Dom-kommuna: Housing experiment of Russian constructivism

Abstract

Dom-kommuna is original historic concept of collective social housing for whose formation is responsible comprehensive architectural research of Soviet constructivists during the 1920s and 1930s. This housing model did not only emerge as a necessary response to the great housing crisis, but as a 'new social condenser' of the era, which was supposed to contribute to the accelerated social progress of Soviet Union on the basis of Marxist ideology, according to the deep conviction of their authors. Housing commune was created as a specific spatial framework for the abolition of class antagonisms and different life forms of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, for the encouragement of collectivization, women's emancipation and reduction of the impact of nuclear family. In this paper some of the basic elements of the creative research of Russian constructivists, with aim to establish a new housing prototype, are analyzed and abstracted. The interpretation of the creative process through simulation of its main creative phase focuses on the process of socialist transformation of the idea of living based on the vision of 'reconstruction' and the principles of functionalism. This paper is intended to indicate the rationality and the complexity of the architectural considerations of the minimum living space in constructivism, whose results, such as the F-type residential unit, can be considered as universal contribution to residential architecture and a model which deserves contemporary architectural interpretation, despite being initiated by ideological demands.

Dom-komuna predstavlja istorijski originalan koncept kolektivnog društvenog stanovanja za čije su formiranje zaslužna iscrpna arhitektonska istraživanja sovjetskih konstruktivista tokom 20-ih i 30-ih godina prošlog veka. Ovaj stambeni model nije nastao samo kao nužni odgovor na veliku stambenu krizu, već i kao novi 'socijalni kondenzator' epohe, koji je, po dubokom uverenju njegovih stvaralaca, trebalo da doprinese ubrzanom društvenom napretku Sovjetskog Saveza na osnovama marksističke ideologije. Stambena komuna kreirana je kao specifični prostorni okvir za ukidanje klasnih suprotnosti i različitih životnih obrazaca buržoazije i proletera, za podsticanje kolektivizacije, emancipaciju žena i smanjenje uticaja nuklearne porodice. U ovom radu analiziraju se i izdvajaju neki od osnovnih elemenata stvaralačkih istraživanja ruskih konstruktivista, usmerenih ka uspostavljanju novog stambenog prototipa. Interpretacija kreativnog procesa kroz simulaciju njegovih osnovnih kreativnih faza fokusira se na postupak socijalističke transformacije ideje stanovanja, zasnovane na viziji 'rekonstrukcije' i funkcionalističkim principima. Ovim istraživanjem želi se ukazati i na racionalnost i složenost arhitektonskih promišljanja minimalnog stambenog prostora u konstruktivizmu, čiji se pojedini rezultati, poput stambene jedinice tipa F, mogu smatrati univerzalnim doprinosom stambenoj arhitekturi i modelom dostojnim savremenih graditeljskih interpretacija, iako su bili inicirani ideološkim zahtevima.