“I swear by the Great Architect of the Universe, all the Gods and Goddesses, the first known architects of mankind, including the head of construction in the Middle Kingdom of Aa, the builder of the pyramids Imhotep, engineer, philosopher, inventor and builder Lu Ban, Hippodamus of Miletus, Callicrates, Iktin, Mnesicles and Phidias from Athens, engineer and sculptor Apollodorus of Damascus, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio from Rome, Anthimius of Thrall, Byzantine master Isidore, sculptor and architect of the late classical era Scopas, French abbot and patron of Gothic Suger, Giacomo Barozzo di Vignola and Chinese engineer of the Sun Yu Hao Empire, the geniuses of Fibonacci, Luca Pacioli, Andrea Palladio and Leonardo da Vinci, the talents of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin, taking them as witnesses, to perform honestly, according to my strength and my understanding, the following oath and a written commitment: to consider the one who taught me the art of architecture on an equal basis with my parents, to share I am with him with my wealth and, if necessary, help him in his needs; consider his offspring as his brothers, and this art, if they want to study it, teach them free of charge and without any contract; instructions, oral lessons and everything else in teaching to communicate to your sons, the sons of your teacher and students, bound by an obligation and oath according to the architectural law, but to no one else.
I direct my customers to their benefit in accordance with my strength and my understanding, refraining from causing any harm and injustice. I will not give anyone the subversive means I have asked for, and I will not show the way for such a plan; Likewise, I will not hand over a destructive scribe to any building. Purely and immaculately, I will spend my life and my art. I will not in any way use decor for the sake of decor, leaving this to the people involved in this business. Whichever house I enter, I will enter there for the benefit of the owner, being far from any deliberate, unrighteous and destructive, especially from love affairs with women and men, free and slaves.
So that when designing - and also without designing - I neither see or hear about human life from something that should never be disclosed, I will keep silent, considering such things a secret. I, who unbreakably fulfill the oath, may be given happiness in life and in art and glory with all people for eternal times, but the one who transgresses and takes a false oath may be the opposite of this."
Only after fulfilling this oath can an architect in Zagorsk consider himself Zodchim, otherwise his talent will be eaten by corrupt colleagues, cynical developers and mediocre builders.
Zagorsk, as the name suggests, is a city located behind the mountains. Beyond the Ural Mountains. Every year the architects of Zagorsk celebrate there on the first Monday of July the WORLD Day of the Ural Architect, or The DURA for short. This year it is the fifth, jubilee, holiday, and it was held on a special scale. A group of critical Ural architects, guided by the holiday motto "Literature - a fool breathes, architecture - no fool", decided to publish a collection of stories "Zodchy against. To be continued … "by the British writer Rachel Valentine, who is the personal biographer of the world's first superhero architect, Zodchiy, and erect a monument to the hero. The monument, as usual in Russia, has already been demolished, and the book managed to become a bestseller in Zodchey's homeland; it was also read by leading Russian architects. Here are just some of the statements of all well-known architects about the book and its protagonist: "The architect is the mind, honor and conscience of our era!" - architect, head of the design group "Pole-design" Vladimir Kuzmin; "The zodchiy is a friend of man!" - architect, President of the Union of Architects of Russia Andrey Bokov; "Hurricane action of the present" - architect, teacher of SamGASU Evgenia Repina; "The Zodchiy is my hero!" - architect, head of the Rozhdestvenka architectural bureau Narine Tyutcheva; “Become a Zodchim” - Oscar Mamleev, architect, teacher of the Moscow architectural school MARCH; Salvation! (May the savior come) - architect, head of the architectural bureau "TOTAN" Totan Kuzembaev; "Zorro Zagorsk architecture" - architect, head of Sergey Skuratov Architects Sergey Skuratov and, finally, "Architect's Shadow" from the architect, rector of the Moscow architectural school MARCH, Evgeny Assa.
Is it worth adding anything to what has been said? I think no! You just need to pick up the book and read it. “It doesn't matter if you live in Zagorsk or any other city. If you are Z odd, this book is about you …”And in order to further stimulate your interest, we asked its author Rachel Valentine to take an exclusive interview for our portal with the first superhero architect Zodchim. Yet not so often books are written about architects.
