Rationalism and Decorativeness in a Search for Social Foundation of Soviet Avant-Garde Architecture

Abstract

The article presents a brief description and characteristic ideas of three important styles in Russian and Soviet architecture (Eclecticism, Art Nouveau, and Avant-Garde). Based on this description, we develop a thesis that the period under consideration was deeply marked by a continuous development of the idea of functionality and by the dialectics of form and function. Only after following a path from the purely capitalistic in nature idea of economic profit to the humanistic considerations, functional approach found an ability to become the cornerstone of the avant-garde architecture.