Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Drawing the Unbuildable
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Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Drawing the Unbuildable Architecture is conventionally perceived to be synonymous with building. In contrast, this book introduces and defines a new category – the unbuildable. The unbuildable involves projects that are not just unbuilt but also cannot be built. This distinct form of architectural project plays an important and often surprising role in architectural discourse, work- ing not in opposition to the buildable, but frequently complementing it. Using well-known examples of early Soviet architecture – Tatlin’s Tower in particular – Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge demonstrates the relevance of the unbuildable, how it relates to current notions of seriality, copying, and reproduction, and its implications relative to contempo- rary practice and discourse in the computational age. The unbuildable offers a fresh perspective on our preconceptions and expectations of early Soviet architecture and the Constructivist movement. Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge grew up and began her architectural career in Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the Bosnian War she came to the UK, continuing her studies first at Birmingham, and then at the Bartlett, UCL. Nerma was awarded a PhD at the Architectural Association in London in 2011. As well as working for several distinguished architectural practices including Thomas Heatherwick’s Studio and Art2Architecture, Nerma taught at the Universities of Greenwich, Birmingham, London Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Metropolitan, Central Saint Martins, IVE Hong Kong, and Brighton. A Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts since 2011, Nerma currently divides her time between teaching history and theory at the Architectural Association in London and design at Cambridge School of Art, as well as running her own art and design practice, Drawing Agency. She lives in London with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Marlena. Routledge Research in Architecture The Routledge Research in Architecture series provides the reader with the latest scholarship in the field of architecture. The series publishes research from across the globe and covers areas as diverse as architec- tural history and theory, technology, digital architecture, structures, materials, details, design, monographs of architects, interior design and much more. By making these studies available to the worldwide academic community, the series aims to promote quality architectural research. An Architecture of Parts The Films of Charles and Ray Eames Architects, Building Workers and A Universal Sense of Expectation Industrialisation in Britain 1940–1970 Eric Schuldenfrei Christine Wall Intersections of Space and Ethos Towards an Articulated Phenomeno- Searching for the Unmeasurable logical Interpretation of Architecture Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou, Kyriaki Phenomenal phenomenology Tsoukala and Charikleia Pantelidou M. Reza Shirazi Ars et Ingenium: The Embodiment of Architectural System Structures Imagination in Francesco di Giorgio Integrating Design Complexity in Martini’s Drawings Industrialised Construction Pari Riahi Kasper Sánchez Vibæk Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Kahn at Penn Space Unveiled Transformative Teacher of Architecture Invisible Cultures in the Design Studio James Williamson Edited by Carla Jackson Bell Designing the British Post-War Home Architectural Temperance Kenneth Wood, 1948–1968 Spain and Rome, 1700–1759 Fiona Fisher Victor Deupi Drawing the Unbuildable Assembling the Centre: Architecture for Seriality and reproduction in architecture Indigenous Cultures Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge Australia and Beyond Janet McGaw and Anoma Pieris Drawing the Unbuildable Seriality and reproduction in architecture Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge The right of Nerma Prnjavorac Cridge to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cridge, Nerma. Drawing the unbuildable: seriality and reproduction in architecture/Nerma Cridge. pages cm. — (Routledge research in architecture) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Unbuilt architectural projects. 2. Communication in architectural design. 3. Architecture—Philosophy. I. Title. NA2705.5.C75 2015 720—dc23 Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 2014042472 ISBN: 978-1-138-79006-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76444-3 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by diacriTech, Chennai Contents List of figures vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: category of the unbuildable 1 PTAR I The unbuildable monument 21 1 Tatlin’s Tower: an image outside of time 23 2 The unbuildable tomb: the Palace of the Soviets 65 3 Tower and Palace: two faces of the gigantic monument 100 PTAR II The unbuildable series 125 4 Horizontal Skyscraper: series within a series 127 5 The serial series: Iakov Chernikhov 140 6 The pioneering series: Piranesi’s Carceri 160 Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Conclusion 171 Bibliography 178 Image credits 189 Index 190 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 List of figures Figure I.1 Hand-written note by Le Corbusier for the lecture proclaiming ‘hatred of drawing’ 3 Figure I.2 ‘Slava Stalinu!’ (Glory to Stalin!) 10 Figure 1.1 Photographs of the original model in St. Petersburg in 1920 36 Figure 1.2 Built towers: Shukhov Tower and London Olympic Tower 43 Figure 1.3 Simplified model in street demonstration photographed from three different angles 51 Figure 1.4 Yuri Avvakumov, Red Tower, 1986 53 Figure 1.5 The first fragment of atlin’sT Tower 58 Figure 2.1 Palace of the Soviets 81 Figure 2.2 Russian Antarctic Base at the Pole of Inaccessibility 87 Figure 2.3 Iofan, Shchuko, and Gelfreikh, Palace of the Soviets, 1934 91 Figure 2.4 The difference between the Tower and the Palace 93 Figure 3.1 El Lissitzky, Tatlin at Work, 1920 116 Figure 4.1 El Lissitzky, Lenin Tribune, PROUN no. 85 128 Figure 4.2 Cloud Iron: Rendered Axonometric 133 Figure 5.1 Drawing size comparison: Palace of the Soviets by Boris Iofan versus Composition No. 28 by Iakov Chernikhov 143 Figure 5.2 Iakov Chernikhov, Composition No. 28, also referred to as Hammer and Sickle Fantasy 144 Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Figure 5.3 Iakov Chernikhov, 101 Compositions 1925–1933 146 Figure 5.4 Iakov Chernikhov, composition from The Pantheons of the Great Patriotic War sequence, 1942–1945 153 Figure 5.5 Water Tower, Red Carnation Factory 156 Figure 6.1 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri, The Drawbridge plate 164 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 Acknowledgements This book is based on my PhD thesis completed in 2011 at the Architectural Association in London. It would not have been possible without the support of my supervisors, Marina Lathouri and Mark Cousins. I also owe my deep gratitude to the director of the Architectural Association, Brett Steele. Anyone who has completed a PhD thesis and then was fortunate to publish it as a book will know how far from straightforward this process is. In my case, a particular difficulty was that the thesis dealt primarily with the visual, and included over 160 drawings, paintings, and photo- graphs. In contrast, this book contains only 20 black-and-white images. Rather than hindering, I hope that this small selection helps to rein- force my main arguments. Since being created, the representations of the unbuildable have often been difficult to verify, were commonly forged, stolen, or simply deteriorated beyond recognition. Even now, most of the time, such material is only accessible through small black-and-white photocopies, making verification of the original size, location, or num- bers of items, extremely difficult, perhapsimpossible. I hope that, similar to the unbuildable itself, this absence of basic information enables the reader to imagine how truly glorious their full scale and colours must have been, as well as to speculate on other real and fictional possibilities. Downloaded by [New York University] at 06:09 16 August 2016 My background informed both my approach to the subject and my access to it. I grew up in Sarajevo, ex-Yugoslavia. At least in part, this book is written for that young girl, who could see and appreciate the kind of country and political system there was, as well as having to flee for her life when the Bosnian War unfolded. However, this is not about nostalgia for what has been lost, but about acknowledging an impor- tant role that these lesser known histories have within an architectural discourse. Accessing Russian archives was extremely difficult, riddled with suspicion, bureaucracy, and many misunderstandings. Some of my experiences in Moscow would not be out of place in a Kafka novel. However, since this book is about perceptions in the West, most of the research comes from Western sources. I aimed to emphasise throughout how ideology and even so-called propaganda are not as clear-cut as they often tend to be perceived. As a consequence, our interpretations of any historical events should not and, in fact, must not be absolutist.