British writer Rachel Valentine's interview with the first superhero architect Zoddim for the Russian architectural portal Archi.ru
In early September 2015, the well-known Moscow architect Andrei Asadov called me, who for the second year in a row, together with his brother Nikita, are curators of the International Architectural Festival "Zodchestvo", and asked to do an interview with the world's first superhero architect Zodchim, a book about whose exploits under by my authorship was published by TATLIN in July 2015. Following the agreement with the publishing house and understanding the desire of the curators to shorten the path to the Mountain, I agreed also because I myself rarely manage to have a heart-to-heart talk with my beloved.
As you can imagine, each hero is also someone's son. On the anniversary of the death of his father, Bruce went to Naberezhnye Chelny to honor the memory of him, who tragically died during the launch of the dam on the Kama, paradoxically, which gave life to the automobile giant KAMAZ 40 years ago. I went with him. We met in our private plane, where we arrived from different places. I am from the publishing house TATLIN, where my second book about the heroic deeds of ZOchchy is being prepared for release, he, as you probably already guessed, is from the battlefield. This time it was a meeting of the town planning council of Zagorsk, where the villain, nicknamed the Pompous, represented the Eastern Tower, one of the many towers with which he wants to cover the historical center of Zagorsk, creating a blinding effect from the glitter of their metal spiers that can make anyone who lifts his head to the sky. After my hero caught his breath, I healed his moral wounds as best I could, we drank a glass of Calvados and finally began a conversation.
It's no secret that we love each other. Therefore, firstly, I will turn to you on you, and secondly, to a certain extent, I will be softer to you than journalists you do not know
- So I imagined it to myself. I hope it will be so, and you will not betray us.
OK! You know that on July 7 this year, grateful descendants erected a monument to you and Frank, consisting of 4000 wooden construction blocks KinderGarten, and two weeks later, other descendants destroyed it. How do you feel about all this? And have you seen the monument at all?
- I saw the monument. On that day, I watched what was happening from the roof of the House of Seal, but did not dare to go downstairs so as not to let the villains take advantage of my moment of weakness. I will not comment on the artistic qualities of the sculptor's work, firstly, because he is my friend, and secondly, because no matter how you comment on your reflection, it still remains your reflection. The main thing, in my opinion, is that it exists, and this means that I am alive. And while Zodchy is alive, as you know, Zagorsk can sleep peacefully.
The very idea of using the cubes of a children's constructor to create a sculpture, which was played by my dear and beloved Frank Lloyd Wright as a child, seems funny to me. The labor of adding 4,000 cubes into a meaningful composition deserves respect. The opening of the monument was fun and original. Particularly pleased were the white balloons that covered the statue, and the Irish dance that preceded the ceremony. The balloons released in memory of the exploits of the first female aeronaut Madame Blanchard, as if sperm, leaving into the sky, inseminated Zagorsk with the idea of life. Who knows, maybe one of them has achieved the goal, and some tomboy will continue my work, or maybe all this is in vain, and the act will be fruitless. I am an idealist and, of course, I believe in the first, but not everything depends on me, no matter how strange it sounds from the lips of a superhero.
But doesn't it seem unfair to you that the monument was gone in two weeks?
- Justice is a concept invented by people. The universe operates according to its own laws, which are difficult for us to understand, because this is a different level of consciousness. I think it was not the Zagorsk people who did it, nature itself did it. I remember that in those two weeks a hurricane wind and rain with hail hit the city. Unsurprisingly, the wooden cubes did not hold up. This was the will of nature or, if you like, the Most High. After all, I am a living person, and no one asked my permission to "perpetuate". Yes, even if they asked, then I think you know my answer!
I know. Always stay in the shadows
- That boy whom I carried out of the burning wooden house with iconostasis carvings of platbands, the author of the sculptural group …
Ivan
- Yes, yes, Ivan. I understand humanly his desire to thank me. And I can’t stop him from doing it. But he is still too young to realize the full power of the spoken word. His project "The Cemetery of Houses", of course, clings with its radicalism, but still remains an earthly substance. It seems to me that he is capable of more. He needs to turn to materials of a higher order, try to create something that would be as elusive and indefinite as drifting particles, lightning or fog.
