The paper architecture of Brodsky and Utkin
A Hill with a Hole.
Searching around for Kafka images yesterday turned up a reminder of the etchings of Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin, a pair of Russian “Paper Architects” who channelled their frustration with the intransigence of Soviet authorities in the 1980s into a series of remarkable drawings. As with much architectural fantasy, these are part unrealistic exaggeration and part serious proposal, with the viewer left to decide whether the world really needs a hill with a hole.
Princeton Architectural Press published Brodsky & Utkin: The Complete Works by Lois Nesbitt in 2003 which is no doubt the source of the available scans. Of those, there’s a small Flickr collection here, while the late, lamented Nonist had a post about the book which repeats some of the same imagery. For more about Russia’s other paper architects see Russian Utopia.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of François Schuiten
• Hugh Ferriss and The Metropolis of Tomorrow
3 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by Toby Ferris
Sep 16th, 2011
Great stuff – had forgotten about this.
At the risk of giving Anatomy of Norbiton a shameless plug, we note here (http://anatomyofnorbiton.org/other_pages/on_Gods_and_Demons.php#boullee) (talking of Étienne-Louis Boullée) that the greatest architecture is built in two-dimensions. That’s probably putting it a bit strongly, but a blank sheet of paper of course eliminates such constraints on imagination as context, structural soundness and utility. And if what you get in return (as here http://www.flickr.com/photos/13964815@N00/4368467286/in/set-72157614490237062/) is a sort of geometry or anyway structure of despair, then perhaps that says something about big architectural projects per se.
#2 posted by John
Sep 16th, 2011
Hi Toby. Some of my favourite architecture exists on paper only–from Piranesi, Boullée, Hugh Ferriss, François Schuiten and others–so I certainly agree with the principle. I’d also suggest film as the other great medium, film can give a similar vicarious thrill without having to worry about how you’d build such things or whether it would be desirable to do so.
#3 posted by Piotr
Sep 23rd, 2011
Boullée immediately comes to mind ! I’m ordering this book right now, how could I pass such a thing ? Thanks a lot for another great discovery.