ARC134
Communist Bloc Modernism
Background: Mass production
Ford Model T, 1908
Henry Ford (1863-1947) and the garage in which he built his first automobile “I do not consider the machines which bear my name simply as machines. If that was all there was to it I would be doing something else. I take them as concrete evidence of the working out of a theory of business which I hope is something more than a theory of business--a theory that looks forward toward making this world a better place in which to live.� -- Henry Ford, My Life and Work, 1922
Fordism: mass production through serial repetition of identical units Model T: a commodity reverse-engineered from the price point at which automobile ownership could become a mass middle-class phenomenon
a “universal car� with four standard systems: chassis, axles, engine, transmission
McCormick reaper replacement part catalogue page, with Ford parts list
Albert Kahn (1869-1942), Ford Motor Company Model T Assembly Plant, aka the Highland Park Plant or the Crystal Palace Detroit MI, 1909-1910
Albert Kahn, Ford River Rouge Plant, Dearborn MI, 1917- (shown 1938)
Soviet and Warsaw Pact Architecture Russian Constructivism Konstantin Melnikov, Rusakov Factory Club, Moscow, 1927 Ivan Leonidov, Lenin Institute (project), 1927 Konstantin Melnikov, Melnikov Residence, Moscow, 1929 Moses Ginzburg and I. Milinis, Narkomfin Apartment Building, Moscow, 1928-29 Le Corbusier, Centrosoyuz Building, Moscow, 1929-30 Palace of the Soviets competition, 1931-33 Stalinist “Realist� Neoclassicism Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland, 1952-55 Plattenbau post-WWII housing typology
Maoist Architecture New industrial infrastructure, transit facilities, housing complexes, sports facilities, stores, offices, and museums built in Communist Chinese capital Beijing Great Hall of the People, Beijing, 1958-59
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949-
Communist Bloc Warsaw Pact, 1955-91 led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, 1922-91)
+ People’s Republic of China
Russian Constructivism L: Vladimir Tatlin, Monument to the Third International (project), 1919-20 R: Iakov Chernikov, “Architectural Fantasy,� 1925-33
Ivan Leonidov, Lenin Institute (thesis project), 1927
Konstantin Melnikov, Rusakov Worker’s Club, Moscow, USSR, 1930
Ilya Golosov, Zuev Workers’ Club, Moscow, 1926-29
Konstantin Melnikov, Melnikov House, Moscow, 1929
Konstantin Melnikov, Melnikov House, Moscow, 1929
Typical designs of speculative apartment buildings in prerevolutionary Moscow
Moisei Ginzburg and Ignati Milinis, Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, 1928-29 Narkomfin = Peoples’ Commissariat for Finance
Moisei Ginzburg and Ignati Milinis, Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, 1928-29
Narkomfin Communal House
Narkomfin Communal House
Narkomfin Communal House
Le Corbusier and Nicholas Kolly (associate architect), Centrosoyuz Building, Moscow, 1929-30 Centrosoyuz = cooperatives organization
Le Corbusier and Nicholas Kolly (associate architect), Centrosoyuz Building, Moscow, 1929-30 Centrosoyuz = cooperatives organization
Alexander Deineka, “Let’s transform Moscow into a model socialist city of the proletarian style,” poster, 1931
S. Serafimov, S. Kravets, and M. Felger, Derzprom Building (State Industry Building), Dzerzhinsky Square (now Freedom Square), Kharkov, Ukraine, 1920s
S. Serafimov, S. Kravets, and M. Felger, Derzprom Building (State Industry Building), Dzerzhinsky Square (now Freedom Square), Kharkov, Ukraine, 1920s
Alexei Shchusev, Narkomzem (People’s Commissariat of Agriculture), Moscow, 1928-30
Le Corbusier, Palace of the Soviets (project), 1931-33
Le Corbusier, Palace of the Soviets (project), 1931-33
Le Corbusier, Palace of the Soviets (project), 1931-33
Boris Iofan, Palace of the Soviets (winning entry), 1931-33 Stalinist Neoclassicism
Igor Fomin, District Soviet, Sverdlovsk, USSR (now Yekaterinburg, Russia), 1930-1935
Moscow State University , Moscow, USSR (now Russia), 1953Stalinist Neoclassicism tallest building outside New York at the time of its construction
Moscow State University building, with antecedents: the Principal Medicine Store, Red Square, Moscow, which housed the university from 1755-87, and the Old Building, 1782-93
Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland, 1952-55
Plattenbau housing typology: prefabricated concrete slab construction social housing Plattenbau (German) = panel-building
Plattenbau housing typology: prefabricated concrete slab construction social housing Plattenbau (German) = panel-building
Plattenbau housing typology: prefabricated concrete slab construction social housing Plattenbau (German) = panel-building
Plattenbau housing typology: prefabricated concrete slab construction social housing Plattenbau (German) = panel-building
People’s Republic of China 1949Founded by Mao Zedong (Chairman of the Communist Party)
Blast furnace, Shihchingshan Iron and Steel Company
Number 1 Machine Tools Plant
Cotton mill and weaving shop
Milling machine production plant
Experimental nuclear reactor
New housing developments: Hoping (above) and Yangfangtien (below)
Beijing Railway Station
Wangfuching Department Store
Wangfuching Department Store
Beijing Workers’ Club
New sports facilities: the Beijing Workers’ Stadium and swimming facilities in Taojanting Park
Broadcasting House
New development along Sanliho Road
New development along West Changan Avenue, including the Cultural Palace of the Nationalities
Cultural Palace of the Nationalities
Silk painting depicting Chairman Mao leading the people of all Chinese nationalities, displayed in the main hall of the Cultural Palace of theNationalities
Chairman Mao examines plans for the reconstruction of Tien An Men Square, mid-1950s
Reconstruction of Tien An Men Square, with the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History at right, the Monument to the People’s Heroes at center, and the Great Hall of the People at left
Monument to the People’s Heroes, Tien An Men Square
Tien An Men Square
Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History, Tien An Men Square
Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History, Tien An Men Square
Great Hall of the People, Tien An Men Square, 1958-59
Great Hall of the People, Tien An Men Square: auditorium
Great Hall of the People, Tien An Men Square: banquet hall