Vladimir Ginzburg

With this article, we are opening up a new section – reminiscences about the architects whose works became milestones in the history of Soviet and Russian architecture of the XX century. Vladimir Ginzburg, the architect who designed the Cinema Center on Krasnaya Presnya and the Engineering Building of the Moscow Metro on the Mira Avenue.

Written by:
Lara Kopylova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

26 June 2019

in memoriam

Childhood and School Years. Family and Friends

Vladimir Ginzburg was born July 23, 1930 in the family of the world-famous functionalist architect Moisey Ginzburg. He lived with his parents in the famous Narkomfin House on the Novinsky Boulevard, designed and built by his father, in a communal flat. The friend of Vladimir Ginzburg’s, Yuri Platonov, would later on recall how as children they would go together carrying their milk cans to the communal kitchen to get carry-out dinners for their families. In addition to high school, Vladimir Ginzburg went to an art school. There he made friends with the future director of the State Tretyakov Gallery (1980-1992) Yuri Korolev and the future muralist Evgeny Ablin. In the summer camp, Vladimir Ginzburg met Alla Kireeva, who later on married the famous Soviet poet Robert Rozhdestvensky, with whom Vladimir Ginzburg also maintained friendly ties.

Not so long ago, new details of the Ginzburg architectural galaxy became known. Vladimir Ginzburg’s son, Aleksey, discovered in Minsk 120 projects, signed by a certain Jacob Ginzburg and built from the 1890’s to the early 1920’s. Jacob Ginzburg, Vladimir Ginzburg’s grandfather and Moisey’s father, was an architect or civil engineer, and a very successful one, judging by the fact that he was able to send all of his children to study abroad. In Minsk, they found the tenement that Jacob Ginzburg designed and built, and then lived in one of its apartments.

In 1946, when Moisey Ginzburg died, Vladimir was only sixteen, and when his mother died he was eighteen. He was evicted from the Narkomfin House. For some time, Vladimir Ginzburg lived at the place of his mother’s cousin, Raisa Kantsenelson, whom Moisey Ginzburg had brought over to Moscow from Tbilisi. She studied the history and theory of architecture in the All-Union Research and Development Institute of the Theory of Architecture and Town Planning. Then the young man moved to a room in a communal flat. In that flat, he met the future author Anatoly Zlobin.

The choice of a profession became for Vladimir Ginzburg a natural decision. However, in 1948-1949, the Soviet Union embarked on the so-called “anti-cosmopolitanism campaign”, and he was not admitted to the Moscow Architectural Institute. However, he was still able to enter the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute, enrolling at the Moscow Architectural Institute a year later. Vladimir graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute in 1956; his professor was Mikhail Sinyavsky (the designer of Moscow Planetarium, and a colleague of Moisey Ginzburg’s – editorial note). Vladimir was in the same course with Yuri Grigoryev (the future deputy of the Chief Architect of Moscow Alexander Kuzmin), and Vsevolod Talkovsky.

Early Career. Brutalism

After he graduated from the institute, for some time Vladimir Ginzburg worked in Giprosport, and then he worked in Mosproject for thirty years. He became the leader of the architectural studio when still a very young man, at the age of 29. He headed Studio 19, and later on, when it was merged with Studio 10, he headed Studio 10. In 1958, he got married and in 1959 his daughter Elena was born. In 1968, Vladimir Ginzburg got married a second time, to Tatiana Barkhina, and a year later his son Aleksey was born.

Just like many of the alumni of Moscow Architectural Institute, in the late 1950’s Vladimir Ginzburg chiefly designed community centers of “clubs” as they were called in the Soviet Union. Together with other Moscow architects, he took part in restoring Tashkent after the Great Earthquake, designing the housing sector.

zooming — Vladimir Ginzburg

Copyright: Photograph © Aleksey Ginzburg

One of the first public buildings that Vladimir Ginzburg designed is the Shchelkovsky bus terminal in the northeast of Moscow, a classic example of Soviet modernism. Regretfully, this building was torn down in 2017 to be replaced by a new one.

The most interesting project designed by Vladimir Ginzburg in the 1960’s is the Institute of Mechanical Problems that stands on the Vernadskogo Avenue. In the 1960’s the Soviet architects rediscovered the Russian avant-garde art, perceiving it through the prism of the contemporary European architecture. The artistic design solution of the building of the Institute of Mechanical Problems demonstrates the influence of the brutalist architecture.

The 1970’s brought about new opportunities in architecture. In some certain genres the architects were already permitted to design from brick and travertine; a search for new forms begins, even though postmodernism is still a few years away. What served as a testing ground for many architects – including Vladimir Ginzburg – was the Moscow area health resorts. While the health center in Krasnovidovo is all pristine and honest modernism, the health resort in Voskresensk demonstrates vaults and arches. Later on, these ideas will also show through in the Cinema Center. The Health Center of the Council of Ministers is a most interesting example of wooden architecture of the Soviet period.

