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Locating the Structure-Agency Dichotomy in Architecture: Workers’ Club As a Type of Social Condenser in the Soviets 1917-32

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Locating the Structure-Agency Dichotomy in Architecture: Workers’ Club As a Type of Social Condenser in the Soviets 1917-32 LOCATING THE STRUCTURE-AGENCY DICHOTOMY IN ARCHITECTURE: WORKERS’ CLUB AS A TYPE OF SOCIAL CONDENSER IN THE SOVIETS 1917-32 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY HASAN İSBEN ÖNEN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE JANUARY 2006 Approval of the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Canan Özgen Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Architecture Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selahattin Önür Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Architecture Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Jale N. Erzen (METU, ARCH) _______________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın (METU, ARCH) _______________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selahattin Önür (METU, ARCH) _______________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan (METU, ARCH) _______________________ M. Arch. İlhan Kesmez (Gazi Unv., ARCH) _______________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Hasan İsben Önen iii ABSTRACT LOCATING THE STRUCTURE-AGENCY DICHOTOMY IN ARCHITECTURE: WORKERS’ CLUB AS A TYPE OF SOCIAL CONDENSER IN THE SOVIETS 1917-32 Önen, Hasan İsben M. Arch, Department of Architecture Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın January 2006, 112 pages This thesis focuses on the Soviets after the October Revolution, between 1917 and 1932, in which architecture was seen as the crucial apparatus to transform the society. Within this framework it approaches to social condensers which were perceived as architectural foresights and buildings that aims to transform the society and promote a new, collective way of life and relocates the (social) structure and agency dichotomy in architecture. Furthermore the effort of the creative individual (agent) to preserve his inner-domain is searched through the workers’ club designs of two important architects Konstantin Melnikov and Ivan Leonidov and furthermore trying to understand on which principles they established their architecture. Whereas the conclusion includes a critical evaluation on “halkevleri” (people’s houses) as having similar social premises within the scope of the general framework of the study. Keywords: Soviet architecture, Constructivism, social condenser, workers’ clubs, the (social) structure-agency dichotomy, creative individual, Konstantin Melnikov, Ivan Leonidov. iv ÖZ SOSYAL YAPI - AKTÖR ÇATIŞMASINI MİMARLIK ÜZERİNDEN YENİDEN DEĞERLENDİRMEK: SOVYETLER’DE TOPLUMSAL YOĞUNLAŞTIRCI OLARAK İŞÇİ KULÜPLERİ 1917-32 Önen, Hasan İsben Y. Lisans, Mimarlık Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın Ocak 2006, 112 sayfa Bu tez Ekim Devrimi sonrası 1917-32 yılları arasında mimarlığın toplumu dönüştürme araçlarının en önemlisi olarak görüldüğü Sovyetler Birliği’ne odaklanıyor. Bu çerçevede en etkin değişimin üzerinden planlandığı, yeni ve kolektif bir yaşam tarzının mimari öngörüsü olan ve “toplumsal yoğunlaştırıcı” (social condenser) olarak adlandırılan yapılar üzerinden sosyal aktör (agent) ve sosyal yapı (structure) tartışması yeniden konumlandırılıyor. Toplu olarak hareket etmenin, üretmenin ve yaşamanın yüceltildiği, mimarlığın bir propaganda ve dönüştürme aracı olarak görüldüğü bir dönemde yaratıcı bireyin (sosyal aktör) kendi iç dünyasındaki kavramlara ve doğrulara sahip çıkma çabası dönemin iki önemli mimarı Konstantin Melnikov ve Ivan Leonidov’un tasarladıkları işçi kulüpleri üzerinden irdeleniyor. Sonuç bölümünde ise bu tartışmanın ışığında Türkiye’de cumhuriyet ile kurulmaya başlanan ve bir tür “toplumsal dönüştürücü” olarak görülebilecek olan Halkevleri’nin eleştirel bir genel değerlendirmesi yapılıyor. Anahtar Sözcükler: Sovyet mimarlığı, Rus Konstrüktivistleri, toplumsal yoğunlaştırıcı, işçi kulüpleri, sosyal yapı-aktör çatışması, yaratıcı birey, Konstantin Melnikov, Ivan Leonidov. v To the memory of Gizem Soğuksu and Kamuran Gündemir vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın for his encouragement and guidance not only throughout this thesis but also through all my master studies. I have to admit that his experience, intellectual character and profound knowledge was inspiring. I also have to thank him for keeping up my enthusiasm and from the very first paper titled “Rear- domain”. I also would like to thank the jury members for their comments and critiques. I owe special thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep A. Onur first for the time she spent during our discussions on the subject, but most for her friendly