This article is about the modern architecture and town-planning of Uzbekistan, a country in Central Asia. Formation and development of Modern architecture and town-planning of Uzbekistan historically shares for three periods:
Contents
The First Period
The first period – second half of XIX century – 20s of XX century when a part of possession of Bukhara and all the lands of Kokand khanates were won by the Russian empire.
At the period traditional architecture and town planning developed in parallel with the Russian-European architecture. Russian engineers and architects projected and built new cities, such as Skobelev (Fergana), Kagan, and new quarters in Tashkent, Samarqand, Andizhan.
There were two-structural cities, Old and New cities which were opposite on a development level. The old city represented a typical Central Asian city with one-storied irregular buildings, with a labyrinth of streets, and the New city was built up by one-two-storied houses and had a regular planning, straight, planted and paved streets, sidewalks, arch network, etc. There were new types of buildings, such as: banks, cinemas, railway stations, hospital and office building, etc., which architecture was planned in several style directions, beginning from eclecticism and gothic style up to modernism. Modernist style forms were widely applied basically in element variant. Use of local traditional forms of monumental architecture for buildings of new purposes (a cinema “Khiva”) is characteristic.
The Second Period
The second period – the middle of 30s of XX century – 1991 formation of the Soviet republics – is searching and the statement of new socialist culture under rigid dictatorship of bolshevist-communistic ideology.
In architecture of public buildings one observes three stylistic directions:
- constructivist
- imitation of classical samples
- use of motifs of the Uzbek national architecture
Creation of some state project institutes, the Tashkent city architectural-planning department, Union of architects (1935) which united the republic creative power, and also opening of architectural branch (1929), later – faculty at technical colleges and nowadays at Tashkent Architectural Building Institute (which is most modern) was remarkable tendency at the time.
The Third Period
In 1941-1945 there were plenty of new problems: sharp growth of population, transfer of the industrial enterprises with the local personnel, shortage of buildings, materials especially wood and ferroconcrete materials. Despite severe conditions, the creative activity was proceeded (e.g. Mukimi theater, a three-story house on the bank of Anhor channel in Tashkent city, as well as new settlements in Chirchik, Bekabad and others).
In post-war years a big updating is brought in the general layout of Samarqand, Fergana, Bukhara, Kokand, Khiva, etc. taking into account new principles of planning, industrial methods of mass building, buildings of scientifically-methodical recommendations, unfortunately, it was insufficiently considered specific features of a southern city with its unique structure and environment. Principles of the European town-planning with huge open spaces, powerful transport arteries, many-storey apartment houses etc., aren’t always combined with traditional town-planning culture – with necessity of shaded, half-opened spaces, scale internal inhabited environment and expedient neighborhood center. Creative use of folk art methods, courageous processing of the classical order forms and other progressive receptions in building of the State academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Tashkent(constructed by A.Shchusev, 1947) rendered a great influence on a creative orientation of public building architecture in Uzbekistan.