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Architecture creates the world in which we live, and each of us, by arranging the space around us, creates our own personal world. At the same time, the pace and capabilities of modern construction make it possible to build such “new worlds” at an incredible speed and in gigantic volumes. What this world will be like is a big question. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, rector of the Moscow Institute of Architecture (MARKHI), spoke about the peculiarities of the language of architecture, telling us about eras, lives and the mood of society, as well as what challenges of the future architects are already facing.
– Dmitry Olegovich, could you tell us what trends are relevant for the architecture of our century and how these trends are reflected in the activities of MARKHI?
– The 20th century architecture, as well as itself, is a contradictory phenomenon. Throughout the century, architecture has developed in two opposite directions: searching for new images and turning to the classic art. For example, in the early 20th century, the whole world, including Russia, was captured by the desire for modernity – we are talking about the style, which in Germany was called Jugendstil, in France – Art Nouveau or “New Art”, in England – Liberty. Art Nouveau, with its viscous, vegetable, organic, natural forms, did not last long – only one decade. It took exactly that much time to find new, refined, distinctly artistic forms. The most famous Art Nouveau masters in our country were Fyodor Schechtel and Lev Kekushev, whose buildings still decorate our city.
In the 1910s, Russia again turned to Classicism – this is how nostalgia for the bygone time manifests itself. The mansions of N. Vtorov and V. Gribov are examples of amazing Classicism – very precise, romantic, theatrical and incredibly refined. However, this nostalgic picture was destroyed, exploded, when avant-garde appeared in the 1920s. The Russian avant-garde art, which particularly influenced the whole world, was, perhaps, the only period in the thousand-year history of our architecture when Russia was at the top of world architecture agenda.
MARKHI then called the Architectural Department of the All-Russian Art and Technical Workshops which, by the way, recently celebrated its centenary, was closely connected with the Bauhaus - the State School of Construction and Shaping in Germany. Our architectural schools together created a new image of the world - concrete buildings of simple shapes and without details. Such ascetic architecture, where volume and mass show expression and expressiveness, replaced the floral motifs of Art Nouveau and the classical decor of Classicism. It was the architecture of the future, rejecting the past.
In the 1930s, history takes a turn. Soviet Union citizens were returning to traditions: they were decorating trees again and celebrating the New Year. Against this background, Soviet Classicism appears: Stalinist houses, high-rise buildings and other buildings of very high quality.
Next, Soviet Modernism, thanks to which some good buildings appeared, for example, the Palace of Pioneers in Moscow. But, unfortunately, the simplest and cheapest large panel system-building won, distorting our cities.
The historical balance between classic and avant-garde, between unique architecture and mass architecture, between nostalgia for the past and aspirations for the future - this is what the 20th century became in architecture.
– Was this situation typical exclusively for Russia?
– This clash of styles was a worldwide trend. In the West there have always been rich people, and, accordingly, the unique architecture of mansions. This culture never died; on the contrary, it gave birth to extremely interesting modern avant-garde buildings - glass or completely integrated into nature.
In the 20th century, the USA had virtually no expensive mansions, unlike in the 19th century with even more luxurious mansions than in Russia. The Vanderbilts and Rockefellers in the early generations ordered very expensive mansions with thousands of square meters of snow-white marble used. Just think about it: to accomplish what one set out to do, ancient quarries that were used in the construction of Carthage were opened, marble was transported along a specially built railway, then on ships and, by the way, the railway was then dismantled so that no one else would use this magnificent stone.
– What a thorough approach!
– Well, we also have the Morozovs, the Mamontovs, the Khludovs, who loved to build more or less extraordinary buildings.
– You highlight customers, but have not yet mentioned architects, why?
– Why am I talking about these people - the Morozovs and the Mamontovs, the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts? The customer is incredibly important for architecture. To create a brilliant work, one architect is not enough - you need a brilliant customer. But the task of an architect is to develop the taste of the customer.
Speaking of the Acropolis of Athens, it is not enough to mention Phidias, Ictinus and Callicrates, who built the Parthenon and decorated it with sculptures. Without Pericles and his beloved Aspasia, nothing would have happened.
That is why we have problems – the customer is not educated yet. In the 18th century in Russia or in the 5th century BC in Greece, customers were much more architecturally educated. They knew what good architecture was, and they wanted this beauty, they understood that life is finite, but amazing architecture was not.
– Who can be singled out as a brilliant customer in the history of Russia?
– In Russia, Catherine the Great was like that, and the most amazing palaces were created for her.
– Did Catherine the Great have a favorite architect?
– Sure, Charles Cameron. It was very difficult to negotiate with him... When Cameron was building Pavlovsk, the wife of Pavel Petrovich, the future emperor, told her manager: “Tell Cameron not to speak to Pavel Petrovich in that tone of voice. This can end up badly...”, and, indeed, it ended up badly, he was kicked out in the end. I do not want everyone to quarrel with each other, but I want both architects and customers to understand that to create a masterpiece, you need to put your soul into the building being created.
– What does it mean – your soul?
