The role of Soviet modernism objects in the formation of Rostov-on-Don silhouette along the Don River embankment

Abstract

The active use of the landscape features in urban areas for the architectural environment formation has become a topical method of urban planning in the USSR. Developed in the late 1960s the new master plans for the large cities in the country primarily emphasized the existing natural features. Rostov-on-Don was no exception. Here, the main principle of urban planning in the early 1970s began to focus on the urban development disclosure in the direction of the Don River, which continued the tradition of the general plan of the 1930s and the post-war reconstruction concept. It was planned to demolish the dilapidated and warehouse buildings that had built up the slope descending from the city to the river, as well as to preserve the valuable historical sites and create the new structures in the form of modernism. The article analyzes the principles of the formation of silhouette buildings in Rostov-on-Don from the central embankment side. In the course of field studies and photographs, a panorama of the central embankment of the 1970-1980s city was compiled, the planning of the panorama, spatial landmarks and axes were revealed. The objects of modernism participating in the silhouette creation are analyzed as well as their role is determined depending on their location relative to the river (on the embankment, on the slope, in the central building). Unrealized structures of the 1970s, revealing the general principles of building spatial landmarks, have been studied.