The form development in the Kazan State Circus architecture

Abstract

The Kazan State Circus was built in 1965-1967, its shape was very unusual for that time and resembled a disk. Many researchers considered that the creators of the Kazan Circus borrowed its forms directly from the works of foreign architects of the modernist era, such as P.L. Nervi or O. Niemeyer. However, with a detailed comparison, it can be concluded that such a statement only partially corresponds to reality. The main purpose of this work is to search for the initial forms that became the basis for the design of the Kazan Circus building. This article presents the idea of the influence of the cult of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), which arose from the late 40s of the 20th century in the USA, including with the filing of George Adamski, who allegedly saw UFOs in the form of a disk in the sky several times. The article also examines the influence of Eastern philosophical and religious trends of the Buddhism and Hinduism on the architectural forms of the Kazan circus. The shaping of the Kazan Circus was subsequently used by other architects in the construction of various objects, for example, the Krasnodar Circus (Russia) and Astana Circus (Kazakhstan).

Keywords

• architecture
• buddhism
• circus buildings
• form-finding
• hinduism
• kazan
• unidentified flying object (ufo)