Yuri Pavlovich Volchok (1943-28-02 - 2020-06-07), professor at Moscow Architectural Institute, academician of the MAAM, head of the Department of History of Russian Architecture and Modern Urban Planning of the NIITIAG, vice-president of the Moscow Architectural Institute, honorary builder of Moscow. But the main thing is a talented, inspired researcher, a beloved teacher and a friendly, energetic and enthusiastic person. Many responded quickly to our call to remember Yuri Volchka. If you knew each other and also want to remember Yuri Pavlovich, write in the comments, we will transfer the detailed statements to the text.
Bright memory.
Karen Balyan
Architect, Corresponding Member of IAAM:
“Yuri Pavlovich is my senior friend by the time of my postgraduate studies at TsNIITIA at the end of the seventies. It is very difficult to believe that he is no longer with us, and it is difficult now to correctly assess the scale of his figure - he was a candidate of sciences, but he brought up so many candidates, helped so many to advance in science and learned so many that I would say he was like an academician- “heavyweight . A powerful figure, scientist, researcher, versatile, I would say, a Renaissance man.
Yuri Pavlovich liked to remember one of our joint trips: after the earthquake in Armenia, as an architect, I was engaged in collecting restoration projects, then they were sent in a lot. He came to Leninakan, asked to meet him - at some point we did not really understand how, there were ashes, no roads, no addresses. But he got there, we drove around everything. As a result, Yuri Pavlovich collected a fantastic archive of projects, in the nineties we thought about publishing them, but somehow it did not work out. I think Yuri Pavlovich's archive deserves a detailed study. On the other hand, I suppose that there should be a conference in his honor, maybe even an annual one”.
Andrey Batalov
Doctor of Arts, Professor, Deputy Director General of the Moscow Kremlin Museums for Research:
“Yuri Pavlovich belonged to a bright galaxy of the most amazing people who worked at the Institute of Theory and History of Architecture in the seventies and eighties. I really appreciate our friendship at that time.
He belonged to a circle of scientists who are confident that their activities can change, among other things, and contemporary architectural processes. Now all these people were supposed to be about 80 years old. They believed that their word could transform the thinking of those on whom the development of architecture depends. This is one of the main character traits of both Yuri Pavlovich Volchko, and his close friend Margarita Iosifovna Dlugach, and Vyacheslav Leonidovich Glazychev, and their other colleagues and friends. They took an active position and were confident in the ability of the human mind to change something in the system, within which we all then lived.
He possessed a sharp conceptual mind and, while doing a lot, among other things, the history of Soviet architecture, towered above the prevailing trend at that time in the laudatory and factual description of processes - and investigated modernity from the standpoint of academic science. And he posed very important theoretical questions in relation to the material, which, it would seem, in itself did not provoke such problems.
Yuri Pavlovich was an amazingly open and benevolent person. Kindness to anyone who came to science, to a large extent distinguished him from very, very many colleagues. I think that is why in VNIITAG Yuri Pavlovich managed to create an amazing community of young like-minded people with whom he was going to turn the world upside down."
Igor Bondarenko
Doctor of Architecture, Professor, Director of NIITIAG until 2018:
“Yuri Pavlovich Volchok left a bright memory. He was an intelligent, charming and friendly person, always ready to support a comrade and colleague, both old and very young, to find in his work something interesting, new and worthy of praise. He was extremely devoted to his beloved profession, he lived without taking breaks, without going on vacation, without being distracted by anything else. He was constantly learning, scrutinizing, pondering, looking for answers to the most difficult questions and was never satisfied with stencil judgments. Choosing the path of a historian and theorist of architecture, he focused not only on a thorough study of the facts of history, especially Soviet history, but also on the purposeful and limitless expansion of his general cultural and general scientific horizons, which allowed him to build original philosophical conclusions, sometimes difficult to perceive, but always captivating with their substantial meaningfulness.
We have lost a wonderful person and companion, an active participant in all our multifaceted scientific and creative activities, a true patriot of NIITIAG, an adamant fighter for understanding the enduring value of architectural heritage, a prominent scientist, thinker, teacher and, of course, a good close friend.
May he rest in peace! Sleep well, dear Yura!"
Anna Bronovitskaya
Ph. D. in art history, architecture historian:
“In Yuri Pavlovich, I have always admired the poetry of his research view and the courage to insist on the importance of the non-obvious. Who else could have come to a conference on the architecture of modernism and delivered a talk on the breakthrough in the study of antiquity in the 1960s? He had a stereoscopic vision of the era of modernism, of which he was both a witness and a researcher, and he generously shared his knowledge and insights with colleagues. He will be sorely missed."
