INFORMATION of 25 June 2015

Transcription

1 INFORMATION of 25 June 2015 Frankfurt am Main DESIGN FOR THE SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMME Galina Balashova, Architect June 27 November 15, 2015 at Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) Schaumainkai 43, Frankfurt/Main Ground Floor EXHIBITION OPENING: Fri, June 26, 2015, 7 p.m. PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GALINA BALASHOVA: Thu, June 25, 2015, 11 a.m. GUIDED TOURS: On Saturdays and Sundays, 4 p.m. Design of the cabin of Mir space station, 1980 Archive Galina Balaschowa OPEN: Tue, Thu Sun \ Wed \ Mon closed ON THE EXHIBITION / PERSONAL DATA 2 CHAPTERS OF THE EXHIBITION COSMONAUTICS + SOVIET MODERNISM 2 QUOTATIONS OF GALINA BALASHOVA 3 IMPRINT 5 COMING SOON / CONTACT 6 PRESS INFORMATION page 1

2 THIS MONOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION ON THE OEUVRE OF RUSSIAN ARCHITECT GALINA BALASHOVA WHISKS AWAY VISITORS INTO A WORLD OF ARCHITECTURE WHERE GRAVITY HAS BEEN REPLACED BY WEIGHTLESSNESS Deutsches Architekturmuseum presents a unique collection of designs for Soviet cosmonautics, including plans and engineering drawings for Soyuz capsules and the space stations Salyut and Mir. Balashova worked as a consultant to the Buran programme, the Soviet counterpart to the American Space Shuttle. Striving for both harmony and beauty, the architect strikes an emotional chord in the high-tech world that includes carrier rockets, laboratories and survival equipment. It is therefore owing to Balashova s talent that an important chapter has been added to Soviet architectural history: Architecture for Cosmonautics. Her exceptional creative work, including designs for medals and emblems, is still scarcely known today even in Russia. Allow yourself to be transported by Galina Balashova into a world of architecture in which the forces of gravity give way to anti-gravity. Life and Work Galina Balashova was born near Moscow in Her career started out in the year 1955 in what is today known as Samara. Balashova was initially assigned the task of ridding residential building designs of decorative elements, such as stucco and sculptures. This training was to be useful to Balashova in her subsequent career since, following marriage and a move back to Moscow, she accepted a position at OKB- 1, where the success of Sputnik was still being celebrated. First, Balashova designed residential buildings for the employees of the Design Bureau. In 1963, the space pioneer Sergei Korolev invited the only architect in his company to propose designs for the living area of Soyuz spacecraft still in the planning phase. Since the colleagues working in her department were overwhelmingly made up of engineers, Balashova soon emerged as the creative mastermind behind the Soviet space programme, albeit with one restriction: her drawings remained top secret until her retirement in COSMONAUTICS Space travel and the rocket technology associated with it remained a top priority in the Soviet Union. With the start of the first manmade space satellite Sputnik that took place in 1957 and, even more so, the first manned space flight undertaken by Yuri Gagarin four years later, the Cold War entered a new dimension: a race began between both political systems to achieve supremacy in space, since space travel set the benchmark for social performance and progressiveness. Along with military and political aspects, the main focus was on mankind s ancient dream of overcoming spatial boundaries and conquering the sky. The unprecedented enthusiasm surrounding space during the cosmological epoch is manifest in the futuristic repertoire of Soviet architecture together with its visually stunning motifs which took the place of religion as well as the deification of its many protagonists, such as for instance Yuri Gagarin, Sergei Korolev and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. PRESS INFORMATION page 2

3 SOVIET MODERNISM In parallel with the successes of cosmonautics as part of the rivalry between East and West, an overarching theme for iconographic buildings from the Pacific to the Baltic became apparent: metro stations interpreting the theme of cosmonautics; residential buildings whose gable façades are richly adorned with propaganda motifs related to space research; hotels taking the form of an entire spacecraft. The vivid architectural style was similarly shown to advantage in rocket science research institutes which were closed off from public view. These include, for example, the buildings on the premises of the Cosmonaut Training Centre situated in Zvyozdny Gorodok, the Mission Control Centre in Korolev or the buildings at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Colourful mosaics, filigree glass walls and expressive reliefs make the civil engineering and utility structures of space travel real architectural gems, whose architectural standard persists in the interiors. QUOTATIONS OF GALINA BALASHOVA (EXTRACT) Architecture in Space»Space stations are not only technical structures but architecture built amidst zero gravity. Prior to working at the Design Bureau, I was not aware that engineers have a vastly different mindset from architects. They think beyond individual details to the overall appearance of the machine; only via the design of individual components do they create the whole. According to their logic, connecting every single detail with the construction is of only secondary importance. Their approach is based solely on technical premises: thus, outer dimensions of individual parts their spherical and cylindrical forms derive both from the fact that a vacuum exists in space and from the hood of carrier rockets which the size of the spacecraft is reliant upon. The layout of individual devices each with their own technical systems is in keeping with the logic that dictates the combination of individual elements produces the whole. This applies to both carrier rockets and space stations which float in space like small cities. «Buran Space Programme»Ivan Zholtovsky, my great role model among architects, has long argued that a design focuses in particular on two issues: the scale between humans and objects and the proportion of forms. It was very early on that I understood this, and not only in relation to the design of interior spaces. I even applied this principle to the typography for the space shuttles of the Buran programme. The disciplines of engineering, architecture and graphic design are combined in such a work. Incidentally, I designed the lettering as a sideline job for engineer friends at a different company. They had approached me for help.«press INFORMATION page 3

