04/09/2022
project baltia 37 brick
When this 37th issue of Project Baltia was in gestation, many of us thought the world would at least in part return to its pre-pandemic state. Others doubted this was possible, but few could have foreseen that cross-border cooperation between East and West would be interrupted by something bigger than the Cuban crisis. Given this situation, the editors of Project Baltia took the decision to complete and print the issue of the journal which was already in preparation and then halt publication of our periodical. The journal’s regional international format is today in effect unrealizable, and even this final issue differs from all previous issues. The English version of the magazine has parted ways with the Russian and exists only in the form of a PDF file (projectbaltia.com/en).
The theme of this issue is brick – the ancient building material which is today once more in demand all over the world. Evidence of this is to be seen in the numerous awards for brick architecture (including our own annual Russian brick competition; see p. 34). An analysis of these awards and the chromatic aspect of ‘red stone’ is the subject of an article by the magazine’s editor in chief, Vladimir Frolov (p. 34). The art historian Aleksandr Stepanov asks readers to think about the ‘meaning-generating force’ of words that signify this material in Russian, Greek, and English (p. 29), while the architecture historian Danil Ovcharenko suggests studying the history of the use of brick from antiquity to the present day (p. 31). Ovcharenko comes to the conclusion that today’s facades are by no means a sign of the renaissance of the brick style in its original sense. In the vast majority of cases today brick is merely decorative cladding – a relatively thin brick ‘cloak’ thrown over a structure which continues to be made of concrete.
The Finnish and Latvian critics Tarja Nurmi and Artis Zvirgzdiņš echo their Russian colleague, pointing out the same ‘theatrical’ effect. Nevertheless, the first piece in this issue is an interview with the brilliant architectural theoretician Kenneth Frampton (p. 26). Frampton sees the return of brick as a step towards critical regionalism, a vector which he has long since promoted and which is especially important for the concept behind Project Baltia. In his correspondence with Vladimir Frolov, published here, Frampton refines his concept of critical regionalism, treating it not as a style but as a ’mode of looking or self-conscious manifestation of resistance of local culture’. Resistance to what? To the ‘reductionist absurdity’ of today’s architecture.
The projects and buildings published in this issue are divided into two blocks: housing construction and reconstruction. However, this division is largely arbitrary since many new buildings included in the first category have been erected in place of demolished factories, while structures in the second are often entirely self-sufficient and may claim at least as much significance as the buildings that originally existed on their sites. All this is evidence of the formation of a certain new urbanist interpretation of urban planning rooted in a special understanding of space based on the phenomenon of vacancy – the loft (pp. 34, 129).
On the other hand, here we may also speak of critical reconstruction, a phenomenon which conceptually continues Frampton’s line of thought. This is the subject of a piece by the culturologist and organizer of architecture competitions Aleksandr Popadin, based on the example of ‘K City’ (p. 142).
This issue includes brick buildings by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, K2S, Rudanko + Kankkunen, Tommila Architects, PART Architects, Arhitekt Must, Sudraba Architects, KAOS Arhitektid, Studiya 44, B2, GK MPI + TOBE architects, Tektonika, ludi_architects, Serious Project, Zukauskas Architects, as well as by the firms of Artem Nikiforov and Donatas Rakauskas.
The Discussion section of this last issue of Project Baltia looks at the subject of death. For the theological and philosophical key to understanding the complex interrelationship between death and architecture, look no further than the article by Stepan Vaneyan (p. 150). For an esoteric key to this subject, see the piece by Vilen Kunnapu (162); and for a figurative key, take a look at Temple of Waste, a project by KGA (p. 162). Brick makes an appearance here too, as the flesh of Brutalist Soviet architecture: this is the subject of reflections by Andrey Larionov, based on the example of the mortuary on Detskaya ulitsa in St Petersburg. Where there is death, however, there is also birth. This section closes with a previously unpublished interview given in 2003 by Leonard Lapin, the recently deceased Tallinn master of ‘paper architecture’, to our Moscow colleague Anatoly Belov. Lapin shares his theoretical vision of art as the emergence of ‘an idea from void’…
The Competitions section records the results of the Second Russian Brick Competition, the ‘AAG. Mendelson’s architectural studio’ workshop’, and the ‘Environment of the spit: scientific neigbourhood’ foresight project.
The 37th issue of Project Baltia brings to an end a period of 15 years during which Project Baltia has been published as a periodical. However, Baltikum, Project Baltia’s publisher, will continue its activities.
We also recommend a visit to Tochka, a unique gallery of architectural photography, curated by Vladimir Frolov at SHKAF Library and Art Residence in St Petersburg (gallerytochka.ru).
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