With the kind permission of the author, we are publishing a fragment of the book by Vladimir Ivanov “Architecture Inspired by Space. The Image of the Future in Late Soviet Architecture , which was published by the Borey Art Publishing House (St. Petersburg).
Total theater
Contrary to the well-known statement of V. I. Lenin that cinema is the most important of the arts for us, in the USSR, theatrical art was placed above the cinematic, and cinematography gravitated towards theatricality. Soviet society can be called "theatrocentric". Following the traditions of the Russian pre-revolutionary theater (in which the theater, according to Gogol, was a tribune), the Soviet theater sought to use spectacular opportunities to familiarize a person with the higher meanings inherent in art. For a Soviet person, going to the theater was not just going out in the evening, but rather an educational event. As a consequence, theatrical performances were closer to the sacred liturgy than to the spectacle of gladiatorial combat.
The theater made it possible not only to synthesize different types of art, but also removed the barriers between the spectator and the events being played out, made him a part of the spiritual world of the performance. This desire for integration is present in Soviet theater architecture at all stages of its development. From the projects of performances-festivals of the 1920s (which revived the traditions of the Renaissance street theater in the 20th century) through synthetic theaters and theaters-forums of the Stalin era - to the total theater (a drama theater in Veliky Novgorod), where architecture itself was subordinated to the needs of the theater.
In Soviet times, the elitism of the theater was overcome: the theater ceased to be the privilege of a minority. To educate the mass theater audience, mass theater construction was necessary. In the period from 1926 to 1985, several hundred theaters were built, with the peak of construction occurring in the 1960s and 80s. The theater is assigned a leading role in urban planning: if in the West the theater was often only part of the social and business center of the city (or was built into retail premises), then the Soviet theater formed around itself a new city center or a new city quarter.
In the mid-1960s, the Soviet government made an unspoken decision to start building large theaters in every city with a population of over 200,000. During their construction, typical projects were practically not used, national or regional characteristics of the place were taken into account. Most of the theaters were designed by two Moscow design institutes:
- Subordinate to the USSR Ministry of Culture, the State Institute for the Design of Theater and Entertainment Enterprises (Giproteatr);
- Subordinate to the USSR State Construction Committee, the Central Research and Design Institute for standard and experimental design of entertainment and sports facilities (TsNIIEPim. BS Mezentsev).
In parallel, work was carried out to analyze the modern and historical practice of building theater buildings, sociological surveys of directors and theater workers. This was done by the efforts of the Union of Architects of the USSR, the magazine "Architecture of the USSR" and research departments in design institutes.
In addition, competitions were held to develop the concept of the theater of the future: the competition of the Union of Architects of the USSR for the architecture of "total theater" (early 1970s), the student competition "Theater for Future Generations" (1977), the All-Union competition for a promising theater (1978). These competitions were a kind of shows of futuristic architecture: most of the projects were not intended directly for construction,however, they gave architects the opportunity to visualize their architectural ideas and discuss them. For example, many of the provisions of the paper project of "total theater" proposed by V. A. Somov were subsequently embodied by him in the architecture of the drama theater in Veliky Novgorod.
Manifesto for the project under the motto 618033 for the "total theater" competition
Architect V. A. Somov. Early 1970s. From the author's personal archive (spelling and punctuation of the original are preserved).
1. Theater with free or total stage space, maximum means of influencing the viewer
2. Elimination of the "architectural theater" with its temporal characteristics, alien to the characteristics of the scene of the performance of today
3. Expanding the range of means of "approaching" the audience to the figurative characteristics of the time of the performance of today
4. There is no theater volume: it is organically "hidden" in any other volume or terrain that does not have the obsolete characteristics of the so-called. theater architecture
5. There is a "Theater Zone" or "Scene of Action"
6. At the entrance to the theater - scenery and attributes of the time of the performance of today
7. Above the entrance - a color-music screen, with its dynamic images "bringing" [the audience] closer to the "scene" of the performance of today
8. After the lobby - a moving walkway or escalator in the foyer - meeting with artists in performance costumes, scenery
9. Entrance not to the auditorium, but to the stage - the impression of involvement in the action
10. Free, not subject to a rigid geometric scheme, the construction of a spatial hall
11. All the technology of the performance is naked - the inclusion of spectators in the action
12. "The effect of presence", "contact with the actors"
13. Providing all basic forms of perception and their varieties in one theater while maintaining the number of seats
14. Basic - volumetric - circular - spatial
15. Forms - high relief - three-sided - arrangement
16. Perceptions - bas-relief - frontal - of spectators
17. Ring scene with its continuity of action - "time, space, movement". Special mobility and flexibility
18. Various scenographic designs - at the same time
19. Impression of audience action and vice versa
20. Theater as a constructively implemented concept with all its inherent restrictive requirements - dematerialized - and instead acquired the character of an instrument that can exist in any conditions
21. Absence (material and visual) of all stationary, architecture-creating ceilings, walls, floors …
22. Theater of the future
Drama theater in Novgorod the Great
1973–87, Hyprotheatre, architect V. A. Somov
When in 1973 the USSR Ministry of Culture decided to build a new theater building in Veliky Novgorod, this ancient Russian city was already a major tourist center with an established core, and at the same time - an industrial center, where the construction of housing and infrastructure was actively carried out. Thus, one part of the city is a museum space, the other is “sleeping areas”. Until now, the big problem of Novgorod is the need to connect these spaces.
