of New Architects ) was an Avant-Garde architectural association in

168-481: The 1925 Paris exhibition. A few realized projects survive in the former USSR. Most notable are Ladovsky's apartment block on Tverskaya in Moscow (1929) and a series of three ' social condenser ' kitchens and communal facilities built in Leningrad between 1928 and 1931 by an ASNOVA team made up of A. K. Barutchev, I. A. Gilter, I.A. Meerzon and Yakov Rubanchik . ASNOVA split in 1928 when Ladovsky set up his own group,

196-517: The 1930s Mordvinov gradually accepted the rules of eclectics whom he had publicly nailed in 1928, and wilfully encouraged the arrest of unrepentant Modernists such as Mikhail Okhitovich , who Mordvinov publicly denounced, implicating him in Okhitovich's eventual murder. His political campaigning was rewarded with a 1947 commission to rebuild the right side of Tverskaya Street . Mordvinov's architectural input may be disputed, but he proved himself

224-496: The 1930s. Mordvinov's 1930s version of stalinist architecture - compared with old revivalists like Ivan Zholtovsky - was more rationalist, lacking classical order , a simplified development of Ivan Fomin 's Red Doric style. This is a direct consequence of his lack of academic training. According to Khan-Magomedov, Mordvinov was influenced by the Stenberg brothers , the draftsmen who rendered his early works. In fact, during

252-797: The ARU (Association of Architect-Urbanists), although ASNOVA joint entries were made for the Palace of Soviets competition. The group was dissolved in 1932 along with all other artistic associations. Arkady Mordvinov Arkady Grigoryevich Mordvinov ( Russian : Аркадий Григорьевич Мордвинов ; born Mordvishev ( Мордвишев ), January 27, 1896 – July 23, 1964) was a Soviet architect and construction manager, notable for Stalinist architecture of Tverskaya Street , Leninsky Avenue , Hotel Ukraina skyscraper in Moscow and his administrative role in Soviet construction industry and architecture. Mordvinov

280-772: The Classicism and Eclecticism that would eventually coalesce into Stalinist architecture . There are several examples of built works designed by OSA members in the USSR. These include Moisei Ginzburg's apartment blocks (on Gogolsky Boulevard, Moscow, another in Sverdlovsk , and most famously the Gostrakh and Narkomfin buildings); the 1920s-'30s work of the Vesnin brothers such as the Likhachev Palace of Culture and

308-471: The Constructivist movement, notably Ivan Leonidov , and all other "alien art" like eclectics , formalism and even baroque : "There is no class -free art, neither class-free architecture" ("Бесклассового искусства у нас нет и бесклассовой архитектуры тоже нет" - Khan-Magomedov cites Mordvinov's March, 1928 speech). Mordvinov was also a vocal opponent of Le Corbusier's Tsentrosoyuz building . VOPRA

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336-536: The Soviet Union, which was active in the 1920s and early 1930s, commonly called 'the Rationalists'. The association was started in 1923 by Nikolai Ladovsky , a teacher at VKhUTEMAS and member of INKhUK , along with other avant-garde architects such as Vladimir Krinsky and Viktor Balikhin . Ladovsky's teaching, although definitively Modernist was nevertheless more 'intuitive' than Functionalist, and

364-743: The bitter war between VOPRA and modernist groups ( ASNOVA , the OSA Group ) there was an attempt to unify the architects within one voluntary union (MOVANO). With support from older generation ( Alexey Shchusev ), MOVANO existed in 1930-1932, however, VOPRA tried to destroy it from within and launched their own magazine, RA (Revolutionary Architecture), co-edited by Mordvinov; soon, he co-edited another magazine, SA (Soviet Architecture, 1931-1934). Formation of Union of Soviet Architects in 1932 allowed Mordvinov to move from small-time criticism to an executive position; he acquired bureaucratic muscle and set up his own workshop, present in all architectural contests of

392-506: The brutalities of forced collectivisation in the Soviet countryside. Mikhail Okhitovich 's theories of using telecommunications, roads and infrastructure to create diffuse, semi-rural cities were published in SA , and the group's proposals for the new town of Magnitogorsk were produced with his input, only to be defeated by Ernst May of Der Ring. The 1930 debate over 'disurbanism' saw the OSA leadership (particularly Ginzburg) throw itself behind

420-486: The experiments of 'artistic' Constructivism . OSA was in many ways the architectural wing of the socialist Modernists of LEF , and likewise set up its own journal in 1926. Until its closure in 1930, SA would publish articles on a variety of subjects, including a symposium on flat roofs, a special issue on colour in architecture, and discussions of Le Corbusier , the Bauhaus , Fernand Léger , and Kasimir Malevich (who

