Development of Moscow's Motor Transport Architecture in the Late 1930s: Activities of the 10th Architectural and Design Studios of the Moscow City Council

Abstract

he article is devoted to the poorly studied topic of organizing the design of Moscow motor transport infrastructure facilities (mainly garages) in the pre-war years. In general, this work was assigned to one of the numbered Architectural and Design Studios of the Moscow City Council (Mossovet), to wit 10th, headed by architect Victor Kokorin. In the article some aspects of activity of the studio are described and analyzed. Firstly, the reasons why, at the end of the 1930s, the Moscow authorities were faced with the urgent question of modernizing the process of designing motor transport facilities, established at the beginning of the decade. Secondly, the legislative basis for this modernization - in particular, the influence on the architectural design of the facades of buildings of the decrees "On the general plan for the reconstruction of Moscow" (1935) and "On improving the design and estimate business and on streamlining the financing of construction" (1938), worked out by the Council of People's Comissars of USSR. A main attention of the author is focused on the very design activities of the 10th Studio within the chronological boundaries of 1938-1940. The Studio's architects established decisions for automotive garages, auto repair plants, gas stations and also trolleybus depots. Each of these purposes took some special technological conditions, so there is own engineer department in the Studio was organized. Most of the projects were implemented. Thanks to archival research, it was possible to clarify the departmental affiliation of the objects, to establish the authorship and addresses of the erected buildings.