A plot of land is allocated for the theater in a park on the Sofiyskaya side, right on the bank of the Volkhov, in the "buffer zone" between the historical core and the quarters of new buildings. The designers were given the task - on the one hand, to follow the historical context, on the other hand, to "extend" the historical center of the city, introducing into it an element commensurate with modern Novgorod. And although the theater, of course, is an absolutely modern building, and all the architectural allusions in it are very conditional, nevertheless, intuitively, V. A. Somov's theater turns out to be in tune with the old Novgorod churches. Against their background, the theater building acquires a special cosmic sound. The architect's idea was to tune the viewer in advance to perceive the theatrical performance. This was done both at the expense of theatrical elements in architecture and at the expense of lighting: it was supposed to highlight the marble in the colors of the performance that was on stage that evening. Round lamps were to be installed at different levels on special tubes around the perimeter of the theater.
The theater is a complex system of stacked volumes. The techniques of modern architecture - a glazed foyer, freeing up space on the ground floor level - are combined with the plasticity of Novgorod architecture. It is characterized by the smoothness of lines, the active use of arched forms, the absence of supporting pillars - and all this we can find not only in the external appearance of the building, but also in its interiors, primarily in the foyer of the theater.
In addition, the architect V. A. Somov strove to embody in his Novgorod building the principles of modern theatrical architecture, which he formulated in a paper project for the competition of the Union of Architects of the USSR. The essence of his plan was for the theater to "splash out" outside the stage and for the conventionality of theatrical action to be expressed in architecture. By what means was this achieved? Around the central volume, the architect designs numerous auxiliary buildings in the same style. Transformer substations, fire towers, air intake shafts - all these buildings serve as a kind of props taken out of the stage. In addition, when decorating the facade - and its main element is an arcade - the architect uses the method of open arches: an arch, which is always considered a solid support, acquires an illusory, theatrical character without a keystone. Thanks to a special cantilever spatial structure of standard elements (designer OG Smirnov), the architectural solution acquires an internal unity. One and the same structure was used to cover the auditorium, to cover the area around the theater, when designing auxiliary buildings and a sign-stele in front of the theater.
Spatial precast-monolithic reinforced concrete structure
Theater specifications:
Plot size - 4 hectares
Length of ramps - 80 m
Theater capacity - 850 seats
Playground width - 27 m
Three-part scene with 16 transformation options
The theater is faced with snow-white Karelian marble without a pattern
Architect V. A. Somov:
“I was born in Kherson, Ukraine, and actually came to Moscow to enter the camera department at VGIK. But I was late for the exams, and had to enter the Moscow Architectural Institute, which I never regretted. The profession of an operator is in many respects consonant with the profession of an architect: it is a solution to issues related to space, composition, lighting, color and how it all unfolds in time. Being a cameraman or an architect means learning the same laws of art."
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Somov (born 1928) graduated from the Moscow State Architectural Institute, where he studied with Academician GB Barkhin, the theorist of theatrical architecture (the book "Theater Architecture", 1947) and the author of the plan for the post-war reconstruction of Sevastopol. Subsequently, he studied with the architect P. V. Krat, an emigrant who studied and worked in Belgrade, and then returned to the USSR. He worked first at TsNIIEP of medical and resort buildings, where he designed the Donbass resort town in Yalta (1958–69), and then at the Giproteatr. His main works were theatrical buildings in Veliky Novgorod (1973–87) and in Blagoveshchensk (1969–2007). V. A. Somov actively worked on architectural graphics according to his own method of architectural design based on geometric transformations.