4 Between Sputnik and Buran»Even if I have been associated with space travel for almost three decades and have continued to follow the development of this daring human discipline from Sputnik to Buran, I myself have never wanted to fly into space. I love my job since striving for harmony and determining the correct dimensions still to this day fascinates me, but to put it briefly, space has never appealed to me the same way in which architecture does.«around Moscow»I live in a prefabricated panel building in Korolev, which is near Moscow. My living room is about as wide as the interior of the Mir space station, albeit somewhat shorter. As with the space station, the interior design followed the technical requirements set out by construction engineers. In this respect, the Mir space station and my living room from Series I-464 have something in common.«mir Space Station»I wanted to make the station as comfortable as possible for the cosmonauts. Not only was access to the windows to be permitted, but nice cabins with cosy interiors were also to be provided. This required a vertical structure. For a long time I was preoccupied with the plans for this construction. I personally would have much preferred to design Mir differently. In my opinion, a vertical construction would have been better so that the cosmonauts would have the option of looking at space through windows on all sides of the spacecraft. Moreover, a vertical structure would have been much more comfortable for the cosmonauts: one storey to provide a workspace, one storey for living quarters. However, it was decided in the end to use a horizontal structure this was in order to simplify training on earth under gravity conditions. Yet this did not mark the conclusion of the planning process. The sleeping areas, for instance, were frequently optimized by us, since the cosmonauts requested additional nets in order to protect themselves against flying objects or crumbs. I was grateful for these suggestions.the space station as artefact is a mirror image of our earth within the black infinity of space. Equipped with small rooms and sparsely furnished, it teaches us how people who are well prepared can live and get along well together within the most confined of spaces. Each of us as individuals gains a very intense experience of self in the cosmos, since it is not only our own lives that are dependent on ourselves, but also those of the crew. Mutual trust is therefore the all-supporting, all-driving force.«sergei Krikalev, Cosmonaut Lunar Programme»After the Soyuz programme I worked on the Lunar programme. Not once was I asked to create an appealing design when it came to the positioning of the technical apparatus. It was purely functionality that was of any importance. Nevertheless, I attached great importance to beauty. When it came to the Soyuz programme, for example, I aimed to use colour to differentiate the walls, ceilings and floors. In comparison, with the case of the Lunar programme I used colour to differentiate between separate functions.«press INFORMATION page 4

5 PUBLICATION Philipp Meuser Galina Balashova Architect of the Soviet Space Programme DOM publishers, Berlin mm, 160 pages, 189 images, soft cover ISBN: At the museum shop available for EUR 19.90, at book stores available for EUR IMPRINT Design for the Soviet Space Programme Galina Balashova, Architect June 26 November 15, 2015 An exhibition by Deutsches Architekturmuseums (DAM) Director Peter Cachola Schmal Curator Philipp Meuser Co-Curator Peter Körner Project Management Jennifer Tobolla Exhibition Design Meuser Architekten GmbH Graphicdesign Masako Tomokiyo Translations Clarice Knowles (deutsch - englisch), Ekaterina Petrova (russisch - deutsch) Exhibition Catalogue DOM publishers Exhibition Installation Manager Christian Walter Exhibition Installation Enrico Hirsekorn, Paolo Brunino, Achim Müller-Rahn, Valerian Wolenik, Marina Barry, Angela Tonner, Beate Voigt, Eike Laeuen, Gerhard Winkler, Herbert Warmuth, Michael Reiter Registrar Wolfgang Welker Models Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. Press and Public Relations Brita Köhler, Lisa Katzenberger Director s office Inka Plechaty Administration Jaqueline Brauer Production inditec GmbH, Zeitdruck GmbH, Berlintapete GmbH Carpenter s work Schreinerei Oliver Taschke, Offenbach Design of poster, invitation and banner Gardeners, Frankfurt/Main Kindly supported by: PRESS INFORMATION page 5

6 Press images for announcements and reports during the exhibition period at TROPICALITY REVISITED RECENT APPROACHES BY INDONESIAN ARCHITECTS HOUSES OF THE YEAR 2015 THE BEST SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGS DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM Press & Public Relations Schaumainkai 43, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Brita Köhler, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) T +49 (0) \ F +49 (0) brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de Lisa Katzenberger, cand. Arch. T +49 (0) \ F +49 (0) lisa.katzenberger@stadt-frankfurt.de PRESS INFORMATION page 6