Russia: Modern Architectures in History

Description

Soviet Russia is at the core of this book. Anderson brings the relationship between architecture and socialism into focus through detailed case studies that situate buildings and concepts in the specific milieu of Soviet society, politics and ideology. Drawing on extensive research, Anderson provides a reappraisal of the architecture of the Stalin era and the final decades of the ussr . He accounts for the many ways in which Soviet conventions continue to shape Russian architecture today, but also acknowledges and explores the heterogeneous mix of attitudes and style among Russia's architects.

Richard Anderson is Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. He is the editor and principal translator of Ludwig Hilberseimer's Metropolisarchitecture and Selected Essays (2012) and co-author of Architecture in Print: Design and Debate in the Soviet Union, 1919-1935 (2005).

"This is an elegant recasting of the modern architectural tradition in Russia. Spanning 150 years, from the reforms introduced by Alexander II in 1861 and the subsequent industrial urbanization of the Romanov Imperium, to the abstract constructivism of the avant garde that accompanied the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Anderson's text moves from the less familiar but more pragmatic Soviet reality of the late '20s, and the later historicizing Socialist Realism that constituted the reactionary architectural production of the Stalinist totalitarian state, to the Russian Federation of today. Anderson has written a precisely articulated, socioeconomic cultural history of Russian architecture."--Kenneth Frampton This isan elegantrecasting of the modern architectural tradition in Russia. Spanning150 years, from thereforms introduced byAlexander IIin1861 and thesubsequentindustrial urbanization of the Romanov Imperium, to the abstract constructivism of the avant garde that accompanied the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Anderson s text moves from thelessfamiliar but more pragmatic Sovietrealityof the late 20s, andthe laterhistoricizing Socialist Realism that constituted the reactionary architectural production of the Stalinist totalitarian state, to the Russian Federation of today.Anderson has written aprecisely articulated, socioeconomic cultural historyof Russian architecture. --Kenneth Frampton"