“I am a folkloric element, I have a document.
I can actually squat
Fly away at any moment."
(Leonid Filatov. "About Fedot the Archer - a daring fellow")
This is what Ilya Georgievich has been saying lately.
Lying
What is this beautiful word, a vivid combination of sounds and graphically sharp, rhythmic, but with a smooth element, lines? Convenient for pronunciation, delicious, and not clear at first - what is it?
Lezhava is such a phenomenon on the planet.
After the first meeting, even in absentia, it is forever clear what Lezhava is.
This is a space with more dimensions than you were used to before.
A man who has traveled all over the world more than once said that you need to live only in Russia. (He was very funny, he showed it figuratively). A person who deeply knew history was always looking into the future. A man several times older than the students charged them with one appearance, in a word, a line.
Lezhava has an idea and an action behind everything. Not a search for comfort, but a search for a living beginning. In everyone you meet. A new person. Which itself, perhaps, has not yet revealed. At the same time, Lezhava's objectivity and accuracy are amazing. Just practice, no illusions.
Practice without illusions with rich imaginative thinking. All these depths and paradoxes are a new dimension - Lying
"I have never met eternally relevant people again"
"A unique, infinitely talented, open-minded, free, fearless, great person!"
"You didn't let us surrender"
"Fantastic man"
The process of Lejava's work looked surprisingly easy and artistic, but it is explained by a lot of work and experience, with a constantly updated stream of knowledge. He studied with his mind all the most progressive. He worked with his hands like a carpenter and restorer. He was ready to get into any living movement with an innovative purpose. Sometimes, having time to sit on several chairs in different auditoriums of the institute and other centers of architecture at once.
Drum circle, photo circle, I still want to sing!
(Agnia Barto "Chatterbox")
This is what Lezhava said about his multitasking.
As a student himself, Lezhava was involved in the lively movement of the group. NER, and became one of her motors. Despite the huge amount of work done, incomparable with a standard diploma, not everyone understood it, and not immediately. Success did not come instantly, but required several more years of work.
The result is the global significance of the work of the NER group. Numerous exhibitions and books have become a contribution to the urban planning of the planet in general, and revived the glory of Russian architecture.
Lezhava glorified the country. Loved the country. It was to her that he was ready to apply all his accumulated knowledge and ideas. Which at first, with a narrower than his outlook, seem unreal. In fact, they are rational and meet the global challenge. Example: development of eastern regions, linear cities.
How many times ideas that seemed fantastic in scientific and student projects, after many years, maybe not so elegant with a hand, were embodied in reality.
Even in a difficult time for Soviet architectural practice, when beauty in architecture was even prohibited by law, Lezhava did not stop. Scientific and poetic thought, delicate handicraft were embodied in a whole new phenomenon - Paper architecture, to whom Lezhava became the father, according to the co-authors. And again a world march with exhibitions, the glorification of their country. The main thing for Lezhava is work, action, without sentimentality. And a large-scale result as a consequence.
Why is Lezhava a great teacher and scientist?
He did not inculcate rule sets, did not clone himself, did not impose proven patterns. He shaped thinking.
He developed what is unique in this Personality, which has not yet discovered itself.
He taught me not to flicker like a house manager who attaches the necessary rooms, but to become a composer who manages the space.
Lezhava knew that everyone is unique.
“On the project of the school, I understood what architecture is.”On the project of the school, the person understood this. Because all educational projects for Lezhava are simulators, tools for the development of a Personality. Which will open a new dimension in herself and a different quality of life. And not only in architecture.
A sketch like this could change your thinking forever. Connect the scattered halves of the brain, for example. Rational and humanitarian.
The three lines on top of your sketch could lead to a new design road. From your country road to the freeway, where the ride is of a completely different class.
When we put on this installation for the anniversary of Lezhava, 70 years old, one of the unfamiliar students passed by and disdained: how can you make yourself in the form of a sheep?
Can! Because it is a different space in a different dimension. In which there is a shepherd, and he is real. And you know, really, that it is difficult with you, as with these stubborn, perplexed, undisciplined animals. But he did it!