Anna Vasilieva
Senior Researcher, NIITIAG:
“For the first time I saw Yuri Pavlovich at the department of Soviet and modern foreign architecture of the Moscow Architectural Institute. From the moment he appeared in the audience, he immediately attracted attention, immersed himself in the world of architecture in all its versatility, complexity, interconnectedness. Later, regularly attending his speeches at conferences and at meetings of the Scientific Council of NIITIAG, again and again, with every speech of Yuri Pavlovich, I plunged into this interesting and wonderful world that he revealed to the audience. The depth and paradox of his thinking, amazing erudition, revealed many processes and phenomena from a new and unexpected side. At the same time, many everyday situations that seemed difficult and insoluble, even with a cursory discussion with Yuri Pavlovich, became simple and clear. This amazing property of simultaneously showing the simplicity and complexity of completely different things and phenomena, captivating any audience, will be a lesson for me all my life and an unattainable example."
Alexey Vorobyov
PhD in Architecture, Architect, Urban Planner:
“Yuri Pavlovich has always been incredibly modern, both in his profession and in life. This is probably why many were drawn to him so much, both novice students and venerable pros. Sometimes it seemed that he looked at the world somehow in a special way, and at each meeting the routine turned into a fascinating process, as if the sun was appearing from behind the clouds, and you ran to work on with new breath, strength and mood. Yuri Pavlovich had a special, deep understanding of architecture.
A teacher by vocation, he was always very sensitive to his students and graduate students, thereby "clothe" them with his faith in the profession. He was always ethical, humble and, despite his colossal intellect, easy to communicate. We were all orphaned in an instant. We, his students, will miss the teacher very much. Bright memory!".
Igor Grishchinsky
architect, Israel:
“Colleagues, I won't detain you for long. Few words. Against the background of the chaos and unpredictability happening around them, it is important not to forget to say them. It is not known what will happen tomorrow, how and on whom this attack will fight back. Now a terrible lot has fallen to Yura. A good man died. I was lucky to meet him and spend a few days together in 2014. Yura and his wife Luda, my wonderful friend and classmate, were visiting Israel. What can I tell you, colleagues. It was happiness. In the midst of the burden of routine project life, suddenly a holiday - talking about everything that we like, what is interesting to talk about to our brother, the architect, even to argue, even though you understand the discrepancy between the weight categories. But what can't you do with good booze and Mediterranean food. Only now, when Yura was gone, I learned from Luda that he was 12 years older than us! But boyish curiosity and mischievous eyes are not measured in years. It was easy and comfortable for us. A fleeting acquaintance and a lifelong memory. They, Yura and Luda, were lucky with each other. Harmony sometimes happens as it turns out. Now it is broken. Lyud, my friend, I have nothing to say to you. You will have to live without Yura."
Olga Kazakova
candidate of art history, senior researcher at NIITIAG, director of the Institute of Modernism:
“It's terribly difficult to write this text. It is impossible to write in the past tense about Yuri Pavlovich - it is too early, and painful, and not fair.
It is impossible to believe that he can no longer be called, that there will be no meetings, and you know that yes - there will not be. It's hard and painful.
Yuri Pavlovich Volchok is a person who played a very important and important role in my life. He was my scientific advisor on the diploma, and he agreed to be one, almost not knowing me, just believing. Because of him, I went to graduate school - also because he believed in me - and this made the scientific path possible for me. Of course, he was the scientific supervisor of the dissertation, which would never have taken place without him - and there are probably more than a dozen such dissertations, defended thanks to Yuri Pavlovich. I was one of his many undergraduate and graduate students - he treated all of us with genuine kindness, respect, individual and empathetic interest. He impressed with the breadth of knowledge and soul, and at the same time was always completely calm, with absolutely his own "Volchkov" style. With each conversation, he knew how to inspire, convince, give new thoughts, lift above himself and above dullness. Before defending my diploma, I called him at 2 am, because he had said before that - call me at Any (with pressure) time - and he answered as if it was a white day outside the window. And all his students loved him, and continue to love him.
He was amazing in everything. Surprisingly wise, subtle, sharp and paradoxical thinking, brightly gifted, able to find the necessary and accurate words both in science and in life. An amazingly handsome person. And surprisingly generous - easily giving his ideas, time, attention.
It was with the gift and light hand of Yuri Pavlovich - the large and unique archive of photographs of Soviet buildings and projects that he collected - that the Institute of Modernism began. The institute, which is now orphaned, like all of us - its students, colleagues, close and distant acquaintances. We all already now, when it is still difficult to believe what happened and the realization of this loss has not yet come, we miss it terribly and acutely."
