Russian Architecture During and Post Revolution

The Russian Revolution in 1917 not only brought a radical change in politics and daily life but also in Russian Architecture. Although these times brought a lot of pain and suffering to Russia, it changed the scope of architecture and building design forever. Most of the prominent and beautiful architecture known in Russia today was made far before the Russian Revolution, during the 16th and 18th centuries. 

During the early 1900’s Russia was playing catch up with the rapid urbanization and expansion taking place across Europe due to modernization. Unfortunately, this meant building as quickly as possible, in turn creating buildings that critics were soon to call formless and chaotic.

Shortly after the revolution itself, not much building took place as there was a large shortage of materials and almost no means of transportation. Instead of building new structures, Russians chose to make efforts towards unifying the current buildings in the light of the revolution. Architects worked closely with artists to further this idea, creating only small buildings such as kiosks and tribunes, used for propaganda. This was due to the changing reform to education for artist and architects, who now learned side by side in institutions such as VKHUTEMAS in Moscow. They aspired to build “utopian factions” and create art that would be influential across the world.

"festive decoration of a bridge" Vladimir Krinsky 

This was a strange time for Russia, as their country was still in many ways stuck in the perception that their country was psychologically and socially backwards and therefore much different than the rest of Western Europe. While most attempts at reform and modernization were met at a much slower pace than their neighbors, Russian architecture post revolution was taking a step in the right direction. During this time Russian design had finally began to evolve at a parallel with Western design. Using the combination of tradition and innovation, the post-Revolutionary Russian avant garde style had been born.

MoGES Power Plant, Moscow, Built 1926

Work Cited: 

Soviet Architecture. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Art Unlimited Books, 1989.

The Royal Academy of Arts. Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935. London: The Royal Academy of Arts, 2011.

Brumfield, William C. The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.   

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1g5004bj;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print.