MZhK Architecture as a Legacy of Soviet Modernism
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2023-3(1)-62-81
Liudmila Starostova
Impulse management company, Dilijan, Armenia
ORCID: 0009-0001-7499-7224
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the architecture of late modernism (the second half of the 20th century) has attracted more and more attention. However, its legacy is still not sufficiently discussed in scientific and popular literature, many buildings of the 1960–80s are demolished before they receive historical and cultural expertise and protection. Despite a number of systematizing studies, the architecture of capitals gets more often at the center of attention of researchers. Until now, the architecture of this period in regional cities, especially residential buildings, has not been sufficiently described. Such buildings bordering in status include residential complexes of the movement of youth residential complexes (in Russian – Molodezniy zhiloy kompleks – MZhK), the architecture and planning solutions of which have become an expression of a unique combination of a construction organization model, a social concept of the neighboring community and author’s architectural solutions within the framework of a given social program for a residential complex. The concept of the youth residential complex was based on the idea of a self-governing neighborhood community, whose members build many apartments and houses with their own hands. The peak of construction of the MZhK came in the 1980s when the aesthetics and principles of modernism spread throughout the world. In large MZhK, architecture has become a manifestation of the social idea of a youth residential complex. The largest MZhK in the Soviet Union was built in Yekaterinburg, but its architectural heritage is not sufficiently appreciated by Authorities. The article conceptualizes the architectural heritage of the movement of youth residential complexes as part of the historical and cultural heritage according to a number of criteria on the example of the architecture of the MZhK in Yekaterinburg, as well as the cities of Korolev and Zelenograd.
Keywords: youth residential complex, Soviet modernism, architecture, social experiment, heritage.
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About author
Liudmila E. Starostova
Cand. Sci. (Philosophy), Associate Professor
Head of Strategic Development
Impulse management company
½, Kalinina St., Dilijan, 3905, Armenia
ORCID: 0009-0001-7499-7224
Web of Science ResearcherID: AFB-0928-2022
Scopus AuthorID: 56922072200
e-mail: [email protected]
For citation: Starostova, L. E. (2023). MZhK architecture as a legacy of Soviet modernism. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City, 3(1), 62–81. https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2023-3(1)-62-81
