Советский модернизм

Palace of Pioneers, Moscow, 1962 . The construction of the Palace of Pioneers in Moscow’s Lenin Hills played a truly significant role in defining the direction of contemporary Soviet architecture. The accentuated artistic composition of the complex is polemically contrasted with the traditional understanding of the monumentality of the large civic building. The complex is frag- mented into smaller, clearly visible elements. All the space organization methods are directed at the achievement of a “trustworthy” relationship between the architecture and nature. The scale of the elements is dictated by their functions and the perception of the true owners of the palace – children. The artistic visions created by the architects and the artists-monumentalists have organically become part of the total environment where generations of young- sters have been brought up. The one single dominating quality of the composition of this complex is picturesqueness. A. Ikonnikov architects – V. Egerev, V. Kubasov, F. Novikov, B. Palui, I. Pokrovsky, M. Khazhakyan, engineer – Y. Ionov

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