This difficult year celebrates the centenary of the main schools of the avant-garde: not only the Bauhaus, but also the famous school of the avant-garde of Soviet Russia VKHUTEMAS.
The anniversary, among other things, was celebrated with a competition of "paper" projects for the VKHUTEMAS museum: the task of the participants included both the development of the project and the choice of the place of the proposed museum out of five possible: in the parks Muzeon and Sokolniki, on the territory of the Moscow Architectural Institute, in the courtyard of Yushkov's house on Myasnitskaya -21, where the workshops were located (and where the Glazunov Academy is now located), as well as as part of the Russian avant-garde complex near the village of Nemchinovo, along the Minsk highway near Meshchersky Park. The area of the hypothetical museum is 2500-3000 m2… The winners must receive a prize: 1st place - 60,000 rubles, 2nd place - 40,000 rubles, 3rd place - 20,000 rubles, thanks to the support of the Wowhaus bureau and Timur Bashkaev's ABTB. 61 projects were submitted to the competition. The results were announced on November 13 at the Zodchestvo festival.
We publish three winning projects and several works that were shortlisted and awarded with diplomas. The projects of the winners are offered by different sites: Myasnitskaya-21, Rozhdestvenka-11 and Muzeon park. But the jury seriously discussed one of the projects considering the site in Sokolniki, and the proposal to reconstruct the Zholtovsky Hexagon in Gorky Park for the VKHUTEMAS museum. All three winning projects, as well as some of the other proposals of the participants in the competition, envisage the revival of the educational function of multifunctional workshops and various public spaces.
1st place
Museum-workshop VKHUTEMAS / Myasnitskaya-21
Julia Grishina, Ivan Zaikin, Elizaveta Kester / MARCHI
The jury discussed the candidacy of the main winner for a long time, and in the end they agreed on a "museum-workshop" for several reasons: the project was bold enough, but did not directly stylize the avant-garde of the 1920s; presupposes the revival of the old function - workshops. The project solves the problem of locating the museum in the city center, like several other proposals, by placing it mainly in an underground space. Unlike many other projects of the same competition, the project is presented with a detailed description; we present it in its entirety, together with illustrations.
Author's description of the project:
“This project is the antithesis of a classical museum. This is not a museum of the material embodiment of VKHUTEMAS, but a place where you can feel the spirit and atmosphere of the famous school. The VKHUTEMAS Center is a creative space for the continuous creation of urban values, an open laboratory where research, educational and creative processes take place.
Workshops have become the key elements of our complex. These are showcases transmitting the spirit of VKHUTEMAS into the city space. They are a platform that provides an opportunity for the realization of creative potential in a whole range of areas. The ultimate goal of working in the workshops is to create a seasonal art object and present ideas from aspiring artists to the city.
Art objects are not just a museum exhibit, but periodically updated objects of art created as part of a museum competition. This means that the complex does not have a permanent appearance and exposition, it adapts to the continuously developing world of art.
Taking inspiration from the structure of VKHUTEMAS training, we take the idea of multidiscipline as fundamental. The center presents the following areas of activity: sculpture, architecture, industrial design, painting, photography. All directions exist in symbiosis at the lower level and have a clear separation on the surface.
In terms of its volumetric-spatial composition, the complex is mainly an underground space, distributed under the courtyards of the quarters of Myasnitskaya Street. In the project, we used the negative space of the existing building. 6 points of contact with the city remain on the surface.
Underground, the museum is divided into a series of related exhibition and research spaces in which ordinary visitors, creators and curators accumulate knowledge. Above these spaces are the workshop premises, in which each of the areas of activity begins to separate from the rest. The very process of creativity takes place in the workshops, these are equipped rooms in which artists embody their ideas. The entire street space of the courtyards is adapted for demonstrating art objects to museum visitors and passers-by - the result of work in the workshops.
Such a complex can become not only a research and creative cluster, but also a propaedeutic base for creative youth of the entire city.
Sculpture workshop
The workshop is located on the theater square and is more integrated into the city than any other. Citizens strolling along Myasnitskaya Street or leaving the performance will be able to watch the installation of the changing exposition. It combines a platform for creativity, an exhibition space, a lecture hall and a transit route connecting the complex with the Chistye Prudy metro station.
The roofs of the workshops provide an unobstructed approach to the Et Cetera theater, without interfering with the natural transit routes of the city.
