#linear city

[beedok]

I don’t know why Tumblr is celebrating the North York City Centre, but… woo?

[aurrea]

Magnetorye OSA group 1929-1930

Earlier we talked about the early Soviet housing construction, but now I want to tell you about the Soviet city planning of the 30s. As the main direction of my story, I will choose a competition for the development of a master plan for Magnitogorsk - at the moment a large industrial city, alas, in moral devastation, and partly in social and economic depression.

In the 30s, in this area, Soviet geologists discovered large deposits of minerals, the extraction of which could reach such dimensions that the question arose about the foundation of a city near the mountains. This is how an all-Soviet competition was announced for the development of a master plan for the city of Magnitosk.

Many eminent and skillful architects of that time participated in this competition, however, I will focus on the OSA group (Society of Contemporary Architects)

At the time of the 30th year, the organization included:

Responsible editors: A. Vesnin, M. Ginzburg.

Members: M. Barshch, G. Wegman, V. Vladimirov, A. Gan, L. Komarova, N. Krasilnikov, I. Leonidov, I. Muravyov, I. Nikolaev, L. Novitsky, G. Orlov, A. Pasternak, N. Sokolov, R. Heeger, F. Yalovkin.

M.Ginzburg in the center 

The project they proposed is unique in that it reveals the truth on the topic of modern urbanism, which has become a hot topic for discussion in recent years.

Нowever, the OSA group was guided by principles radically different from those of today's urban planners; those were the principles of desurbanism

The urban planning principle Desurbanism argued that at the beginning of the 20th century, cities as places of concentration of people outlived their usefulness, rapidly developing transport, both public and personal, easily stopped overcoming long distances, and the ability to settle people over long distances in natural conditions gave cities more light, air, developed an ecological approach, and left a lot of free space, which modern cities still cannot boast of.

The OSA project assumed the distribution of the population along 9 main highways that connected large industrial and social centers. The communication was carried out by means of high-speed public transport, and private cars. Interestingly, each architect from the group proposed his own version. The most significant is probably the project of I. Leonidov

Also known is the contribution to the development of the concept of M. Ginzburg and the famous Soviet sociologist M. Okhitovich, as well as the sketches of N. Sokolov, who proposed truly unique concepts of urban planning.

Leonodov’s project 

Leonidov took over one of the 9 highways and proposed the concept of a linear city mixing the principles of urbanism and desurbanism. He proposed to distribute the population between tall tenement towers, which left a lot of light and space. 

On the three main lines of the rational plan, cut into squares, industrial - work zones, public buildings - kindergartens, clubs, grocery ones were located, and it was planned to place housing between them.

Such an organization gave a lot of light, greenery, parks, and provided its residents with all the necessary conditions for good-quality leisure.

Sokolov’s project 

N. Sokolov's project differed from Leonidov's in the absence of tall buildings, it assumed resettlement in blocked personal dwellings, standing in the forest along the highway in a picturesque disorder.

 One residential block was a square building raised above the ground on supports. It is a small block of 4.8x4.8 meters with an incredibly flexible and transformable space inside itself. For example, Sokolov designed a special bathroom system that could fold into the wall when not in use. Each block is designed for one person, however, if the tenants formed a pair, from the dwelling they had the opportunity to connect with each other, forming a new building. Thus, it was possible to collect whole coliving.

Of particular interest are the so-called "kilometer stations" - a complex complex of social interactions.

As the name implies, on the 25 kilometer highway, stations were supposed to be at each kilometer, which would provide residents with everything they needed. These stations served as a club, library, community center, a zone of social communications, and what is most interesting through them was the delivery of everything necessary to the residents directly to the house. It was assumed that the kilometer station would have a catalog of available products: food, furniture, and everything needed to carry out everyday life. All this could be ordered by a tenant of a linear city right to his home.

It is also worth noting that the architects asserted their paramount principle - non-interference in people's lives, with their project they wanted, first of all, to provide residents with decent living conditions, without infringing on their personal rights. The principles that the OSA group put into their project, as they themselves argued, are not a commune house, but a commune of houses. But perhaps the most interesting principle expressed by the OCA group was the desire to fill the life of citizens with culture and art at the expense of the freed up leisure time, “we will not force a person into the library, we will create all the conditions so that he himself wants to go there”.

It's amazing how architects almost a hundred years ago precisely defined our reality today, for lack of the Internet and digital technologies, they clothed the function of social interaction in the physical body of architecture, and the possibility of shipping through catalogs in 1930 looks frighteningly prophetic today.

The principle of desurbanism has been extremely interesting to me lately, since our way of life is rapidly changing, in the post-COVID era, the power of computer technology and the possibility of remote work become clear, which, in my opinion, is quite capable of renewing discussions on the topic of linear cities.

[ubik-void]

Ivan Leonidov, Linear City of Magnitogorsk (Competition proposal, 1930)

[megaestructuras]

Giuliano Fiorenzoli, Alberto Breschi & Roberto Pecchioli |  Zziggurat - Linear City | Florencia; Italia | 1968

[megaestructuras]

Giuliano Fiorenzoli, Alberto Breschi & Roberto Pecchioli |  Zziggurat - Linear City | Florencia; Italia | 1968

[anti-architecture]

Clemens Klotz / Atelier Kempe Thill

Prora

[edestesdesign]

Can Saudi Arabia still complete The LINE?

IN THE south west corner of the Arabian desert, an enormous trench has been formed. It may look like it was carved out by an alien presence but it is in fact evidence that one of the most ambitious construction projects in history is steaming ahead. The 200-metre wide trench runs from the Hejaz mountains across to the Gulf of Aqaba. As if that wasn’t enough, a small portion of it contains the…

Can Saudi Arabia still complete The LINE?

[captainglasgow]

Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City

Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City