Unrealized Projects of 1922–1956 for the Development of the Central Compositional Core of Moscow on the Example of Ilich Alley. Part 2

Abstract

Theoretical and practical aspects of the impact of unrealized urban planning solutions, concepts, and approaches on the architectural and planning development of cities are relevant for scientific research. The paper considers Ilich Alley - part of the Kremlin semicircle, starting from Dzerzhinsky square and ending with the construction area of the Palace of Soviets. The urban planning role of the concept of Ilyich's Alley is evaluated - unrealized, but it had a real impact on the territorial planning of Moscow. Caused by the program of perpetuating the memory of Lenin, Ilich Alley appeared in many Moscow urban concepts and designs of the 1920-1950s: in the competitions for the Palace of Soviets, the Park of culture and recreation, diploma works of students of architectural faculty of the VKhUTEMAS and at the Moscow Architectural Institute, the projects of reconstruction of ensembles of the Central squares of the city, the General plan of reconstruction of Moscow of 1935. The concept of Ilich Alley has evolved along with changes in urban planning policy - from a "romanticized scheme" to projects of radical reconstruction of the center of Moscow, "ensemble of ensembles". Almost none of the concepts of Ilich Alley was implemented in a complete form. The study uses the periodization of Moscow urban planning as a timeline, based on a retrospective assessment of the formation of the city's planning structure with socio-economic and political factors of influence. The study of the impact of unrealized projects on the evolution of cities and urban communities in the formation of a set of scenarios for socio-economic and territorial urban development makes it possible to use revived and updated creative concepts in real design. The study is accompanied by previously unpublished materials of the project for the reconstruction of the center of Moscow, made in the workshop-school of I.V. Zholtovsky.