– Your own ideas... Banker Sergey Ryabushinsky wanted the house on Nikitskaya Street, where the Gorky Museum is now located, to be placed, as it were, in the underwater kingdom. At that time, the premiere of the opera Sadko with the famous scenery took place at the Savva Mamontov Theater, everyone was very interested in this topic. Fyodor Schechtel created the relevant image: the staircase is in the form of a wave falling from the second floor, pebbles scatter at the door - only the sea water has left, the chandeliers at the top are floating octopuses and jellyfish, and there are aquatic plants on the frieze of the house.
It is not necessary to live in the underwater world (note: he laughs), but it is necessary to live in some kind of world, architecture is, first of all, an art that creates a world. The world for everyone and common for all of us.
– What challenges does architecture face today?
– In the entire history of mankind, there has never been a moment when architecture was needed as urgently as it is now. Architecture is somewhat comparable to a nuclear weapon: it is capable of destroying the planet. The planet surrounded by large panel system-buildings will die biologically, mentally, physically, and morally. Of course, our construction is gigantic - 120 million square meters per year... and this is only in Russia. Such an opportunity to change the planet as there is now has never existed before, and we are transforming the environment at an alarming rate. Therefore, we should preserve what makes our planet unique: ecology, living character...
– We cannot simply equate architecture with construction...
– It is true, in construction the slogan is “needs to be done,” but about architecture you can say: “needs to be done so as not to harm” or “do so that it is better.”
– Tell us about the challenges that architecture faces today in terms of developing urban infrastructure and hard-to-reach places, for example, the Arctic region. Are current students prepared to meet these challenges?
– Vast areas of our country are permafrost, if you drive a tractor once, the soil will not recover for a hundred years. In the north of the Krasnoyarsk Region, everything is streaked with human traces, ice is getting thinner by the day, the Arctic should be preserved. Maybe even more so than anything else.
MARKHI founded a special Department of Arctic Architecture for the North and the Arctic. We came up with a slightly utopian, but feasible project, which even the security forces became interested in, especially the Border Service. This is a walking city on a special platform, which moves slowly using mechanisms. This solution suits oil workers, border guards and fishermen quite well. According to our calculations, the supports are fragmented and provide a pressure comparable to the pressure of a deer’s hoof.
– This is very impressive!
– This is a utopia, a dream, but this is what we need. Maybe not so radically, but uninhabited territories are very vulnerable, our planet is very vulnerable.
Let us take Greece. In the classical era it was green. Remember the myths - goats ate all leaves. The Greek mountains changed the climate and landscape. Let alone the Arctic. Our entire planet is so beautiful that architecture should be just as beautiful and respectful of natural beauty. Our nature, earth, planet will pay for this, because an urbanized environment is ultimately very expensive due to construction, and the people there are different.
– For more than 100 years, GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia has been carefully restoring mansions supervised by our Enterprise. What is your assessment of the preservation of the capital’s historical sites?
– Oh, the case of GlavUpDK is unique. This refers to mansions that have been preserved along with their furniture, atmosphere and lifestyle. In the buildings where embassies and residences are located today, in the Reception House of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Spiridonovka Street, a very special feeling, an idea of people, has been preserved. All this is embodied in relation to space.
The mansions supervised by GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia create a unique image of Moscow, a perfect, beautiful city of the Silver Age. This image is stronger than in St. Petersburg or than anywhere else. Therefore, the heritage preserved by GlavUpDK for Moscow, is of special, fundamental and exceptionally great importance.
This is real architecture reflecting the way of life of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. I am very grateful to GlavUpDK for this! By the way, we are friends with this Enterprise - I was the author of the book for GlavUpDK called “Moscow Mansions”. In fact, absolutely outstanding sites were preserved.
Speaking of the restoration industry as a whole, I note that the results of the last decade can only be assessed positively. I consider the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage to be an absolutely magnificent organization, one of the best in the world for heritage protection, if not the best. The Department employees are very professional in their approach to their work, with a fantastically correct and good human attitude towards restoration architects, extremely friendly, but at the same time demanding.
– Please, tell us about how Russia and other countries preserve their heritage sites?
– We do not always know the scope of Russia’s achievements in restoration and preservation of cultural heritage sites. For example, in terms of restoration of avant-garde buildings, we are the first in the world, and we managed to restore a lot of constructivist buildings well before anyone else: Melnikov House, house-communes and Narkomfin Building. I would like to mention the Textile Institute - the largest house-commune built by the brilliant architect of communism, fantastic Ivan Nikolaev (Rector of the Moscow Institute of Architecture in 1945-1947 and 1958-1970).
In addition, Moscow was one of the first to preserve and restore Art Deco and Neoclassicism ensembles dating from the mid-20th century - VDNKh is a brilliant example. There is simply no bigger restoration and conservation project in the world. This is a great achievement, the architecture there is amazing - it will be included in all textbooks of future centuries.
– Looking into the past, does it seem that Moscow in the early 20th century was a more interesting city?
