Mark Grigorievich Meerovich was incredibly able-bodied and energetic. Author and co-author of a huge number of texts: more than 20 monographs and about 600 scientific publications. Founder of the Department of Design of the Architectural Environment of the Irkutsk Polytechnic Institute (now a technical university), its constant teacher, compiler of several courses and teaching aids. Expert, including since 2015 - Skolkovo School of Management; he has worked in parallel and sequentially on a variety of boards and commissions.
Mark Grigorievich investigated the problems of settlement and urban planning from the point of view of both the history of the 20th century and the present, well understanding the connectivity of these two topics. Mark Grigorievich published several of his studies on Archi.ru that we consider it a success and are grateful to him. These are New materials for the discussion on social resettlement (part I and part II), research for the 80th anniversary of Giprogor (part I and part II), notes about Shchusev. A full biography and a list of works can be found here, here and in the list of eminent scientists, some articles and chapters from books here. Several Irkutsk media outlets reported about Mark Grigorievich's death, but I must say that his work was important not only for Irkutsk, but in general - for modern urban studies and historical science.
Mark Grigorievich researched everything - he even treated his illness as an object, not without irony sending messages about the state of affairs to his contact list: “Nothing is needed! Absolutely nothing! Thank you all for being in my life! " I don’t know how anyone, I see in this the courage to face reality. The last letter: "… today is October 15th -" the planned and estimated date of my death "- scary, but bold. Three days have passed.
Meanwhile, I want to cite here a note written by Mark Grigorievich in memory of Vyacheslav Leonidovich Glazychev, since the hyperlink to it no longer works, but it is said vividly and topically:
So, Mark Meerovich about Vyacheslav Glazychev, and, in general, about myself:
[Letter from Mark Meerovich: Vyacheslav Leonidovich Glazychev (1940 - 2012) // Association of Planners (RUPA), 08.06.2012]
“Our knowledge was formed by those who revived the forbidden history of the Soviet architectural avant-garde, recklessly in conflict with the official ideology. Our ideas were absorbed from our teachers - reformers of the sixties, who recklessly believed that architecture can create a new person and improve society. Our conviction is largely the result of our disputes and cooperation with our senior colleagues, who later became close comrades and even friends. Our hope is that our students will become our followers …
But that won't happen. The generations that follow us are completely different from us. They are talented, they are smart, they are businesslike. But they are different. They are much more acute than we are, they see behind the design situation of the customer, with whom it is impossible to spoil the relationship due to future orders. They more acutely feel the bubbling of money, which allows them to maintain subordinates, office, equipment. They feel more deeply their vulnerability behind the design situation - everything can turn out almost instantly so that in this city they will never have a job …
When we create an architectural appearance or planning, first of all, we solve a social problem or carry out a cultural initiation. Behind a vivid image or spectacular form, we always strive to discern the genius of a place or an urban problem. We are raking in the confusion of the city until we understand why this or that building appears here. And should she be here at all …
In the post-perestroika years, we, just like him, faced the avalanche of professional meanness and lies that was breaking the meaning of design, when our colleagues and fellow students, to please the new capitalists, were ready to “create” everything that they demanded of them and “scientifically” substantiate everything that ruled by power.
We have fought infill development and protested the destruction of public spaces. We fought to preserve the historical environment of our cities, which burns out due to purposeful arson and decays due to the disregard of the municipal authorities. We resisted the bacchanalia of land allotments …
And if earlier they expressed themselves in the cozy quiet of offices, now they are the ones who come out face to face with the hardened and strengthened system of public-private corruption, when the urban area is perceived by those who have chosen to manage it prudently, solely as a place of immense enrichment and feeding of those close to them. A system that doesn't need an architect. He, like a relict relic of the past, fills with his vanity the place that is accidentally preserved behind him in the process of investing money in real estate construction. In the overwhelming majority of situations, it is necessary only as a forced step in the acquisition of documents permitting construction, and then everything begins to happen without his participation and without his control, and often, simply contrary to his intentions, embodied in the drawings. Nobody needs his knowledge, his thoughts, his suggestions "for improvement and perfection" - they will grab everything anyway, sell it out, cut it up …
We have no one to pass on the position we have suffered, "to surrender the shot trench."
We have no one to entrust the magazines that we publish.
We have no one to transfer our firms to.
We have no one to inherit our professional views.
All ours goes away with us. ***
Very accurate, very touching and painful. Bright memory.
Farewell will take place on Sunday (21.10.2018), from 10 to 12 o'clock at the address Irkutsk, st. Baikalskaya 253a (Sibexpocentre), pavilion 2.
