Berlin Block Tetris
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It´s kind of a parody about the former socialist building style. They use to build whole cities, without any change in House design or room layout to create cheep housing for workers (we call them Blocks). In Soviet times you could easily wake up at a friends place in another city and still feel like you are in your flat as the furniture was the same as well…
I was living in a Block on the opposite side of the street in Berlin 2 years ago. Living there remind me of my early childhood in Riga where we had nearly the same Bocks.
I think Alexei Paschitnow, the inventor of Tetris, had kind of the same Idea as me in spring 1984. I bet he was looking out of the window of his Block in Moscow and thought >>how do soviet architects actually plan this buildings??
via Digital Urban
Microrayon Living
Last Friday (24 September 2009) the IABR opened in Rotterdam at the NAi. Here are some snapshots:
The exhibition consists of a mock up of an entrance to a Soviet apartment block.
With in this decor we present our newspaper styledpublication: “Microrayon Living” (more on the publication soon)
We’ve printed 8000 newspapers, when they’re out (the biennale runs until January) there are still 6 newspapers on stick.
The entrance hall of the IABR at the NAi
Exhibition Idea
Today we met at de Balie to brainstorm how the exhibition and publication could look. We heard from the NAi that our space will be a 3x3m room, and we developed the following concept:
As our space is located at the exit point of the “collective city” exhibition, the idea is to build a portico entrance in the space, either at the exit from the rest of “collective city” exhibition (conceptual coherence) OR as the exit into the stairwell to the rest of the “open city” exhibition (visual coherence? – exit into the stairwell).
A stack of newspapers will allow visitors to take home the content of our exhibition, while newspapers in the rack will be for on site consumption.
Mock-up Portico entrance at the biennial exit (collective city section):
– two sofa-chairs
– stack of give away newspapers
– bulletin board
– newspaper rack (grand cafe style)
– painted wall (funky -cheapest- green)
– code-lock/intercom on the door
– extra authentic details … like garden, etc
Inspiration:
The Youth of Veshnyaki
by Yulia, Shauna and Inara
Vitaly (15), Pasha (14), Sasha (12)
> The boys have lived in Veshnyaki their whole lives.
> They spend their free time hanging out at shops like Kwartal and McDonals, at Kuskovo, visiting computer gaming centers in the neighboring rayon or driving around with their older friends.
group of friends
While taking a final stroll through Veshnyaki, we spotted a group of teens (a few boys, and a few pretty girls looking a bit older, 14-16 years of age). After a short hesitation, Inara approached them with some questions. At first they were timid and refused to be photographed, but in less than a minute they were ready the scoop on Veshnyaki. It turned out that all of them, excluding Vitaly, study at the same school as Sergey’s son. They enjoyed it there because it was tough and interesting. Vitaly commented that he liked his school better because it was more lax. When we asked if they wanted to stay in Veshnyaki after they finish their studies, the boys vehemently answered, no, but the girls checked them by commenting, “hey, what are you saying?” They eventually asked us to take a group photo of them and proposed to show us around Veshnyaki. The girls left us and the three boys, led by Vitaly accompanied us to the “worst” place in the area, “the 27th”.
Vitaly (right), Pasha and Sasha
On the way Vitaly assumed the leading role of a storyteller at first answering all the questions with an mischievous glitter in his eyes, as the other boys tried to hide their proud and embarrassed smiles. After a few minutes he brought us to a long courtyard occupied by a few groups of drunks. Not to attract their attention, we tried to exude total indifference. The boys, on the contrary, went to shake their hands and inform them about us. We walked to the furtherest bench and started our mapping session (see map). Eventually, two older guys showed up. They seemed well-dressed and sober, but we sensed somehow that they also belonged to this yard’s unpleasant society. They mentioned that they liked Veshnyaki, they grew up here and enjoyed the company around. As the boys relaxed in our presence, they helped us map Veshnyaki by placing some stickers to indicate important places. For example, they showed us on the map that they would take girls to the Cinema & Cafe across the road, to rainbow, or just for a walk through the microrayon. A bit later again, a couple of new drunks joined us. Barely 35, they looked as if they had been intoxicated all their short lives. When asked, “how long have you lived here?” one replied with dull eyes: “well, about 25 years minus 10 years jail time. What else do you want to know? Immigrants? Yeah, there were some, but not anymore. We are able to take care of it.”
It was not hard to see that Vitaly and his friends could have the same future as some of those we met at “the 27th.” Perhaps it is good that they answered “no” so quickly when we asked them if there was some future for them in Veshnyaki.
Mother’s concerns
by Inara & Shauna
parents and kids by Dimitrij Zadorin
We meet two ladies (36-38 years old) watching their kids play on the playground. At first they refused to talk to us. Apparently, they thought that we wanted to administer a psychological questionaire, or that we were interested in selling something, i.e. internet. When we explained that we were architects investigating Veshnyaki, they started to talk right away. “Actually we like our microrayon. It is green and quite clean.” Some complaints they had concerned noise coming from highway MKAD, maintanance (years ago they were supposed to install a small fence around the playground where we were talking, mostly to protect the playground from dogs and their owners) and that nobody really cares about the trees (the one just next to the playground is leaning more than 45 degrees). True, there many playgrounds in Veshnyaki, but they could be better. Other microrayons, for example are made out of a sort of plastic composite (which makes them safer for kids compared to metal). Some also have playgrounds for different age groups, i.e. built for different heights.
Social Housing after the Soviets 