Sergey Kavtaradze
Historian of Architecture, Senior Lecturer at the School of Design, National Research University Higher School of Economics:
“It hurts a lot because it’s unexpected. Yuri Pavlovich knew how not to grow old, as long as I know him, he was cheerful, full of plans, witty and unpredictable in rhetoric (expressed in a voice that we are unlikely to forget).
Probably, you cannot become an architectural historian if you do not meet such a teacher on your life's journey - who loves his work and infects with this love, reveals to the neophyte the invisible meanings of the language of volumes, spaces and decor. I'm lucky. In 1979 or 1980, Yuri Pavlovich Volchok came to us at Moscow State University to teach a special course - the head of the department of TsNIITIA. And my studies with him, of course, did not fit into the framework of the academic pair put on the schedule. He explained to me his concept of tectonics, which was different from the usual one, after classes, and on the walk from our "glass" to the metro station "University", and then (and for a long time) - on the platform where we stood, unable to finish the conversation, passing dozens of trains. And so over and over again. We talked about architecture and it was wonderful.
These happy times continued later, when, after graduation, he took me to his sector. It was Yuri Pavlovich, when "the fight against excesses" was still relevant in the offices of the chief, who began the study of Soviet architecture of the 30s - 50s, the same one, “with columns”. Then we covered ourselves with the topic “Post-war restoration of cities”. The many luxurious publications with Soviet classics now lying on the bookshelves are largely his personal merit.
He was an excellent scientific strategist who planned many moves ahead, and a leader who knew how to mobilize to solve practical problems. He pushed his team forward, promoted the careers of young people, introduced, recommended and helped, helped, helped …
An incredibly good, intelligent and kind person has left."
Armen Ghazaryan
Doctor of Arts, Director of NIITAG:
“Yuri Pavlovich Volchok is the rarest scientist today who studies the essence of architectural and artistic phenomena, who is able to look at them from an unusual perspective - that of a creator and a philosopher. Possessing versatile knowledge, sharp analytical thinking, he not only generated ideas, but also knew how to involve a circle of his associates and students in their implementation, urging each of them to reveal their own thoughts and dignity in a common plan.
Yuri Pavlovich was a teacher by vocation, and he taught, first of all, to think and feel the structure, construction, image of the work - qualities that are extremely necessary for the historian of architecture. Over the past decades, a whole galaxy of talented scientists and organizers of science has formed from his undergraduates and postgraduates.
For NIITIAG, where Yuri Pavlovich headed the Department of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning of Modern Times for many years, he organized bright problem conferences, round tables and collections of scientific articles, his departure is an irreparable loss. Largely because he was a great friend, coming to the rescue and encouraging in difficult times, able to give original and at the same time based on life experience advice, to support a reasonable initiative. Yuri Pavlovich never abandoned big plans, he never lost his optimism and a special sense of humor inherent in his colossal intellect. We will really miss communication with him."
Andrey Kaftanov
architect, senior researcher at NIITIAG, vice president of the Union of Architects of Russia:
“The departure of Yuri Pavlovich Volchka from us, the scale of his personality and his contribution to Architecture and Culture, we only have to realize. But for me, who has worked under his leadership for almost forty years, this is not only a deep personal tragedy, but also the understanding that our entire architectural workshop has lost an outstanding, I would say - "key" carrier of architectural culture. And here, first of all, we are not talking about a huge scientific contribution - dozens of monographs and hundreds of articles with their own views on the new and recent history of architecture, not about a bright long-term pedagogical activity with dozens of defended graduate students and hundreds of students who rightfully consider themselves his students.
In addition to this high professionalism in the traditions of academic science, encyclopedic knowledge, Yuri Pavlovich possessed an amazing sense of time and understanding of the meanings of architectural activity changing with its nonlinear movement. This rare quality gave him a unique opportunity to anticipate future challenges and interests, both in science and in practice. He has always been an innovator. In 1983, together with Lesha Tarkhanov and Seryozha Kavtaradze, three young employees who had just come to TsNIITIA, entered a working group led by Yuri Pavlovich to develop a methodology for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of "five-story buildings", both houses and districts, which then became the basis of the first two all-Union competitions. Then work on the book “40 Years of Victory. Architecture ", at that time the first presentation, and in fact - the rehabilitation of the Architecture of the war years and the post-war decade. The next one is a two-volume book "The Year of Architecture" and "New in Architecture", in which it was possible to record both the processes of "restructuring" in architecture in the late 1980s, and to present possible ways of correcting the situation. The subsequent 1990s confirmed the problems of socialist urban development identified at that time. Then, in these most difficult years of our modern history, when the memory of the Soviet past was purposefully erased along with the demolition of architectural monuments of that time, under the leadership of Yuri Pavlovich, we worked on an international edition of the best in the heritage of the 20th century, edited by Kenneth Fremton. A separate book, included in the famous ten-volume edition, presented at the Congress of the International Union of Architects in Beijing in 1999, was devoted to the 100 best works of architecture in the post-Soviet space. Largely thanks to this work, it was possible to preserve the iconic objects of the past century for future generations …”. Full text on the CAP website.