The Cinema Center on the Krasnaya Presnya

The architectural ensemble consisting of the Cinema Center and the Hungarian Trade Mission was considered to be his main achievement by the architect himself; for this project, Vladimir Ginzburg was awarded the State Prize of the USSR. Originally, the land site was occupied by the Krasnaya Presnya Baths, and, before beginning the construction, the city had to build a replacement – the bath complex in the Stolyarny Lane – then take down the old bathhouse, and only then build the Hungarian Trade Mission in its stead.

The new building of the Krasnaya Presnya bathhouse, designed by Vladimir Ginzburg, sports a façade with an enormous round window – a dramatic and essentially constructivist element, the only difference being that it was executed in brick.

Parallel to that, Vladimir Ginzburg designed the Engineering Building of the Moscow Metro on the Mira Avenue – together with Vladimir Taranov, his friend and chief architect of his studio. The façade design solution is based on a large volumetric pattern of concrete frames placed in a staggered order. The active plastique of the façade surface provides deep contrast of light and shade. The repetitive rhythm puts one in the mind of structuralism, which was popular those years.

The construction of the Cinema Center and the Hungarian Trade Mission began in the 1970’s, and these projects were built for 15 years. The ensemble of the Cinema Center is a large public project of a truly impressive scale. Volumes with different functions – the Hungarian Trade Mission, the foyer, and the movie hall – were designed differently plastique-wise, clearly showing the inner structure of the building on the outside. The stained glass window on the Druzhinnikovskaya Street façade enhances the difference between the constituent parts of the complex. The author struggled to get the approval to have his windows made of anodized aluminum, and carefully selected their color.

The 1970-1980’s saw a trend for making architectural solutions more and more complex. The pathos of the public building is strengthened by the powerful massive wall with loophole. The sinking-in technique leads to an accentuated “constructivist” image of the wall. The hidden columns and exedras create a feeling of power not at the expense of the smooth wall but thanks to its depth. The arched rounded windows accentuate the expressiveness of the apertures, at the same time softening the shape. By the way, the same shape was used in the Metro building, only on a different scale. In the Cinema Center, these elements became gigantic, up to the scale of this enormous public building.

The interior design was dominated by vaulted ceilings – translucent and backlit. The ledges on the façades were matched by exedras on the inside. The interior was adorned by a sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli. Unfortunately, the interior of the building was redone many times. The outward appearance of the Cinema Center and the Hungarian Trade Mission also suffered from incompetent operation. Both buildings were coated with travertine. Today, the travertine coating of the Hungarian Trade Mission is covered up by orange ceramic tiles, which is at odds with the original concept of the ensemble.

Postmodernism

The late 1980’s saw the beginning of the postmodernism epoch, with Robert Venturi’s ideas gaining popularity. In the creative work of Vladimir Ginzburg, one can see traces of postmodernism in the first building of the Military Academy in the Blagoveshchensky Alley (1989). But then again, the version of postmodernism proposed here by Vladimir Ginzburg is closer to the solution of a large volume, like the Cinema Center, and is farther away from the trend – which later took root in Moscow – which can be best described as “Luzhkov turrets”. The other building of the Academy, situated closer to the Spiridonovka, was remade into the Russian Foundation for Basic Research building. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the construction stopped, and, because the Academy was subjugated to the federal government, the building never was finished.

Approaches to restoring the Narkomfin House

Restoration of the Narkomfin House, the most famous creation of his father, and a fine example of new-type experimental housing, was something that Vladimir Ginzburg took up in the mid-1980’s starting with fundraising at the Soviet art foundations. In 1986, Aleksey Ginzburg joined the project. In 1995, it was planned to attract an American company to the restoration project, and at that time Vladimir Ginzburg, together with his son Aleksey, organized a private studio specifically for restoring the Narkomfin House; however, they were still unable to find the funds up until Vladimir Ginzburg’s demise in 1997.

***

Remembering the personality of his father, Aleksey Ginzburg says: “He was always the heart and soul of the company, be that Mosproject, Sukhanov, or Gagry, in all these creative homes; he always quoted “Master and Margaret”, or other such books, he was sensitive to classical music, would be humming some classical aria, and had a tape recorder collection of Wagner and other composers. He was a man of principles, he was courageous and determined, and he was always decent, never intriguing against anyone. In some ways, he may have been slightly naïve – he never felt the harsh reality of the 1990’s.

Vladimir Ginzburg created memorable buildings that belong to the layer of Soviet postmodernism that became an indispensable part of Moscow cityscape. The cause of restoring the Narkomfin House was picked up by his Aleksey Ginzburg. Finally, in 2016, an investor was found who finally appreciated the potential of the historical building, and now the implementation of the reconstruction project is underway.

26 June 2019

Headlines now

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

Object

New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

Object

Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

Object

Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

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The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

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Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

Object

Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

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The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

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Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

Object

The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

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Rays of the Desert

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

Object

The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

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The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.

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Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

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In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

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The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

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Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

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Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor

The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.

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The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement

In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.

​Vladimir Ginzburg

Vladimir Ginzburg