Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Международен конкурс за "Pruitt Igoe" в Сейнт Луйс, САЩ

През март 2012 г. се навършват 40 години от разрушаването
на първата висока сграда в жилищния квартал "Pruitt Igoe"
в Сейнт Луйс, Мисури, САЩ,
проектирана от архитектите Хелмут, Ямазаки и Лайнвебер.
Жертва на сложни политически и икономически обстоятелства,
задълго изоставен, ограбен и накрая сринат,
комплексът остава олицетворение на модерните идеи
за комплексно обитаване.

За разлика от много ревитализирани пространства с подобен мащаб,
кварталът Pruitt Igoe, разположен на площ от 190 дка, пустее до днес.
Взривяването му е едно от обстоятелствата, ознаменуващи началото
на постмодерната ера в развитието на съвременната архитектура.

Цел на конкурса:
приобщаване към действащите пространства на града
като двустранна връзка между северните градски части,
стабилизирани след дълъг упадък,
и Jefferson National Expansion Memorial,
проектиран от Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

Pruitt Igoe Now seeks the ideas of the creative community worldwide:
we invite individuals and teams of professional, academic, and student architects, landscape architects, designers, writers and artists of every discipline to re-imagine the 57 acres on which the Pruitt-Igoe housing project was once located.


http://www.kab-sofia.bg/novini/konkursi/500-mezhdunaroden-konkurs-konkurs-v-seint-luis-sasht
Въздушна снимка на Pruitt-Igoe от 1968 г.

Награди - $1,000 ; $750 ; $500.
Всички участници ще получат почетна грамота, а проектите ще се качат в он-лайн галерия.
Обсъждане на конкурса и симпозиум за творческия подход към градските жилища
ще се проведе в Портланд Стейт Юнивърсити през април 2012 г.
Част от идеите ще бъдат включени в пътуваща изложба.

Срок за регистрация: 16 март 2012 г.
Такса за участие: $20
За кореспонденция: nwendl@pdx.edu
Допълнителнa информация на:
http://www.pruittigoenow.org/

Thursday, November 24, 2011

CONSTRUCTIVISM TODAY

Wed 23 November 2011 – 7.30pm
Lecture/Talk
Were the Constructivists Really Communists?
CONSTRUCTIVISM TODAY LECTURE SERIES
Language: In English
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/were-the-constructivists-really-communists


Architects of the Russian avant-garde are often presented as either ‘western’ aesthetes or unworldly and out of their depth when it comes to politics, but was this really the case?

Writer and journalist Owen Hatherley argues that they were complicit in the ideology under which they were working, and that their buildings and theories make most sense when seen as part of a Marxist project.

CONSTRUCTIVISM TODAY LECTURE SERIES:
Lecture 1: : Wed 2 November 2011, 7.30pm He who works, eats: Samara’s Factory Canteen and other masterpieces of Russian Provincial Constructivism
Lecture 2: Thu 10 November 2011, 7.30pm Building the Revolution: Destroying the Past
Lecture 3: Wed 16 November 2011, 7.30pm Russian Architectural Models of the 1920’s from VKhUTEMAS
Lecture 4: Wed 23 November 2011, 7.30pm Were the Constructivists really Communists?
Lecture 5: Wed 30 November 2011, 7.30pm Constructivism: what are we trying to save?

The CONSTRUCTIVISM TODAY LECTURE SERIES
is organised by Pushkin House and the Moscow Architecture Preservation Society

The CONSTRUCTIVISM TODAY LECTURE SERIES at Pushkin House is run in connection with the Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935 exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/building-the-revolution/


30th November: DISCUSSION: Constructivism: What are We Trying to Save?
Constructivist buildings are seen by many to be the white elephants of Russian cities. Finding new functions for these radical, experimental buildings is extremely challenging, despite their outstanding designs. They bear the negative associations of times of upheaval, poverty and experiments by the state on the ordinary citizen, as well as mass demolitions in Moscow in the early 1920s, and so are unpopular with most Russians. How should they be treated in the 21st Century?
Discussion to be chaired by architectural historian and theorist Fred Scott, with participation from photographer Richard Pare, writer Owen Hatherley and MAPS co-founder Clementine Cecil, others to be confirmed.


A comprehensive reconstruction is being planned of Moscow’s famous Stalinist-era All Russian Exhibition Centre (AREC), better known by its historic name of VSKhV-VDNKh (All-Union Agricultural Exhibition).
This architectural ensemble was mostly built between 1939 and 1954, with some post-war modernist additions. The entire area is a conservation zone, and contains areas of protected landscapes, within which, according to law, all major new construction is illegal.
The administration of AREC, however, is preparing to reduce the size of the conservation zone and commence the construction of new buildings, which will destroy the integrity of this unusual and important ensemble.
Campaigners are urging the Centre’s administration to rethink the development project and to limit it to a much-needed restoration of its existing architectural monuments.

An outline of this alarming situation, has been published in
The Moscow Times.
More about the history of the site, is on pages 162-163
of the MAPS/SAVE Europe’s Heritage report.

An excerpt from that 2009 report says:
“This complex is a unique open-air museum designed and built by the best architects, sculptors and craftsmen from throughout the Soviet Union... The pavilions of 1939 to 1954 abound in hand-crafted ornament and need careful restoration, yet some of them have already suffered in recent years because of unsympathetic renovation work... Out of a total of 36 original pavilions, only 28 appear on Moskomnaslediye’s register, including the Fur Farming and Forestry pavilion that burned down a few years ago. As for the pavilions of the 1960s, some of which are most remarkable, these appear not to be thought worthy of preservation.”

The Moscow Architecture Preservation Society (MAPS) has been set up in May 2004 by a group of international journalists and architects.
They work in close cooperation with preservationists, architects and historians within Russia and abroad to raise awareness about the present destruction of the city's historical buildings.

