The European Metropole Seminar. Moscow
MArch Holger Gladys
From socialist realism to capitalist realism. Moscow is next to Paris, London and Istanbul, the largest European city and metropole region. Although its history is intensively interconnected with the Western European history, the metropole all too often seems to elude our perception. Surprisingly enough, with a few prominent exceptions, its 20th century development and current urban planning issues are rarely inspiration for study and research.
Bart Goldhoorn, the editor or the magazine Russia Project, pointed out that “nowhere the confrontation of the leading ideological systems of the 20st century has been more radical then in Russia. This has been the case after 1917 – the Communist revolution – but also after 1991 – the fall of Communism.” And the historian Thomas Flierl noticed that “there is no other city where it becomes more visible, of how the urban planning of an Eastern European capital steadily oscillates between Western European and American urban development concepts and the search for alternative concepts.”
Consequently, the seminar encourages to locate and understand possible correlation of politics, architectural form and the city at large. The seminar mainly addresses the transformations of the city during the mid-1930s and after the 1990s. To create ourselves a vantage point and toolbox for discussion and writing, the studio will engage into a series of contemporary and precedent concepts in urban planning and reflect them in relation to the Russian capital.
Additionally to studying the city through plans and literature, we will visit Moscow. Walking in a city is an essential act in understanding the physical urban structure and spatial textures. During a one week excursion, the studio will meet and discuss with among others, urban and architectural design professionals and have a workshop at one of the Moscow architectural schools.