Lying is an action. You remember - with a temperamental gesture, in a loud voice, to your work: “Well, do it! What is it! And suddenly it is clear not only that you can do whatever you want on this planet, but also how to do it!
Where is it clear? Lezhava's word is directed live action.
Do you remember that in order to meet Lezhava at the Moscow Architectural Institute, you had to freeze in place in the corridor and listen. His voice or laughter will be heard, and it will become clear where to go.
Why such a great loss? Lying for all Father, intercessor.
Hearth. Initiator. Even remotely from him, it was enough to know that there is Lezhava, come at any time.
He always turned out to be more than one might imagine. You go to him for a thought and you know - there will be an adventure. His thought is not just different, it is voluminous. A bomb in the future, multi-layered in space, revealing you, at the same time brilliantly simplifying your search. This is action and flight. (I can actually fly away from the seat at any moment!)
Lezhava lived for 83 years. 56 years of them worked at the institute. And how did he himself experience the death of his friends? With such an endless network of contacts across the country and the world, how many deaths did he have to endure? Including close friends and the early death of a like-minded person and friend, Alexei Gutnov, in his prime.
So how did Lezhava feel about death? Just. After the death of Gutnov, Lezhava learned to write. Previously, he could not, he said, but now he took over from a friend. Here is Lezhava's answer again - action.
What else are the secrets of Lezhava - Personality?
How, for example, did Lezhava feel about everyday life, about age changes? Just. No whims. It's very simple.
How did you feel about your enemies? Just. Knew what to sympathize with.
How did you feel about the theft of scientific ideas? - Just. Work harder and harder. It will bloom with you, but there it will not work (the quote is not accurate). This is similar to the parable of King Solomon and the real mother. A real mother needs the child herself, and a fake mother needs privileges from him. Therefore, the child simply will not survive with a fake mother.
All the present requires work. That is, not at all to squabbles. That's all that Lezhava did - real.
Even drinking tea was meaningful for those around you, you know.
Spiritual discovery and life guide Lezhava: "Everything is in us, not in the building."
That is, not only not in the building, but not outside at all. Not in other people, not in circumstances, not in entourage, and even less so in things. And in us. In everyone, inside. Anti-consumption is Lejava's answer. Life in action, here and now.
Recently, Ilya Georgievich wrote a large book about architecture. As always, an unexpected, innovative look. Didn't complete. I wanted to give several articles for publication on the Internet - I began to rewrite them and did not have time. He worked incessantly. Without being distracted either by everyday life, or by empty talk.
I think that when Ilya Georgievich flew away from this world in a different capacity, he learned something fundamentally new about space. New “spatial experiences” and real innovations. And I would like to share.
Lezhava's dictionary:
Layout - scarecrow
Breadboard - scarecrow
First sketches - kochepyrki
Advise the group - to huddle the beds
Beginner student - does not get a finger in his mouth
Chaotically scattered buildings - Koch's sticks
"Folklore Elements" from Lezhava:
A satisfied student unfolds the sketch - This is for you, doctor! (from an anecdote).
On their first drawings during the consultation - Not very talented yet.
Reaction to any change in the appearance of female colleagues - In all you, darling, outfits are good.
Ilya Georgievich unexpectedly sees his face in the photo, measuring a meter by seventy. He is frightened, hastily baptized: - Lord, holy, holy!
On the offer to drink tea: - It's humane! / - I haven't earned it yet!
Continue
Call number one: bring his book on architecture to the world.
Call number two: write down everything that comes to mind from life, collect sketches (in the L. E. Zh. A. V. A group, Facebook) and publish. Including anecdotes, quotes, and his, and not him. But beloved, always in place.
An example from Zoshchenko:
Romantic girl looking into the tree branches:
- What is this nightingale singing about?
Young man:
- He wants to eat, so he sings. (Mikhail Zoshchenko "What the nightingale sang about")
Or below in the comments.
Blog of articles by Ilya Lezhava
ilya-lezhava.livejournal.com/
assistant I. G. Lezhavy, Ekaterina Kozhushanaya
