“Super-styles” in city-building practice of Leningrad — St. Petersburg

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of some results of city-building activity in Leningrad — St. Petersburg from 1917 to the beginning of XXI cent. For this purpose the author employs the categories of “super-styles” recently introduced in the architectural science by Selim O. Chan-Magomedov (1928–2011). On the one hand, the article shows principle incompatibility of new buildings belonging to the “second superstyle” (i.e. modernism) with traditional context of the historical center of St. Petersburg. On the other hand, the application of modes of the “first super-style” (i.e. classical methods) allowed to achieve positive results in several occasions of contemporary city-building practice. The conclusions are based on the comparative analysis of the city-building role of some monuments of constructivism (tombstones on Field of Mars, the “Large House”, Communal Home for Political Prisoners, etc.), post-war period (hotels “Leningrad” and “Sovietskaya”, ensembles of Sverdlov and October embankments) and such new buildings as “Aurora” and “Montblanc” on the Vyborg Side of the city.

Keywords:

contemporary architecture of St. Petersburg, city-building activity, historical center, “superstyles”, S. O. Chan-Magomedov