In modern Russian architectural propaedeutics, lecturers of the Moscow Architectural Institute N. Rochegova and E. Barchugova developed a variable and combinatorial type of composition, which became possible due to the use of computer modeling. The general compositional message is the generation of many different form variants from a few initial «basic» elements – using replication, scaling, displacement, and rotation operations. As a part of such searching, the principles of modernist architecture can still be used to harmonize the composition.
The intuitive picturesque type of architectural composition, which originated in K. Malevich’s suprematism, became a kind of «response» to the form rigidly determined by its function and/or structure. The composition with its internal axes is built as a system of spontaneous flows of forms, harmonized by a general equilibrium and a proportional ratio of large masses. The brightest modern representative of this type is Zaha Hadid. Her office has become a center for generating a new style – parametricism. It combines intuitive picturesque artistry with parametric computer modeling of a building as a system, taking into account a variety of specific structural, climatic and other factors.
Let’s highlight the bionic type of composition. It is characterized by imitative, stylizing, or literal copying of natural principles and/or forms, including the entire range of organisms from protozoa to humans. Modern architectural bionics is often particularly characterized by its seamless nature, as opposed to the centuries-old established composition, which was in use up to the second half of the 20th century, and, as a rule, included orthogonally connected parts of the building that were articulated and clearly stood out as part of the whole.
So, the composition of a building can be created based on a system of certain artistic principles (such as order), on a function and/or structure, on intuitive artistic vision, on a variable field using the combinatorics of a few initial elements, on the basic properties of spatial form and the peculiarities of their perception (N. Ladovsky). Next, we will reveal another compositional type of form generation – dialectical, which derives compositions from the intrinsic geometric logic of the form in harmony with the purpose of the building.
The school of rationalism of N. Ladovsky – from architectural point of view – and the dialectical aesthetics of A. Losev – from philosophical point of view – play a crucial part in the creation of such compositional system. Let’s give a brief overview of both systems.
On the concept of N. A. Ladovsky
The significance of Nikolai Ladovsky’s system in architectural pedagogy still requires reflection and coming out of the shadow of other prominent creators of the Soviet avant-garde. It can be said with complete certainty that Ladovsky became the founder of Russian architectural propaedeutics, developed and framed into a system by his students and followers.
No matter how beautiful and harmonious the architectural classic works were and still are, the development of society, science, technology, and art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries led to a paradigm shift. The static beauty of a classic building, complete in its symmetry, has been replaced by a building whose form is derived from the concepts of movement, curved space, and the discrepancy between the outer shell and internal premises.