And you know, in my opinion, he is already close to this. Have you heard of his Rainbow of Forgiveness project?
- Yes, there was something in the press. Is this the project where he wants to combine with an iridescent glow the places where the Cathedral and Catherine Cathedrals used to stand?
Yes, that one! It seems like a real miracle! Apparently inspired by your battle with the Patriarch, Mayor and Servant of God Andrew ?
- It also scares him. No, not at all by what he is inspired by, but by the very fact of a rainbow glow that arises at the will of a person.
What do you mean?
- The fact that the rainbow is of great symbolic significance for humans. I hope he knows that the rainbow appeared in the Old Testament after the flood. Noah saw her from Mount Ararat at the hour when the rains ended and equilibrium was established. The rainbow was sent by God to commemorate the forgiveness of human sins. It was not Noah himself who built it, not his prayers were clothed in the end of the world, but his faith and tireless daily work to save mankind were rewarded by the Lord with a rainbow. This is the difference between art and divine. Or, if we are talking about mortals, between the so-called art and real art. A rainbow turned on from a button is an installation, and a rainbow in the sky is an inexplicable divine phenomenon. Despite the fact that this is pure physics, it is accessible only to God, man is only his spectator and, of course, a worker and a slave.
Honey, you are becoming like a preacher
- Tell me more - Bruce Almighty.
Ha ha! So I will call you now
“Then Gras the Almighty. In truth, whoever has Gras is almighty (laughs). Enough with me and ZWhich! And thank God that it is not wooden, but alive.
Was there a fountain from Frank? It seems that the artist announced that the trickle from under the hind left paw of the dog will become a serum of truth, and supposedly who will kiss the sacred drink will immediately show their negative or positive qualities ?!
Unfortunately not! The artist, as always, did not have time. Maybe for the best. It would be too easy. But, believe me, most of those who came already found something to drink. And they took so much beer that even it worked like a serum of truth. Many did not understand at all what happened and to whom the monument was opened. Many later told me that they had not seen any book at all, although it was distributed to everyone for free upon registration. There were also those who said that now in Zagorsk there are two Mayevkas, traditional in May and The dura, the intellectual platform of which was my book “Zone against ". DURA she is DURA, the one who knows what is hidden behind this abbreviation will never become it, and the one for whom it is just a booze, forgive me, a fool, a fool! Although there were those who told me, as the author of the book, completely different things
- What are they? Who!
One Greek, who read the book from cover to cover, confessed to me that “he thinks so too”, he simply does not have the courage to say it out loud. He is not ready for a feat
- In other words, you mean - not everyone is ready to die!
Probably so. Even I don't want my hero to die
- But you know that people like the dead more than the living!
“But not the ones you love
- I agree! Do you know, dear, that Boatswain is persuading our new chief architect to exclude me from the city council? And all this thanks to your book. He allegedly does not agree with the stated facts. He says that he never served as a cabin boy for a sea fishing vessel, that he, like most of the architects of our city, graduated from the Architectural Academy, and in the project of new embankments he never wanted to drain the waters of the city pond!
Of course I didn't. This is fictional fiction. To decide on this in reality, you have to be a very strong and courageous person, but Boatswain, as you know, is not a captain. Of course, I have not seen his diploma, but I can say with confidence that if he was educated, it does not mean that he received it. And if today he is a Boatswain, as he calls himself, it means that he was once a cabin boy. Boatswains, as you know, are not born
- Tough! Sometimes even I am afraid of you, Rachel!
“I don't think it’s because you’re cowardly - you’re afraid of losing me!”
- Exactly! And yet, have you ever thought about what the city pond is for Zagorsk today?
– A mirror for a hero?
- No no. What is Zagorsky Pond in general? Previously, an inconspicuous rivulet flowed here. The pond was formed by a dam. She gave energy to the plant, the plant gave life to the city. The dam is not just the center of the city, it is the heart of Zagorsk. But if earlier this heart was the pump of life, today the only function of this mechanism is to contain! Think about it, all this energy inherent in the waters of the pond is not in demand today, the dam only occasionally releases tension through a narrow throat. The pond today is purely aesthetic. As you rightly pointed out, this is a mirror and nothing else. We can't even fish in it, except for frogs. In my opinion, all this restrained energy penetrates the minds, souls, under the skin of every Zagorets. Instead of throwing out everything that has accumulated outside and starting the engine of a new life, the townspeople are covered with swamp mud, like the stagnant water of a dam.