Diana Capeen-Varditz
Candidate of Art History, Senior Researcher at NIITIAG, Scientific Secretary of the Scientific Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Arts:
“Yes, he was like“one hundred and forty suns”, emotionally and psychologically extremely powerful. Amazing person! His presence was always felt, even when he was silently present in the room. And when he began to speak in a deep, well-trained voice - measured, invariably benevolent, clear and precise - everything changed in general, and the listeners could not help but fall under his charm."
Nina Konovalova
candidate of art history, deputy director of NIITAG for scientific work:
“Yuri Pavlovich has always been very picky about the use of the word, masterfully mastered this art. He often lamented that most people are accustomed to speaking and thinking in cliches, and only a few can grasp the meaning of words. He insisted that it was necessary to learn to feel the nuances, shades of meaning, to choose the exact words. According to him, everyone, even a novice scientist, should be able to “show the scale of the problem”, “parallelize the meanings”, “show the end-to-end action”. Better than many, he knew how to do it himself and achieved the same from his students. But now there are simply not enough words …”.
Peter Kudryavtsev
urbanist, sociologist, partner of Citymakers bureau:
“Yuri Pavlovich is a sweet, intelligent, kind and extremely cozy person. I am grateful to him for every meeting - simply because it always became easy on my soul. And I am very grateful to him for his lecture on the history of the Udarnik cinema - one of the most vivid memories from our First Architectural Week back in 2006”.
Svetlana Levoshko
PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, Leading Researcher at NIITIAG:
“Yuri Pavlovich could approach something seemingly well-known in an extraordinary way. His thoughts were not simple, were not immediately clear, but he managed to introduce them into our heads. And his ideas also became "generally accepted". He had a great sense of humor. Laughed at the title "100 masterpieces of architecture." It would seem, what's so funny? But he saw the absurdity in the familiar and ordinary. A BEAUTIFUL SMART AND THIN MAN LEFT US. WE ARE EGGERS ".
Marianna Mayevskaya
Senior Researcher, NIITIAG:
“Yuri Pavlovich Volchka was distinguished by an amazing kindness and sincerity towards colleagues and students. He was able to inspire and guide the student, emphasizing the individuality of each. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge and an incredible breadth of professional horizons, Yuri Pavlovich invited colleagues to an equal dialogue, captivating with his ideas and judgments. Thanks to his passionate confidence in the value of the heritage of the architecture of Soviet modernism in the professional and public consciousness, there has been a significant reassessment of the importance of this period in the national architectural science."
Dmitry Mikheikin
architect, senior researcher at NIITIAG, professor at MAAM, founder of the "UFO Bureau":
“Yuri Pavlovich is my favorite teacher, leader, mentor in every sense. Back in 2004, during the difficult delivery of a diploma at Moscow Architectural Institute, in some inscrutable way, my father, a physicist, directed me to him, as to the future head of the dissertation. Of course, they didn't know each other at all and had never seen each other. Both children of the war, the sixties, with similar habits. And even then, from the first day of our acquaintance, I felt from Yuri Pavlovich the support of fantastic strength.
His kindness was boundless. Dear Yuri Pavlovich always helped with a kind word and deed, as if he had always been a close person, and this was indeed the case. How much time he gave to me, as well as to all his wards - and this is for many years, in my case for 16 years, how much patience he had for me, how much he passed on knowledge and wisdom, because in another way Yuri Pavlovich simply cannot could do - he gifted everyone. And his work continues and will continue.
Now I finally begin to realize that Yuri Pavlovich was much more for me than my beloved teacher, he partly replaced my father, who left much earlier.
How strange it is not to hear his voice again, not to see him again."
Konstantin Khrupin
Researcher, NIITIAG:
“It's hard to get used to the idea that Yuri Pavlovich Volchk is no longer there. A remarkable person passed away - a scientist, teacher, civil engineer, art critic. Always calm, benevolent, sympathetic, wise - he was respected both among colleagues and students. He will forever remain in our memory."
Obituary on the NIITIAG website.
Obituary on the Moscow Architectural Institute website.
Lecture by Yuri Volchka on the channel "Russia":
