practitioners. east

From the current turbulent and fast-paced century, the 19th and even a part of the 20th centuries look unhurried, steady and full of common sense. The classical order system of proportions and the methods of town-planning tested over the centuries served as a reliable basis for creative searches for new architecture. In the block “Practitioners” we publish rare biographical and analytical materials on the architects of the Russian Far East and Siberia little-known to the general architectural public. It was here where the unity of theory and practice was preserved until the middle of the new twentieth century. Buildings and archival materials of that era show how harmonious and balanced can be the mood of architecture, in which practice is based on a solid foundation of theory. The cultural heritage of the past – from the ancient city plans of the Middle East to the Soviet architecture of the country’s post-war reconstruction period – is a huge and growing asset useful for architecture in its new stage of accelerating development.