– It turns out Boatswain – hero?
“I don't think he ever asked himself such questions. He is an ordinary sailor, unfortunately, who has not gone to sea for a long time. And a man needs to go out to sea sometimes!
Yes, you know that like no one else. You are rarely found on the shore. You are always in the thick of things, in the abyss of passion, on the crest of a wave! Only, as it seems to me, sometimes you get carried away. Take, though, the fact that not a single person from the Dynasty came to the holiday. I think that in the struggle for the purity and truth of the history of the Sixth Deli you have drawn hatred on yourself
- I just said the obvious. History is a multi-layered complex subordinate matter. This is not only what it was, history is our present and future. What, in fact, happened to the Sixth deli ?! The architects assure us that they have "renewed" the constructivist essence of the object, but in fact they have only done a "European-style renovation". The result of their work suggests that, despite the obvious reference to the architecture of the 20-30s of the twentieth century, they were absolutely not interested in history. As a result, it turned out that, firstly, we lost constructivism, because the new interpretation represents only one single aspect of the style, namely the simplification of the form, and secondly, the merchant's mansion of the 19th century hidden in the layer of plaster of the first two floors and, third, and most importantly, missed the future. In summary, we can say that the architects of the Dynasty have deprived us of the past, present and future. Namely, the category of time is fundamental in modern architecture. The future of architecture is fluidity.
Well, well, here is more detailed. What is fluidity? How do you see the future of architecture? Repeat? I still do an interview for an architectural portal
- The future of architecture seems to me quite clear. It will not be. More precisely, there will be no architecture in the familiar image that we are familiar with. Architecture will continue to move towards the rejection of the rigid body. The main quality of the architecture of the near future will be fluidity. Fluidity of form and content, exterior and interior, private and public, real and virtual, durable and temporary. Style - what today is defined by the majority as one of the main qualities of architecture, will completely lose its meaning in the future. Thanks to fluidity as the main characteristic of architecture, space will be able to acquire the same materiality as stone or metal, construction will become a measure of content, time will determine volume, and biotechnology will allow us to grow a real form around virtual content. Perhaps the best characteristic of fluidity is water, which, depending on the "program", becomes a solid or steam, rain or snow, gas or plasma.
You can endlessly search for proportions and combinations, plunging into a postmodern swamp, but after the glass house of Mies van der Rohe, Malevich's black square and John Cage's play 4.33, any such activity is just an excuse for creativity. The architecture of the future is a program whose tools allow you to simulate the fluidity of matter in accordance with the tasks of the moment. In the described paradigm, we will perceive the architecture of modernism in the same way as we perceive the pyramids today. We will be amazed at the dexterity and skill of the architects of the past and nostalgic about the lost paradise, with the only difference that we can easily clone the masterpieces of the past, realizing all their materiality. The latter will be called post-flow by descendants.
And what will happen to the heroes? They will be washed away by the flow of time ?
- The main problem of the heroes of the future is immortality! Not the immortality of the hero himself, but the immortality of mortals. Remember what Ray Kurzwell said recently: wires and cables will be a thing of the past in 2019, personal computers will reach computing power comparable to the human brain in 2020, wireless Internet access will cover 85% of the Earth's surface in 2021. elements of computer intelligence will become mandatory in cars in 2024, gadgets-implants - in 2025, and in 2027, thanks to scientific progress, per unit of time we will extend our life by more time than has passed, already in 2028- m solar energy will become so cheap and widespread that it will satisfy all the total energy needs of mankind, by 2029 the computer will be able to pass the Turing test, proving that it has a mind,in 2030, the flourishing of nano-technologies in industry will lead to a significant reduction in the cost of production of all products, and in 2032, nano-robots will be able to deliver nutrients to human cells, remove waste and conduct detailed scanning of the human brain, so detailed that in 2037 - m, a giant breakthrough will occur in understanding the mystery of the human brain, which will ultimately lead to the emergence of robotic people and products of transhumanistic technologies. Starting in 2039, nano-machines will be implanted directly into the brain and perform arbitrary input and output of signals from brain cells. This will lead to a "full immersion" virtual reality that does not require any additional equipment. Finally, in 2040, search engines will become the basis for gadgets that will be implanted into the human body, and the search will be carried out not only with the help of language, but also with the help of thoughts, and the results of search queries will be displayed on the screen of the same lenses or glasses. You will not believe it, but I hope that even in our age with you, the first immortality will be realized - thanks to the army of nano-robots, which will supplement the immune system and "cleanse" diseases. 2042 year! And in 2043, the human body will be able to take any form, thanks to a large number of nano-robots, internal organs will be replaced with cybernetic devices of much better quality, non-biological intelligence will become billions of times more intelligent than biological.