Workshop of architecture
The workshop is located in the courtyard of RAZHViZ, the former building of VKHUTEMAS. The size of the workshop does not limit the creators and allows you to accommodate truly gigantic structures. This allows you to see the object, including from the streets of the city. The movement in the workshop is calculated so that the viewer has the opportunity to view the exposition from the maximum number of angles. Miniatures of projects that did not win the competition are placed in the niches of the wall, along the ramp that encircles the workshop.
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zooming 1/3 Workshop of photography. Museum-workshop VKHUTEMAS © Yulia Grishina, Ivan Zaikin, Elizaveta Kester
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zooming 2/3 Photography workshop. Museum-workshop VKHUTEMAS © Yulia Grishina, Ivan Zaikin, Elizaveta Kester
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zooming 3/3 Workshop of photography. Museum-workshop VKHUTEMAS © Yulia Grishina, Ivan Zaikin, Elizaveta Kester
Photography workshop
House 21 on Myasnitskaya Street is a local landmark, because the famous representative of VKHUTEMAS Alexander Rodchenko lived here. Exactly
the photo "Fire escape" was taken here. The staircase leading to the museum-apartment of the great master became the dominant feature of this workshop.
Painting workshop
The structures supporting the workshop are adjacent to the firewall of the residential building. The workshop itself is a glass room, which, together with its location above ground level, provides unique lighting and an overview of the city's panorama.
Interactive area
Space for local residents and guests of the complex. Each of the steles limiting the space is accompanied by a QR code that allows you to get acquainted with the representatives of VKHUTEMAS. There is an amphitheater under the square where various events can take place.
Industrial design workshop
The building is a reimagining of a paternoster - a continuous lift. Each of the booths is a cafe with a table for two. The dynamic design allows visitors to familiarize themselves with all levels of the workshop and observe the process of creating household items and furniture."
2nd place
Mechanized Museum VKHUTEMAS / Rozhdestvenka-11 (MARCHI)
Rashid Gilfanov / MARHI
The project, presented in the style of avant-garde retrospection, inherits and develops the ideas of transformability and versatility, as well as a futuristic aspiration for the future. The author presents the museum as “a machine in other times”.
Author's description:
“The statement of the famous architect, student of VKHUTEMAS Leonid Pavlov says:“.. Architecture is no longer able to change rapidly with changing functions, architecture is forced to generalize the entire functional process, it must move to the concepts of a mobile function.”The architectural idea of the mechanized museum“VKHUTEMAS”corresponds to the principles of the great master: the structure does not have a strictly defined function, it is only a shell for unique events of the present and future, of which you and I do not even know.
That is why the structure is based on structures and mechanisms that are able to change the shape and configuration of spaces, transform the function of an object, and therefore are able to adapt to new challenges of the time.
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zooming 1/4 Mechanized Museum VKHUTEMAS © Rashid Gilfanov
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zooming 2/4 Mechanized Museum VKHUTEMAS © Rashid Gilfanov
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zooming 3/4 Mechanized Museum VKHUTEMAS © Rashid Gilfanov
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zooming 4/4 Mechanized Museum VKHUTEMAS © Rashid Gilfanov
Transformations are carried out through:
1. Horizontal movement - the screen. The screen can serve as an information screen, movie screen or media decoration during various events.
2. Vertical movement of the floor levels of the exhibition space (with mobile pavilions on them) and the foyer.
3. Longitudinal / transverse telescopic expansion of the pavilions. Mobile pavilions are modular frames with dimensions of 3-3-3 meters, which are able to expand telescopically. These pavilions are placed on a chassis with an electric motor and a remote control unit and are able to move around the city based on a given algorithm. Pavilions can be used as: exhibition space, work space, communication space, reading room, etc.
As a result, users have at their disposal a mechanism that is ready to be sensitive to their needs and ready to change form and function."
3rd place
Museum-factory VKHUTEMAS / Muzeon
M. A Shchukina
The jury found the project interesting, albeit "raw", unfinished. The author locates the museum in the Muzeon Park, interprets the museum as "large creative workshops" partially deepens underground, and combines the "production" part with the exhibition, combining three different ways of developing space. It is emphasized that the building is tall, but does not argue with the State Tretyakov Gallery; the appearance of the volumes is dictated by their function. Nine blocks represent VKHUTEMAS workshops.
Author's description:
“VKHUTEMAS Museum-Factory is located in the Muzeon Park. Land area 0.9 hectares.
