Architecture of Life: Soviet Modernism and the Human Sciences

The Architecture of Life explores how Soviet architects reimagined the built environment through the principles of the human sciences during the 1920s and 1930s. It analyzes the theories advanced by El Lissitzky, Moisei Ginzburg, and Nikolay Ladovsky, as well as their lesser-known colleagues, and demonstrates how they sought to mitigate Fordist production methods with other, ostensibly more human-oriented approaches that drew on the biological and psychological sciences. The book explicates the underlying impulses that motivated Soviet modernism, highlighting the deep interconnections among the ways in which it viewed all aspects of life, both natural and manufactured.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 13 September 2022
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

During the 1920s and 1930s, proponents of Soviet architecture sought to formulate a methodological and theoretical basis for their modernist project by drawing on various principles within the human sciences. This transdisciplinary and transnational endeavor, explored in Architecture of Life, delves into the foundations of this radical approach and situates it within the context of other modernist movements developing concurrently across the globe. The study examines the theories advanced by El Lissitzky, Moisei Ginzburg, and Nikolay Ladovsky, as well as those of their lesser-known colleagues, to demonstrate how Soviet architects of the interwar period sought to mitigate Fordist production methods with other, ostensibly more human-oriented approaches that drew on the biological and psychological sciences. Envisioning the built environment as innately connected to social evolution, these architects incorporated aspects of psychoanalysis, personality theory, and studies in spatial perception into an ideology that grounded functional design firmly within the attributes of the individual. Architecture of Life provides a comprehensive overview of the ideals that permeated Soviet modernism, highlighting the deep interconnections among the ways in which it viewed all aspects of life, both natural and manufactured.

The principles of the human sciences played a significant role in shaping Soviet architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. Proponents of Soviet architecture sought to develop a methodological and theoretical basis for their modernist project by drawing on various disciplines within the human sciences. This transdisciplinary and transnational endeavor, explored in Architecture of Life, delves into the foundations of this radical approach and situates it within the context of other modernist movements developing concurrently across the globe. The study examines the theories advanced by El Lissitzky, Moisei Ginzburg, and Nikolay Ladovsky, as well as those of their lesser-known colleagues, to demonstrate how Soviet architects of the interwar period sought to mitigate Fordist production methods with other, ostensibly more human-oriented approaches that drew on the biological and psychological sciences. Envisioning the built environment as innately connected to social evolution, these architects incorporated aspects of psychoanalysis, personality theory, and studies in spatial perception into an ideology that grounded functional design firmly within the attributes of the individual. Architecture of Life provides a comprehensive overview of the ideals that permeated Soviet modernism, highlighting the deep interconnections among the ways in which it viewed all aspects of life, both natural and manufactured.

The principles of the human sciences played a significant role in shaping Soviet architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. Proponents of Soviet architecture sought to develop a methodological and theoretical basis for their modernist project by drawing on various disciplines within the human sciences. This transdisciplinary and transnational endeavor, explored in Architecture of Life, delves into the foundations of this radical approach and situates it within the context of other modernist movements developing concurrently across the globe

globe. The study examines the theories advanced by El Lissitzky, Moisei Ginzburg, and Nikolay Ladovsky, as well as those of their lesser-known colleagues, to demonstrate how Soviet architects of the interwar period sought to mitigate Fordist production methods with other, ostensibly more human-oriented approaches that drew on the biological and psychological sciences. Envisioning the built environment as innately connected to social evolution, these architects incorporated aspects of psychoanalysis, personality theory, and studies in spatial perception into an ideology that grounded functional design firmly within the attributes of the individual. Architecture of Life provides a comprehensive overview of the ideals that permeated Soviet modernism, highlighting the deep interconnections among the ways in which it viewed all aspects of life, both natural and manufactured.

The principles of the human sciences played a significant role in shaping Soviet architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. Proponents of Soviet architecture sought to develop a methodological and theoretical basis for their modernist project by drawing on various disciplines within the human sciences. This transdisciplinary and transnational endeavor, explored in Architecture of Life, delves into the foundations of this radical approach and situates it within the context of other modernist movements developing concurrently across the globe. The study examines the theories advanced by El Lissitzky, Moisei Ginzburg, and Nikolay Ladovsky, as well as those of their lesser-known colleagues, to demonstrate how Soviet architects of the interwar period sought to mitigate Fordist production methods with other, ostensibly more human-oriented approaches that drew on the biological and psychological sciences. Envisioning the built environment as innately connected to social evolution, these architects incorporated aspects of psychoanalysis, personality theory, and studies in spatial perception into an ideology that grounded functional design firmly within the attributes of the individual. Architecture of Life provides a comprehensive overview of the ideals that permeated Soviet modernism, highlighting the deep interconnections among the ways in which it viewed all aspects of life, both natural and manufactured.

Dimension: 254 x 178 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517912260