Through these contacts, MAPS is working to give Russian preservationists and Muscovites a greater international voice.
MAPS believes that every effort should be made to preserve certain buildings.
Its representatives invite experts to advise on more sustainable approaches to the historic built environment.
Through such work MAPS hopes to convince the Moscow Government, developers and architects that the unchecked demolition of old Moscow is not in the city’s long-term interest.

http://www.maps-moscow.com/index.php?chapter_id=139

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

ISC20c - ICOMOS Specialist Committee on the 20th Century Architecture

Подготовката на Генералната асамблея на ИКОМОС в Париж,
27.11.-02.12.2011
е във финалната си фаза

Предстои избор на ново бюро на Международния експертен комитет на ХХ в. - ISC20c .
Досегашното ръководство (2008-2011) е следното:
Sheridan Burke (Australia) President
Kyle Normandin (USA) Secretary General
Enrique de Anda (Mexico) Vice President
Fernando Espinosa de los Monteros (Spain) Vice President
Laura Robinson (South Africa) Treasurer
Susan Macdonald (USA) Vice President
Gunny Harboe (USA) Vice President

Номинираните кандидати за периода 2012-2014 са както следва:
По една номинация за
President (Sheridan Burke - Australia),
Secretary General (Kyle Normandin - USA)
Treasurer (Laura Robinson - South Africa),

За позицията на Vice President има 7 кандидатури (по азбучен ред на фамилнте имена):
Nune Chingaragyan (Armenia)
Enrique Xavier de Andas (Mexico)
Fernando Espinosa de los Monteros (Spain)
Natalia Dushkina (Russia)
Gunny Harboe (USA)
Susan Macdonald (Australia/USA)
Yoshiyuki Yamana (Japan)

На 2.12.- петък, предстои кратка работна среща на ICOMOS ISC20c
в Швейцарския павилион от Le Corbusier (Suisse Pavillion at the Cité Universitaire, 1931 - 1933).
Ще се дискутират възникващите въпроси във връзка с номинацията на обекти от ХХ в.
в Листата на световното културно наследство.
Вече има поне 4 архитектурни номинации в предварителния списък:
Le Corbusier, Frank LLoyd Wright, Henry Van der Velde, и евентуално Alvar Aalto.
Явно е, че подходът към Великите не е подходящ в случая, а по скоро ще бъде ключов
фокусът върху качествата, потвърждаващи
OUV = Outstanding Universal Value of Cultural World Heritage Properties
(изключителна универсална стойност на културна ценност на световното наследство).
Ще бъдат изслушани членовете на ISC20C - Alfredo Conti (Аржентина), Susan Macdonald (САЩ) and Susan Denyer.
Поканени са и представители
на САЩ, Белгия, Финландия, Франция, Индия, Япония и Германия,
които биха могли да подпомогнат по-нататъшния процес на номинация.

Friday, November 4, 2011

One Year Without Milka Bliznakov

Prof. Dr. Milka Bliznakov
passed away
at her home
in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
on November 4th 2010.
https://sofiazanas.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html

She was a profound scholar and expert of the 20th century architecture

She was born a gifted teacher who presented her books
and endowed her knowledge how to feel and interpret architecture

She was a passionate classical music and opera lover

She was a dreamer and a passionate democrat
striving for the rights of each and everyone

She was the founder of the International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)

She was the most generous person we have ever known
She was a great individual

She is our spiritual mother
She is unforgettable

Rest in Peace, dear Milka
Lju & Pepi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyQyaIl2rfI&feature=related

http://www.womenarchitectsca.com/in-memoriam/
http://sofiazanas.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html
http://20c-arch-bg.blogspot.com/2010/11/milka-bliznakov.html















































Milka's home in Tall Oaks Drive, Blacksburg - October, 1995.

































































The interior of her house with unique pieces of Modernist furniture 
and with a Bulgarian corner.

In Tall Oaks Drive in front of Milka's house in Blacksburg, V.A.
with Solange d'Herbez de la Tour,
then President of the International Union of Women Architects (in Paris),
on the way to the conference lectures at Virginia Tech
on the occasion of the
10th anniversary jubilee conference of the
International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA) -
October, 1995
















At the front door of her home in Blacksburg, V.A. -
in a hurry for the farewell party of IAWA's
jubilee conference - October 1995























At the Faculty of Architecture, Virginia Tech, V.A. - October, 1995
















In Washington, D.C. - in front of the White House - October, 1995
















In Washington, D.C. - at the Museum of Modern Art - October, 1995























The start of a long trip to the West Cost with Greyhound - November, 1995























Farewell to BLacksburg, V.A. - December 12, 1995
















At the American University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria - October, 1996
















With colleagues at the rest house of the Bulgarian Union of Architects n Bansko, Bulgaria - October, 1996 (from left to right) :
standing: a Bulgarian architect, Milka Bliznakov, Lois Gottlieb, Ljubinka Stoilova, Petar Iokimov;
sitting: Nikola Kamenov, Sarelle Weissberg, Inge Horton, Kamenov's wife Katya.
















At the restaurant to the rest house of the Union of Bulgarian Architects
in the Monastery of St.St. Cyrique and Julita,
near Asenovgrad, Bulgaria - October, 1996
(from left to right) Milka Bliznakov, Lois Gottlieb, Ljubinka Stoilova, Petar Iokimov, Robert Gottlieb, Sarelle Weissberg, Inge Horton

















The farewell party in Sofia, Bulgaria - October, 1996

















In the Rila Monastery, Bulgaria - August 1997























Hunting for new contributions to the IAWA
with the Bulgarian architect Nadezhda Budevska
during Milka's last stay in Sofia, Bulgaria - September 2008