support and encouragement from all the way back at the basic design studio till now, her existence is a source of happiness and hope. It is encouraging to know that she will be right beside me on the way. I also owe special thanks to Mr. Ziya Tanalı first for believing in me and for his encouragement on completing the master studies but most for his friendly and masterly guidance from the very beginning till now, his existence like is a source of happiness and hope. It would not be an overestimation to say that I have never learned more on architecture, life and being human from anyone else than I learned from him. My thanks also goes to Mr. Kenan Güvenç for his friendly and encouraging attitude and support, for generously lending his books that played crucial role while structuring the research. I will always remember the morning he arrived at the campus to attend my seminar presentation from Eskişehir. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude and respect to Prof. Dr. Kamuran Gündemir who is one of the two persons that encouraged me and thought probably the most important virtues: to be as one is, to be sincere, and to preserve the humane essence what ever the medium and circumstance is. The sorrowful news came as these lines were written. I will miss him. vii I would like to thank my parents from the bottom of my heart for the tremendous support, courage, trust and tenderness all through my life and being there no matter under what circumstances. Finally I would not only like to thank Özlem for everything and supporting me night and day, but also like to embrace her for being as she is. Her existence is makes me feel human and is worth for everything. Thank you for the sunshine and rain. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM……………………………………………………………………………iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...iv ÖZ………………………………………………………………………………………....v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………..vii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………..ix LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………xi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………..xii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..1 2. ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTION AND COGNITION OF SOCIAL CONDENSERS IN THE SOVIETS AFTER THE 1917 REVOLUTION……….10 2.1. THE SOCIAL AND ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORK OF AN ERA………………………………………………………………..11 2.2. THE SOCIAL CONDENSER…………………………………………….23 2.2.1 Locating The Structure - Agency Debate………………………..34 2.3. WORKERS’ CLUBS………………………………………………………41 2.3.1. Konstantin Melnikov and Workers’ Clubs……………………….49 2.3.2. Ivan Leonidov and Workers’ Clubs……………………………...63 3. THE STRUCTURE AND AGENT.....................................................................78 3.1. THE STRUCTURE-AGENCY DEBATE………………………………..79 3.2. STRUCTURE……………………………………………………………...83 3.3. SOCIAL AGENT…………………………………………………………..84 3.4. LOCATING THE ARCHITECT…………………………………………..86 4. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………….. .91 ix REFERENCES….…………………………………………………………………….103 APPENDICES A. MOISEI GINZBURG’S DIAGRAM SHOWING THE “NEW METHOD OF ARCHITECTURAL THOUGHT”………………………………………….109 B. PETER ENGELMEIER’S MODEL OF DESIGN - 1912……………….110 C. THE NARKOMFIN HOUSING UNIT GROUND AND FIRST FLOOR PLANS………………………………………………………………………111 D. THE NARKOMFIN HOUSING UNIT – 1930 PHOTO FROM THE NARKOMFIN PARK AND PHOTO FROM THE INTERIOR CORRIDOR………………………………………………………………...112 x LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Diagram representing the general framework of the research…………………4 2.1 Major active groups, institutions and actors of the era…………………….21-22 2.2 Diagram on the mutual relation between social factors – defined by the structure and individual preferences………………………………………….. …….36 2.3 Diagram projecting the post-revolutionary era derived from the previous diagram, in which structure is the dominant entity. Thus the role of individual preferences in production is minimized and the role of social factors maximized………………………………………………………………………………38 2.4 An outline of architectural sins and merits of the era………………………….40 3.1 Graphic representation of the plastic man (left) and the autonomous man………………………………………………………………………………………87 xi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Artists at the Moscow station painting an agitprop train, circa 1920s…………8 1.2 An agitprop train, circa 1920……………………………………………...............8 2 Vladimir Tatlin, wooden model of the Monument for the Third International, 1920……………………………………………………………………………………….9 2.1 Fedor Shekhtel, Derozhinskaia mansion, Moskow, 1902. Detail from the stair tower…………………………………………………………………………………….15 2.2 F. Schektel, Riabushinsky House, Moscow, 1902……………………………..15 2.3 F. Shekhtel. Office building
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