– Moscow was an amazing city. It is a pity, but we, like most capitals of the world, have lost a lot. For example, the Garden Ring - why is it called so? Not because there are boulevards in the middle, they simply were not there, but because of the private gardens near the houses merged into a ring. With their pavilions and gazebos, they created an incredibly beautiful city line. Before breaking it all down, fortunately, back in the 20s, all this was photographed by the Old Moscow society.
Completely shocked by Moscow, the great French poet Paul Verlaine wrote: “I have been to all continents, but I have never seen such an amazingly luxurious extravaganza like Moscow. These hundreds of domes and spires in azure, surrounded by flowering gardens...” As a complete stranger to Russia, he said: “... people who live in such amazing beauty cannot help becoming creative.”
Moscow was really such an amazing city, but I understand that it could not survive. It was growing very quickly, constantly changing, plus our social cataclysms...
– A large number of historical buildings are being brought into modern times by being adapted for modern use. How do you feel about this practice?
– There are different points there, after all, we have very few original interiors preserved in Moscow, much less than in St. Petersburg, unfortunately. I have no objection adapting buildings for modern needs. But adaptation is a creative process that requires an individual approach, taste and love for everything that can be preserved. After all, authentic artifacts are real traces of the history of our city and country. The urban environment should not only be preserved, but also restored. It seems to me that historical real estate is a symbol of capitalization. If we focused on improvement, we would live better.
By the way, MARKHI has a landscape architecture department. We specially developed a variety of gardens - intra-block, including for standard houses. We selected plants that do not even require much care, reducing financial costs.
– Let us talk about people who choose to become an architect. Do you see young people who are ready to explore new areas, create, as you say, utopian projects, create something completely new, preserving the world around them?
– You know, I have complaints about architecture, but not about young people, students. Studying to be an architect, like studying to be a doctor, is difficult. Most of the people who come to us are hardworking and gifted, there are virtually no lazy people, and they shirk from work only if they are tired.
Architecture, like any creative profession, needs to be learned. You cannot play the piano without knowing how to place your hands on the keyboard. It is the same here: you master the pencil, using your hands and eyes, you learn proportions, you develop artistic intuition, and, of course, you work with software. But state-of-the-art technology will not completely replace the pencil.
An architect should both feel and calculate - this is a feature of the profession. While people can feel and are ready to work, it is very difficult to teach them to think freely and productively. We are trying our best to do this! I ca not say how it turns out. But there are very talented architects who are developing quickly.
– It is worth its weight in gold. Could you tell us how you develop your own style and vision? Is it an observation skill or the environment in which personality is formed?
– I come from a family of third-generation architects, my parents began introducing me to architectural sites and beautiful places from the age of three. Therefore, I was somewhat sensitive to the pandemic restrictions when our students had no internship.
And that is not all! Importantly, beauty is a multi-layered concept: it is the design, and how the building fits into nature and the environment, and how this beauty changes over the years. You should sensually study history, try to penetrate into the character of buildings, cities, landscapes, eras. At the same time, looking at the world with a high degree of knowledge means putting everything you see on the scale of history.
– Do you have a favorite historical period?
Unfortunately, I do not have a favorite period. I feel more like a historian, I am an architectural historian, of course (he laughs).
If I could live my life again, I would still like to become a pure historian: to study the development and course of history. Changes of eras and people are such a fascinating and interesting thing. Architecture tells us about it. The Acropolis of Athens, which we have already talked about, has been restored for several centuries and every 10 years it looks different, now it looks like a zebra. The Parthenon with crystal white marble was completed very accurately. The other genuine marble has become creamy and flesh-colored over 2,500 years. Maybe the sun will make them look the same, but what if it takes a thousand years?
Each era creates its own image of the past, its own images of architectural sites. Even our Moscow mansions live nearby thanks to the adaptation, restoration, attitude towards them: interest or loss of interest, and the people living in them and around them. The life of sites and the human history of architecture attracts me to the greatest possible extent.
However, I really love different eras: 16th century – Kolomenskoye, or the early 20th century - wooden or stone mansions. I really love Catherine’s time in Moscow, but it is difficult to see. The Pashkov House, for example, is a work of restoration from the Soviet era - it is not easy to understand which elements are from Catherine’s era. It was rebuilt so many times, it burned during the War of 1812, and before that, and after, everything was changed there. It would seem a symbol of Catherine’s Moscow, but in fact it’s a restoration symbol. However, there is virtually nothing completely untouched in the city...
– Well, time goes forward, and mansions strive to keep up with its progress.
– They are also alive: the Igumnov House once housed a Brain Institute, and now it accommodates the French Embassy, where General de Gaulle once visited. Absolutely different images of buildings and energy!
– To conclude our conversation, please tell us about your favorite area in Moscow.
The area where I was born: Arbat lanes and, in particular, Trubnikovsky Lane, where I lived until I was six years old. Sometimes I drive home so that I can pass this lane, even if it is not very close on the way. Somehow my heart skips a beat, and I come home in a better mood, and my family does not suffer much from my character.