448-762: The first master plans of rebuilding Minsk and Smolensk . His influence was reinforced by a 1947 commission to design one of the Moscow Skyscrapers , now known as the Hotel Ukraina, which he shared with Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky , one of the few Soviet experts in highrise construction. In 1955, Mordvinov received a public beating by Nikita Khrushchev for his expensive "architectural excesses", but even Khrushchev could not deny Mordvinov's management and planning skills. In 1956-1964, Mordvinov completed two major projects - redevelopment of Komsomolsky Prospekt and greenfield Cheryomushki District which became

476-404: The group concentrated on creating 'psycho-organisational' effects (as Ladovsky put it) with architecture: a sculptural rather than functional approach, leading to accusations of 'formalism' by the nascent OSA Group . ASNOVA and OSA engaged in polemics over terminology and the claim to ' constructivism '. The group received a boost when El Lissitzky became a proponent in the mid-1920s, designing

504-804: The large collective house for the students in Moscow; and the workers' housing designed by Alexander Nikolsky in Tractor Street, Leningrad . The OSA group's leading theorists were members of the CIAM from 1928 until 1933, with Ginzburg and Nikolai Kolli members of its secretariat, CIRPAC . A small CIAM meeting with the OSA group was held in Moscow in 1932, with Sigfried Giedion and Cornelius van Eesteren in attendance. Sergei Eisenstein 's The General Line featured specially built buildings by OSA's Andrey Burov . The utopian projects of Ivan Leonidov were first published in SA , and their technologically advanced, fantastic nature led to harsh criticisms from

532-543: The one issue of the journal ASNOVA News ( Izvestiia ASNOVA ) in 1926. In addition Konstantin Melnikov , then as now the most famous Soviet Modernist architect, was a member of the group at one point, preferring its concentration on affect and intuition to the OSA's scientific precision: although he and Ilya Golosov would form a 'centre' group between ASNOVA and OSA. Berthold Lubetkin , better known for his work in London ,

560-555: The position of the Communist Party. In 1926-29 they were active in propagandising collective houses and pioneered the notion of the social condenser . OSA architects were employed by the state to develop a standard for apartment buildings (the Stroikom apartments) for the purposes of mass production. However, by 1929 there was a shift in the group's theory away from collective city blocks to 'disurbanism', perhaps influenced by

588-420: The theory, which had dire consequences when the movement was condemned by a Politburo statement. The journal was wound up in 1930, and OSA briefly became SASS (Section of Architects for Socialist Construction) before being merged into the state architecture union. The group's members continued to practice in a Modernist fashion until 1934 and the official ushering in of Socialist Realism . Most OSA members survived

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616-713: The works of Ivan Leonidov . Articles in the journal was mainly in Russian, though occasionally parts of it were in German, highlighting the group's affinities with the Neues Bauen , although no OSA architects were invited to contribute to the Weissenhof Estate . The group was, however, the Soviet counterpart of Der Ring in Germany: agitating for Modern architecture and construction methods, and polemicising against

644-403: Was also a contributor to the journal). The design was mainly by Aleksei Gan , who also designed the distinctive grid pattern of the covers. Photography was occasionally by Alexander Rodchenko . As well as publishing on the built projects of Modernism, the journal published experimental projects by VKhUTEMAS students such as Lydia Komarova's Comintern project, the strange pod houses of Sokolov, and

672-418: Was also an early associate of the group. The 1928 'flying city' of Georgy Krutikov was an ASNOVA project that was both famous and notorious for its Utopianism , inflected with motifs from Science Fiction. ASNOVA members were prolific in paper projects and competitions but built rarely. Members Melnikov and Ladovsky were awarded first and second place respectively in the competition for the Soviet pavilion at

700-607: Was born in the village of Zhuravlikha in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire . Mordvinov's early work, prior to his graduation from Moscow State Technical University (MVTU) in 1930, is definitely Constructivist , best seen in his Kharkiv Post Office of the late 1920s. In 1929-1932, Mordvinov, Karo Halabyan and Alexander Vlasov were the founding members of VOPRA , a group of young 'Proletarian Architects' who attacked proponents of

728-604: Was on the Stalin Prize Board since its establishment in 1940. Since 1937, Mordvinov also enjoyed a management seat in the Union of Soviet Architects, has been President of Academy of Architecture (1950-1955) and International Union of Architects. In 1943-1947, Mordvinov chaired the State Committee on Construction and Architecture, charged with rebuilding the damage of World War II . In particular, he supervised

756-447: Was partly based on Gestalt psychology . In 1919 Ladovsky defined architectural rationalism as 'the economy of psychic energy in the perception of spatial and functional aspects of a building', as opposed to a 'technical rationalism'. The group's researches were particularly influenced by the work of Hugo Münsterberg , and Ladovsky built a psychotechnical laboratory in 1926 based on Münsterberg's theory of industrial psychology. In general

784-477: Was used by the state against free-minded modernist architects and to consolidate the profession under tight state control. VOPRA founders had no clear creative concept beyond these rhetorics, and could not be criticised for their art, since it never existed. They definitely understood the likely consequences of their political assaults and had no remorse for their victims (the age of show trials already began with Shakhty Trial and Industrial Party Trial ). Despite

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