Colleagues are rivals: architecture and design in Russia

Abstract

Architecture and design are fed from sources belonging to two different cultures. One can be conditionally called "artistic", the other is just as conditionally "engineering". The Roman-speaking, Latin world sees architecture and design as a phenomenon of artistic culture. Anglo-Saxon, Protestant world is inclined to attribute architecture and design to the field of engineering, practical and rational. Fundamental, essential differences do not arise between architecture and design, but between the cultures in which they are formed. In the Anglo- Saxon world there are a number of different designs, i.e. project practices, among which as an equal among equals architectural design. To the Latin world, our environment appears holistic and undivided, and its creator is an architect, a universal professional, capable of creating everything from the city to the door handle. A direct consequence of the implementation of these models is the difference in the appearance of Paris and New York. These models do not exist in isolation, they actively compete and influence each other. Traces of this competition are clearly discernible both in the nature of today's Moscow and in the professional consciousness of russian architects.