Fundamentals of Architecture in Omsk Khudprom: study of works on the organisation of space

Abstract

The article examines exhibits from the Collection of student works of the Art and Industrial College (Khudprom) named after M.A. Vrubel, which is stored in the Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M.A. Vrubel. The focus is on student works completed in 1927–1931 on the study assignment to organization architectural space (Assignment No. 6) while mastering the course Fundamentals of Architecture, developed in November 1926 by the college teacher, architect P.I. Rusinov. The study assignment on the organization of space in the course Fundamentals of Architecture was found to be of significant value, as it was a final credit requiring students to apply all previously acquired knowledge and techniques. For the first time, the attribution of works on Assignment No. 6 was carried out: the types of depicted spaces were analysed, the inscriptions on the sheets were compared with the characteristics of the assignment specified by P.I. Rusinov in the curriculum and working plan of the curriculum. A total of 32 works on the Fundamentals of Architecture were identified in the collection using the continuous review method, including 10 works on the study assignment to organization space. It was established that the authors of the latter were second- and third-year students of the Architecture and the Art-Pedagogical Departments — future architects and artists: I.F. Babin, N.S. Elashkin, A.K. Ermakov, I.P. Kotovshchikov, N.A. Linetskaya, M.N. Panteleev, P.I. Sergeev, A.A. Shteyn and P. Yudin; the author’s signature was not preserved on one work. The following were determined: the subject matter of the works (five themes were identified) and the time of completion (there are no works for the 1926/27 academic year). The general and individual features of the design of the works and the compositional and spatial solutions presented in them were established. Assumptions were made about the methods of execution, their evolution and different task to organization architectural space that were set before students in different departments. It is concluded that, despite their educational nature, these works were performed at a high professional level and vividly reflect the intensive development of architectural and artistic thought in the Omsk Khudprom during the avant-garde period of the second half of the 1920s – early 1930s.