The museum has three options for visiting: the path of the master (production immersiveness), the path of the visitor (contemplation / comprehension) and the combined path, when the visitor visits the exhibition and is engaged in production, consolidating his knowledge.
Rationale for the location of the museum in Moscow
The town-planning conditions of this place dictate the height and integration into the nature of the future museum complex. It was decided to create a building that would not conflict with the existing building of the "New Tretyakov Gallery", as well as to continue the concept of the park on the creation of large creative workshops on its territory.
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zooming 1/6 VKHUTEMAS Museum-Factory © Maria Shchukina
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zooming 2/6 VKHUTEMAS Museum-Factory © Maria Shchukina
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zooming 3/6 VKHUTEMAS Museum-Factory © Maria Shchukina
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zooming 4/6 Section 1-1. Museum-factory VKHUTEMAS © Maria Shchukina
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zooming 5/6 General plan. Museum-factory VKHUTEMAS © Maria Shchukina
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zooming 6/6 The concept of the path, the image. Museum-factory VKHUTEMAS © Maria Shchukina
The path of the master starts from the level of the 1st floor, at an elevation of + -0.000. Getting into the inner space of the museum, the visitor sees the core of the production, where people, under the guidance of the master, create future exhibits in the exhibition halls. The meaning of this path is in an immersive approach to the exhibition. The visitor becomes an apprentice and, under the guidance of a master, gains knowledge and experience by interacting with the elements of production. The production block has 4 floors with its own functions: workshops, production, architecture and painting.
The visitor's path is located at -4100. The museum consists of 9 blocks = 9 faculties of VKHUTEMAS. The visitor can go through the whole path of the exhibition and learn about all the faculties or visit the halls of interest to him. Also, from each hall there is a passage to the production block, where people can use experience to consolidate their knowledge. The VKHUTEMAS Museum should respond to the modern needs of the population through the prism of the educational system and the ideology of VKHUTEMAS”.
Shortlist of the competition. Diplomas
Anastasia Sibgatullina's project seriously claimed one of the prizes, but did not pass according to the results of the vote. The author substantiates the place in Sokolniki Park by the value of the park as a landmark place for Soviet architecture. A semi-underground museum of 8 blocks, denoting the faculties of VKHUTEMAS, is inscribed in an extended rectangle on the main alley leading from the entrance to the park to the famous circle. Since the museum is buried, it does not violate the visual axis, and the roof is used as a public space.
The authors of the next project propose a museum at two key points in the history of the workshops: on Rozhdestvenka, a museum with an underground storage and an accent tower, glass, with balconies providing views of the monuments of constructivism appears. On Myasnitskaya, in the courtyard of the Glazunov RFZhViZ, a "replicant", another similar stele tower, is being installed.
Project M. Sh. Musadayev has no explication and clearly marked location, but it is obvious that it includes an extended underground space and a towering cubic volume. The facades of the cube, probably modular, are designed in the spirit of abstract avant-garde paintings.
An exceptionally daring project: the tower in the northern courtyard of the State Tretyakov Gallery and half of the ball on its axis in the Muzeon are connected by a hinged passage.
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zooming 1/3 VKHUTEMAS Museum © Elchin Akperov
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zooming 2/3 VKHUTEMAS Museum © Elchin Akperov
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zooming 3/3 VKHUTEMAS Museum © Elchin Akperov
A lot of controversy was caused by the project of D. M. Yakhno with a proposal to place the museum in the Zholtovsky Hexagon in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. The proposal is motivated by the fact that Ivan Zholtovsky worked at VKHUTEMAS and Konstantin Melnikov for Gorky Park in the 1920s. The disadvantage of the proposal is that the restoration of the Hexagon is already being carried out by the Garage Center for Contemporary Art.
The project of M. V. Sogoyan and A. I. Elistratova is one of the alternative proposals: a pedestrian route passing from Bolshoy Kiselny lane through the lecture hall of the VKHUTEMAS gallery and ending on the roof of the Ararat hotel is considered as a museum. The plus of this proposal is the use of a really functioning harere, dedicated to the workshops, as well as its realism: as you know, there is no money or territory for the construction of the museum yet.
Below are a few more projects marked by jury diplomas:
The jury of the competition:
E. Amaspyur, M. Labazov, I. Zaika, S. Savin, M. Merigi (Italy), O. Kabanova, A. Selivanova, S. Malakhov, Y. Tarabarina