And you say Orange ?!
What orange?
- Yes, the one that Norman wanted to treat to the wife of the mayor of Zagorsk!
Oh, you're talking about the business center on the waterfront
- Exactly! Believe it or not, since then he has already managed to sprout Pineapple in the zone of risky farming!
– What is Pineapple?
- How, you have not heard about the copper Pineapple ?! The villain was clearly drawn to the exotic. First Cucumber, then Orange, now Pineapple. Norman works in the traditions of the British vegetarian society, which dates back to 1847. I think we will soon see genetically modified peaches, gooseberries and even squash in his portfolio! Even notorious villains do not disdain nano-technologies, realizing that immortality in the world of the future is achieved through the introduction into the structure of the cell, and not by drawing the facades.
It turns out that the task of a superhero architect becomes more complicated. You won't be able to, so simply, taking a compass and a square in your hands, sow beauty and correct ugliness?
- Not at all! My Beauty Cannon, which I improve from night to night, is built on the number 1.618 … and any shot of it is much more effective than the experiments of some Alchemist trying to mold something from something. Most architectural villains' technology is static. Instead of teaching Alfred's Feet to walk, they spend colossal amounts of money to hide them behind a curtain of a long glass skirt.
I understand you are talking about the laboratory building of the OCM plant. Poor Alfred, he must be upset. You will need to visit him at the dacha before the snow falls
- Despite the story with legs, Alfred is happy! Now he is trying to make a gazebo out of his old bathhouse. He, as before, sets himself the most important tasks. In this case, he is interested in the possibility of transforming a completely closed object, which is traditionally a Russian bathhouse, into an open forum capable of collecting all living things that live on his backyard. He, like most of his predecessors, is trying to save humanity. His gazebo is a kind of ark, the light of which attracts all living things.
– Alfred is a genius
- It's a pity that only we know about it. Although, perhaps this is the only way for him to remain himself.
I still think that a book about him will be the best way to explain to young people “what is good and what is bad” in the world of architecture. But he is known to be against it. Tell me, honey, how is your friend Eric? Is he still an outcast?
- He cannot and, in my opinion, no longer imagines another life. Our last meeting with him took place at the Zagorsk Forum 100+, where city developers, for the second year in a row, are trying to derive a formula for how to build a building 100 meters high and stay in positive territory. Strange people, it seemed to me, they are not at all interested in the buildings they created 99 meters, as if they have no advantages (laughs). His friend Tiffany is the epitome of beauty. They love each other, which makes them both strong and vulnerable. Eric is a real hero! In a world where vice has become legally protected and "beauty" has become synonymous with bad taste, my friend still uses compasses and squares in his practice, whether it be an incinerator project or a successful Dutch bank. Now he is preparing a book with an Australian publishing house, and I, in turn, will help him with its Russian translation and presentation in Zagorsk. It will be the Bomb of Beauty! Hopefully, together we can mine the entire planet with these bombs, so that anyone who is wounded by even the slightest fragment of it can no longer relate to architecture in terms of the size of the fashion industry. And if you are interested in the outcome of his exploits, then he and Tiffany, like you and me, are doomed to victory, because we love each other.
Not that I wanted to end my interview with you with such a phrase, but I am satisfied with its ending. Thank you, dear! In my opinion, in the windows - Naberezhnye Chelny. We're going to land. I hope that the memory of your father is still alive in the hearts of the townspeople, and your name is remembered in the Children's House on the avenue with the telling name of Romantics
- Fasten your belt, love. The landing strip in the fog …
September 27, 2015
