DOI issue:
Rozprawy
DOI article:Idzior, Aleksandra: Imagination with no limits: the frontier in the Soviet and American projects of a "future city" at the end of the 1920s
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42379#0079
IMAGINATION WITH NO LIMITS: THE FRONTIER IN THE SOVIET AND AMERICAN PROJECTS
77
Krutikov’s proposal consists of images accompanied by textual com-
mentary.10 While the visual material presented by him is quite extensive,
the textual segment is succinct, with his comments being presented in
point form. The visual imagery is further divided into two parts. The first
section is devoted to his analysis of existing architecture as it is impacted
by various means of transportation. In this part all the visual material is
spread over sixteen panels on which Krutikov collaged images that in-
clude cut-and-paste photographs interspersed with drawings of plans,
diagrams and illustrations. The second part represents a model of the
future city and is laid out on four panels. There, the images evoking the
new city are conveyed through the architect’s own set of drawings, plans
and diagrams, with occasional utilization of mass-produced photographs.
Although Krutikov referred to his work as a proposal for a future city
(gorod budushchego), it has become known as the design for a flying city
(,letaiushchii gorod),* 11 due to the fact that it promoted an urban form that
was supposed to hover high above the earth’s surface. Actually, the only
flying element in Krutikov’s vision was the “cabin” (iacheika), or an inde-
pendent “cell”, a “capsule” or a unit that served a twofold function, one as
a vehicle, and second as part of a dwelling.12 It was meant to be the new
would remain in a fixed position with respect to the earth by revolving at the same speed
as the globe. Isaak Yusefovich developed the theme of a floating USSR Hall of Congresses
that could be moved and moored to towers set up in the cities where the congresses were
being held. These towers were given the function of vertical access, but they were also both
residential and public structures. In the projects of the Soviet architects of those years, the
dirigible became a symbol for the global connection of world civilization. See: Viktor Kal-
mykov, Goroda v uozdukhe [Cities in the air], “Arkhitektura CCCP”, 6, 1973, pp. 58-60.
10 The visual section of Krutikov’s diploma consists of images glued to grey cardboard
panels, each measuring 47.8 cm by 143 cm. The textual part contains information type-
written on sheets of white paper attached to panels of the same colour and the same mea-
surements as used in the visual part.
11 According to Selim Omarovich Khan-Magomedov, Krutikov himself always called
his design “City of the Future.” The “flying city” term was coined by the critics, and was
given to this project soon after Krutikov’s diploma defense. Selim 0. Khan-Magomedov,
Proekt “letaiushchego goroda” [Project of “the flying city”], “Dekorativnoe isskustvo”, 1973,
1, pp. 30-35; ibidem, Pioneers of Soviet Architecture. The Search for New Solutions in the
1920s and 1930s, New York 1987, pp. 282-283.
12 The literal translation of the Russian term iacheika, into English denotes a “cell”
and a “squad”. As such it indicates the relationship between form and function, such as is
found in cells of biological systems. This term was widely used in discourses related to
architecture and urban planning during the 1920s. Martin Wagner, for example, wrote:
“The basic life cell of the Soviet City is the individual dwelling unit” [in:] El Lissitzky,
Russia: An Architecture for World Revolution (1930), trans. Eric Dluhosch, Cambridge
(MA) 1986, p. 212. Le Corbusier was also enthusiastic about this concept and prepared
a memorandum for the 1930 Brussels Congress of the CIAM entitled: “The Biological Unit:
77
Krutikov’s proposal consists of images accompanied by textual com-
mentary.10 While the visual material presented by him is quite extensive,
the textual segment is succinct, with his comments being presented in
point form. The visual imagery is further divided into two parts. The first
section is devoted to his analysis of existing architecture as it is impacted
by various means of transportation. In this part all the visual material is
spread over sixteen panels on which Krutikov collaged images that in-
clude cut-and-paste photographs interspersed with drawings of plans,
diagrams and illustrations. The second part represents a model of the
future city and is laid out on four panels. There, the images evoking the
new city are conveyed through the architect’s own set of drawings, plans
and diagrams, with occasional utilization of mass-produced photographs.
Although Krutikov referred to his work as a proposal for a future city
(gorod budushchego), it has become known as the design for a flying city
(,letaiushchii gorod),* 11 due to the fact that it promoted an urban form that
was supposed to hover high above the earth’s surface. Actually, the only
flying element in Krutikov’s vision was the “cabin” (iacheika), or an inde-
pendent “cell”, a “capsule” or a unit that served a twofold function, one as
a vehicle, and second as part of a dwelling.12 It was meant to be the new
would remain in a fixed position with respect to the earth by revolving at the same speed
as the globe. Isaak Yusefovich developed the theme of a floating USSR Hall of Congresses
that could be moved and moored to towers set up in the cities where the congresses were
being held. These towers were given the function of vertical access, but they were also both
residential and public structures. In the projects of the Soviet architects of those years, the
dirigible became a symbol for the global connection of world civilization. See: Viktor Kal-
mykov, Goroda v uozdukhe [Cities in the air], “Arkhitektura CCCP”, 6, 1973, pp. 58-60.
10 The visual section of Krutikov’s diploma consists of images glued to grey cardboard
panels, each measuring 47.8 cm by 143 cm. The textual part contains information type-
written on sheets of white paper attached to panels of the same colour and the same mea-
surements as used in the visual part.
11 According to Selim Omarovich Khan-Magomedov, Krutikov himself always called
his design “City of the Future.” The “flying city” term was coined by the critics, and was
given to this project soon after Krutikov’s diploma defense. Selim 0. Khan-Magomedov,
Proekt “letaiushchego goroda” [Project of “the flying city”], “Dekorativnoe isskustvo”, 1973,
1, pp. 30-35; ibidem, Pioneers of Soviet Architecture. The Search for New Solutions in the
1920s and 1930s, New York 1987, pp. 282-283.
12 The literal translation of the Russian term iacheika, into English denotes a “cell”
and a “squad”. As such it indicates the relationship between form and function, such as is
found in cells of biological systems. This term was widely used in discourses related to
architecture and urban planning during the 1920s. Martin Wagner, for example, wrote:
“The basic life cell of the Soviet City is the individual dwelling unit” [in:] El Lissitzky,
Russia: An Architecture for World Revolution (1930), trans. Eric Dluhosch, Cambridge
(MA) 1986, p. 212. Le Corbusier was also enthusiastic about this concept and prepared
a memorandum for the 1930 Brussels Congress of the CIAM entitled: “The Biological Unit: