Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut Power, Tectonics, Space, and Interiors in Soviet Architecture

Vlad Posmangiu Luchian

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of MArch 2017 Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University Wales, United Kingdom January 13, 2017

Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

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Abstract In a world where propaganda and architecture are the weapons of a threats and ideologies based war, one hopes to discover the pulleys and levers of how society is shaped by the built environment. The present dissertation explores the power of Soviet space station architecture to embody propaganda, metaphors and messages of social restructuring. Through the use of interior design, the Space Station becomes the weapon of doctrinal fight between the two opposing superpowers enforcing democratic neoliberalism and socialist communism. This generates a completely new architectural taxonomy which ends up being explored in a predominantly archaic manner. Thus it creates the perfect study case for understanding the communist architectural propaganda aims.

In other words, it renders the perfect mind-frame for ideological and

architectural parallels and comparisons.

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Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude towards my supervisor Charles Drozynski.

For the

guidance, patience and kind friendship that was invested in guiding me through the creative process of writing this dissertation.

I would also like to thank my godmother, Dr. Valentina Curelariu. Not only has she represented an academic and life inspiration to me, but I am sure that the writing of this dissertation would have not been possible if it was not for her benevolent gift of teaching me English as a child. For her invaluable editorial input without which this work would have been something all together different and considerably diminished.

As well, a warm thank you to all my close friends, which have been my allies, motivators, and generators of positivism throughout the writing of this dissertation. With a special thank you to Jessica Hartshorne, Konrad Wojciechowski and Jack Gell, who were there to listen to my incomprehensible continuos output of ideas and to respond with a warm tea, a great idea, or a good discussion. And another special thank you to Gareth Williams which kindly read through my thesis and offered me critical editorial suggestions.

Last but not least, I am most grateful to my family. As always, I owe my deepest gratitude to my parents Carmen and Alexandru Posmangiu Luchian, for the constant support and encouragement they provided, motivating me to pursue my passions throughout life.

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Figure 1: Space Will Be Ours. We Are Creative And Friendly And Clever / We’re Making Space To Be Peaceful Forever1

1 Benjamin Starr, 33 Soviet Propaganda of the Space Age, url: https://www.visualnews.com/2014/10/06/33soviet-propaganda-posters-space-age/.

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Contents 1 Introduction

11

1.1

Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11

1.2

Thesis Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11

1.3

Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11

1.4

1.3.1

Basic Elements Of Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11

1.3.2

Metaphor in architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

1.3.3

Cosmic Hut, Propaganda, and the Political Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

1.3.4

Dissertation Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13

2 Concepts And Context

15

2.1

An Archaeology of Socialist Monuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

2.2

Semper’s Fundamental Elements of Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

2.3

Geo-Political Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

2.3.1

The Cold War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

2.3.2

Nuclear Arms Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

2.3.3

Space Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

The Socialist Byt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

2.4.1

1920s - Revolution And Restructuring Of The Material World . . . . . . . .

18

2.4.2

Mid 1920s - Elements Of Stalinist Spaces And The Domestication Of The

2.4

Soviet Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19

1970’s - Post-Stalinist Characteristics Of The Soviet Domestic Realm . . .

21

The Ever-Contemporary Human Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22

2.5.1

22

2.4.3 2.5

The Myth - The USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 The Primitive Space Station - The Brick Moon

25

3.1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.2

The Fundamental Elements Of Architecture In The Brick Moon . . . . . . . . . . .

26

3.3

Conclusion

29

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 The USSR

31

4.1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.2

Frampton’s Elements of Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32

4.2.1

The Hearth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32

4.2.2

The Earthwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33

4.2.3

The Structure/Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

4.2.4

The Lightweight Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

Soviet Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

4.3

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4.4

The First Space Station (1970-1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

4.5

Salyut 1 (1971) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

4.6

Salyut 3 / Almaz 2 (1974-1975) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

4.6.1

Salyut 4 (1974-1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

44

4.6.2

Salyut 6/DOS-5 (1977-1982) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45

4.7

Salyut 7/DOS-6 (1982-1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

4.8

MIR, USSR/Russia, (1986-2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

4.9

Conclusion

50

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 The USA 5.1

5.2

55

SkyLab 1973-1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

5.1.1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

5.1.2

Frampton’s Fundamental Elements of Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

6 Conclusion

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61

6.1

General Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6.2

Basic Elements of Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

6.3

Metaphor In Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

6.4

Propaganda Cosmic Hut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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List of Figures 1

Space Will Be Ours. We Are Creative And Friendly And Clever / We’re Making Space To Be Peaceful Forever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6

1.1

Cover , ’A beautiful Life’

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

2.1

Soviet Propaganda Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

2.2

The Apartment Of A Milling Machine Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19

2.3

F-Unit Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

2.4

F-Unit Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21

2.5

Casa Poporului Under Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

3.1

The Brick Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.2

Bernal Sphere Interior. ”Interior Including Human Powered Flight” . . . . . . . .

27

4.1

Salyut Programme Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

4.2

’A Room With A Traditional Arrangement [Above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

4.3

Interior Of F-Unit Stroikom 1930 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

4.4

Salyut Working Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

4.5

A Commode That Converts Into A Hi-Fi And Dressing Table, Kratkaia Entshiklopedia Domashengo Khoziaistvo, 1962, Vol. 2, P. 1041 . . . . . . . . . . .

38

4.6

Details On A Control Panel In The Soyuz Orbital Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

38

4.7

Salyut Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

4.8

Salyut Space Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

4.9

Salyut 1 Axo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

4.10 Salyut Typical Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42

4.11 Salyut 3 / Almaz 2 Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

4.12 diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45

4.13 Salyut 6 Work Compartment Sectionl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

4.14 Salyut 6 Axo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

4.15 Crew Soyuz T-5 Onboard Salyut 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

4.16 Salyut 7 Layout Axo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

4.17 Salyut 7 Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

4.18 Soviet Stamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

4.19 MIR Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

4.20 MIR Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

4.21 MIR Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

4.22 MIR meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

4.23 Design For The Cabin Of The MIR Space Station, Final Variant Of The Interior Fittings (1980). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9

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4.24 Galina Balashova Design For Mir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

52

4.25 Sketch For MIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

4.26 Sketch Study for MIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

5.1

SkyLab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56

5.2 5.3

Skylab Configuration Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crew Quarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57 57

5.4

Interior Of A Power Stationt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

5.5

Interior Of Skylab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

5.6

Waste Management Compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

5.7

Sleep Compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter One

Introduction 1.1

Aim

The aim of the dissertation is to study the power of architecture to embody the messages and means of social reshape and daily life re-structuring as part of the USSR’s communist doctrinal propaganda. The analysis of the phenomenon will be realised through the study of Soviet Space Stations, architectural artefacts that played a major role in the perceived identity of the communist bloc all around the world, including inside its own borders. The analytical deconstruction of this specific taxonomy and the subsequent comparison with its Western (i.e., American) equivalent will be realised through the use and adaption of Semper’s Four Fundamental Elements. The method will be similar to the typical architectonic analysis realised by Frampton in his book Studies in Tectonic Culture. Throughout the analysis, Victor Buchli’s An Archaeology of Socialism will offer a background knowledge of the general Soviet environments.

1.2

Thesis Statement

The architecture of the Soviet Space Stations creates a sense of an avant-garde idealised place that is lacking of the characteristics of its capitalist counterpart. By trying to provide and prove the existence of an exemplary shelter for the new social typology crystallised by the utopian socialist human, the Space Station becomes a Rosetta Stone in deciphering the aims and targets of the communist society.

1.3 1.3.1

Objectives Basic Elements Of Architecture

In order to achieve the aim mentioned above, I set out by proving the flexibility of Semper’s fundamental Four Elements of Architecture and their tendency to maintain their validity even when they are applied to an architectural typology situated in an environment totally different from the one they were initially used in by their author. I consider this a matter of architectural continuity that spans the entire human history, from the primitive human habitats all the way into the contemporary world. This continuity translates as a fruitful link between all the items of architecture ever produced. By approaching in detail these basic constitutive components/elements of architecture, the analysis has the potential to preserve their general truth value and relevance for any other human structure, including the one mentioned in the title of the present dissertation.

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1.3.2

Metaphor in architecture

Another objective is to demonstrate the metaphorical power of architecture, that is, the embodied, intrinsic value that is present not only in the tectonic form of architecture, but also in its metaphysical nature and in its own time-space context. This is to say that the Space Stations under consideration are not only places of science or weapons of war: metaphorically, they become the House of Eden of the proletarian. The Space Station, in its duality, becomes the receptacle for the socialist daily space (the Socialist Byt), at the same time with becoming the invisible menace, for the ones that are not represented by it.

1.3.3

Cosmic Hut, Propaganda, and the Political Image

Finally, I am going to demonstrate that the design of the space stations used a familiar architectural language similar to that of the domestic landscape of the time. By doing so the interiors were either trying to reinforce ideas of daily life restructuring, or were just the outcome of a society functioning on that specific set of ”byt” norms.

1.3.4

Dissertation Structure

Chapter Two In chapter two I discuss the relevancy of the conceptual and architectural tools (i.e., Semper’s Fundamental Elements of Architecture, Buchli’s Archaeology of the Socialist Monuments, and Yuval Noah Harari’s Power Of The Story) that will be used throughout the analysis. Afterwards, I look at the context created by the society, politics, architecture of the world in which these space stations came into existence.

Through the discussion of the political and domestic

landscapes these structures, I set out to create a clear and definite rendition of the world in which these monuments materialised .

Chapter Three Through this chapter, I initiate the discussion about this unique taxonomy by first discussing the primordial ideas at the basis of the space station (in this case the representative for the American society). This will be done by creating an image of the construct with the help of Edward Everett Hale’s book The Brick Moon. In this chapter, the ideas will be analysed using the proposed conceptual constructs from Chapter two.

Chapter Four In the chapter, I continue the discussion initiated in Chapter Three, this time focusing on the soviet space stations (i.e., Salyut,Almaz and MIR), in the frame of the aforementioned elements.

Then, I proceed to analyse the Soviet Space Station architectural development, and to discuss the similarities in development between the Soviet space station and the soviet imagined inhabitation schedule.

Chapter Five During this chapter, I will be focusing on discussing Skylab as the Western Space Station to enable the revealing of the Soviet dominant characteristics.

Throughout the discussion, the

contrasts and similarities will develop the idea that propaganda can be found embedded in architecture.

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Chapter Six In the last chapter, I will combine the literature review with the analysed research to reach a conclusion about the role of political imagery on the development of architecture and interiors in space stations. Thus, leading to the creation of a sense of belonging in an apparent void of context in both space and the communist society.

1.4

Methodology

The methodology consisted mainly in extensive readings of primary, secondary and even tertiary literature reviews on tectonics, tectonic culture, the primitive hut and spaces of socialist nature, scientific papers on the development and upgrade of Space Stations. Watching documentaries on both the Cold War and the Space Race, and reading current publications and journals concerned with novel ideas of inhabitation and the future of architecture and engineering represents another documentation practice I engaged in while developing this paper. My research process revolved around going to the British Library, London, where I found various sources of drawings and images for the space stations. By analysing and reading about the meaning of these drawings, combined with my parallel reading the connection between the terrestrial and spacial became evident to me.

This link laying at the very foundation and representing the starting point of this thesis. Lastly, my process involved reading NASA reports on the development and technical development of both the Soviet and American space stations, from which I subtracted various architectural information which I later interpreted throughout my study.

1 Victor

Buchli, An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, Berg Publishers, 1999,

p.3.

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Figure 1.1: Cover , ’A beautiful Life’1

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Chapter Two

Concepts And Context 2.1

An Archaeology of Socialist Monuments

Through reading Buchli’s analysis of the socialist landscape, one can see how the relevance of such a study lies within the realms of understanding the continuous dialogue between society and architecture. As it is formulated in the opening of the book An Archaeology of Socialism: ”Probably the most fundamental concern of students of material culture is how we understand and interpret societies, through their artefacts. Of all material cultures (...) architecture is (...) the most durable, long lasting and easily retrievable. (...)

Hence our understanding of societies is almost invariably concentrated through an architectural ocular.”1

With this statement in mind, one can argue that architecture can be used as the key for unlocking the communist social and architectural programmatic language. Or in other words, what both society and architecture are trying to achieve within their respective context, and how they both influence the present, the future development and the interpretation of the past of each other.

Thus, in a manner of similar significance and manner to that of Rosetta Stone, the choice of focusing on the primitive USSR Space Stations, Salyut, Almaz and its more developed sequel MIR become evocative and intricate models of embodied socialist deciphering keys.

2.2

Semper’s Fundamental Elements of Architecture

At the heart of my analysis are Semper’s Four Elements: (1) the hearth, (2) the earthwork, (3) the framework/roof and (4) the lightweight enclosing membrane. These concepts arose as an attempt to focus the study of architecture through anthropological lens.

Thus, creating a

defining context through which the fundamental building blocks of any architectural spaces and structures can be analysed. The validity of this taxonomical deconstruction is reinforced by the presence of all four elements in the vernacular architecture of all the cultures around the globe.2 Semper’s theory of tectonics was discussing aspects that were prevalent in the emerging science of ethnography. By doing so, he manages to depart architecture theory from the Vitruvian triad of 1 Buchli,

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, p. 1.

Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture, the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Centrury Architecture, ed. by John Cava, the MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusets, 1995, p. 6.

2 Kenneth

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Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

utilitas, fermitas and venustas.3 . Through the understanding of architecture through Semper’s theoretical lenses, one can see architecture as a development in time and space of different elements and the relationship an individual shares with them. Thus one’s notion of architecture is not only based on the volumetric and spacial qualities of architecture, but is furthermore influenced by the qualities of the spatial experience.

By the convergence of our mental

perception, context, history and past experiences into a cumulus, architecture guides our perception of the surrounding space into an unitary idea. Therefore the notion of architecture appears at the level of the individual perception, and it reflects both the individual and the environment.

That is why, any architectural moment has to first pass through our own

perception in order to be understood.

Nevertheless, in this process, if architecture has the

potential for propaganda, it will not only change our understanding of the architecture, but furthermore reshape our perception of past and future experiences. Finally, by exploiting these intimate links between consciousness, architecture and experience, one speculates that the space station was making use of its architecture to provoke social reshape. ”This conjunction between space-time, life and art was reinforced through the experience of speed and the actual transformation of space-time in an every-day sense, due to the mechanical inventions of the last half of the century: the familiar Futurist technology of the train, the transatlantic liner, the car, and the plane.”4 To this I find adequate to add the Space Station.

Space has since become such an integral part of our thinking about architecture that we are practically incapable of thinking about it at all without putting our main emphasis on the spatial displacement of the subject in time.”5

2.3

Geo-Political Context

In order to understand the architecture of a specific time in history one has to understand its the geo-social-political contextual landscape of the world. This will shed light on the ways in which architecture interacts, forms and informs of its contextual historical time.

2.3.1

The Cold War

The Cold War was a state of military and political tension between two superpowers: the USA and its allies representing on the one hand, the Western Bloc and on the other, the Eastern Bloc represented by the USSR and its allied Communist countries. This conflict manifested through a continuos arms race and development of nuclear ballistics, proxy wars, political tension, a and a space race. Although there are no official dates between which The Cold War is thought to have taken place, a common time frame between the Truman Doctrine of 1947 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 is generally accepted.7 This period of intense bilateral tensions was generated and reinforced by a multitude of factors, including the Warsaw Pact of 14th of May 1955, different views on economy and social politics and a general threat of mutually assured destruction (i.e., MAD).

3 Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture, the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Centrury Architecture, p.4.

4 Ibid., p.1.

5 Ibid., p.1.

6 Starr, 33 Soviet Propaganda of the Space Age. 7 Melvyn P Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

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Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

Figure 2.1: Soviet Propaganda Poster: ”Be Proud, Soviet Person, You Opened The Path To Stars From Earth”6

2.3.2

Nuclear Arms Race

With the detonation of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August 1945, human society entered a new age of technological warfare. The possibility of completely destroying a city with the macabre simplicity of dropping a nuclear-bomb and the potential of intercontinental missile systems had reverberating effects on society and the macro-political situation of the globe. For the first time in human history the simple threat of owning or developing an advanced warfare technology became a global mechanism of worldwide geopolitical bargaining.

This led to a slow deprecation of the need of the so called ”classical” in-trench warfare leading to an increasingly predominant technological threat-based, positional and diplomatic war. A good example of these emerging techniques are the events so called ”the Cuban Missile Crisis” of 1962 and the Space Race.8

2.3.3

Space Race

The Space Race began on 2nd of August, 1955 when through the written press, the USSR announced the intention of launching a satellite in orbit to celebrate the International Geophysical Year. This came as a response to a statement made on the 29th of July, when the USA published an article announcing the same event. This occurred at a time when the Cold War was at its apex, the USA having managed to previously land the first man on the Moon. As representatives and leading militants of the capitalist society their technological supremacy posed a threat for the security, ideals and stability of the communist world. In this Space Race, initially started by the USSR, the Soviets had to prove themselves once again by showing at least equivalent if not superrior technological capabilities. This is where the orbital space station 8 Ibid.

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appears as the next major technological step forward. Given their quality as firstly an embodied vehicle of propaganda and secondly a vehicle of war, the space stations proved to be the chosen architectural and technological manner of providing a solution.

2.4

The Socialist Byt ”We are now at war, and the war is for the new life, for that which mere words cannot describe. Here every person is obliged, like a solider, to overcome everything.”9

The social restructuring of the material world plays an important role in the development of the new socialist ”byt” and the effects that this phenomenon had on the architecture of the socialist world. There are a few different phases that this restructuring goes through.

2.4.1

1920s - Revolution And Restructuring Of The Material World

The first one, attributed to the 1920s is a clinical, austere period, based on a pure outlook on Marxism and its theories. During this period most of the organically developed ideas pre-dating the soviet revolution are proclaimed as being part of the ”petit-bourgeois conscience” and thus banished. Consequently leading to the proposal of a new way of living (a new byt). These actions explited a time when Russia was trying to recover from the destruction of World War I. Thus, the enforcers and creators of the new byt used the lack of housing, domestic furniture and general decline of the male population, to formulate and engineer through architectural methods a new way of living.10 Dirt And The Petite-Bourgeoisie Conscience Modernist architecture, the use of the open plan, and the metaphorical banishing of the ”darkness, ignorance and microbes associated with petite-bourgeois byt” all become words used in the language of social re-structuring. Architecture has to allow as much light as possible to enter the buildings.

Furthermore, buildings must be minimally furnished in order not to

accumulate dust, and create a ”sickly” environment.11 Feminism The enlargement of women’s role in society was seen as a quintessential part of the revolution.

1920’s byt reformers wanted to dissolve the domestic realms.12 Thus, they created an environment of public nature to replace the family landscape. This move was also aiming to ’un-chain’ the females from the ’hearth’ of the family, and from their housewife chores. The stove and the cooker become symbols of the petite-bourgeois, and of gender-based inequality.13 The De-Domestication Of The Domestic Realm At the heart of the revolution stood the idea of transforming the private environment of the household into a public space. This notion, took its roots from the idealised Marxist classless and non-materialistic society. Taking advantage, at the same time of the general lack of housing stock in Russia, following WW1.

9 Buchli,

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, p. 23. p.43.

11 Ibid., p.43.

12 Ibid., p.82.

13 Ibid., p.43.

10 Ibid.,

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2.4.2

Mid 1920s - Elements Of Stalinist Spaces And The Domestication Of The Soviet Interior

The following period is that of Stalinism, starting from the moment Stalin secured the leadership of the Soviet Union. This is a time which brought with it a relaxation of the 1920’s specific restructuring, manifesting itself through an iteriorisation of the domestic space. The stalinist architectural domestic interior is characterised by the presence of certain pieces of furniture and spatial configurations.

Interiorisation This character was separating the internal world of the apartment from the external Socialist world. The uiut (”comfort”) of the house was provided by furniture, embroideries and a specific attitude towards inhabitation. The interiorisation of the domestic sphere came as a response to the 1920’s aggressive, and somewhat destructive character of the byt changes.

The Table Located centrally under a large lamp-shade, it embodies the continuation of the spatial and

Figure 2.2: The Apartment Of A Milling Machine Operator14 symbolic features of the traditional family space, the izby (see Figure 2.2). It represents the place that generates all the other elements surrounding it. Moreso, it represents the locale around which all the family activities take place, such as eating, resting, reading and, working.15

The Red Corner This element was the localised breach in the interiorised space of the home.

Breach which

manifested itself through external propaganda making its way through a one-way radio, a television set, a newspaper or a phonograph. This specific corner would bring into the family environment the rule and ways of the communist doctrine. The propaganda emitters were usually ”decorated” with pictures of Soviet political figures, sitting alongside the household’s collection of Marxist texts.16 The Red Corner was a development and replacement of the traditional corner 14 Ibid.

15 Ibid., 16 Ibid.,

p.87. p.88.

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dedicated to icons of gods and saints in the traditional izby.

The Bed Usually placed alongside a wall with a small kovrik next to it, which is a flat tapestry that can be found from the Balkans all the way to Pakistan. It was used traditionally as both decoration and as an insulator, sound and humidity dampener and draught blocker inside the traditional Russian dwelling. It was seen as an object with an ingrained meaning of wealth, and prosperity. (see Figure 2.4) The Buffet/Commode This piece of furniture was one of the biggest Soviet elements, condemned by the reformer of 1920, who actively strove to eradicate it. It was elaborately carved with glassed in shelves for displaying the extravagant tea services. By doing so, they were inadvertently seen to promote competitive social behaviour, thus being deemed unacceptable in a classless society. Nevertheless, during Stalinist times it was placed in such a way that guests could see the wealth of the family, together with other treasured possessions and artefacts.17 . (see Figure 2.3, Figure 2.2) The Table

Figure 2.3: F-Unit Interior18

Ethazerka It was the piece of furniture hosting the contents of the Red Corner. It was usually an exposed 17 Buchli,

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, p. 91.

18 Ibid.

19 Ibid.,

20

p. 90.

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Figure 2.4: F-Unit Interior19

bookshelf, on which all the items of the Red Corner would be stacked. Being part of the so called sacred architecture of uiut it was covered in embroideries in order to be protected from dust.

2.4.3

1970’s - Post-Stalinist Characteristics Of The Soviet Domestic Realm

Multi functional furniture Another innovation of the 1970’s was the development of the multi-functional, transformable furniture.

This

move

was

named

by

the

byt

reformists

as

”razveshchestvleniia”

(de-artefactualization) of the domestic scene.20 .

Landscape of reduction Nichego lishnego (nothing superfluous)21 was the doctrine that stood at the heart of uiut. This term meant, the comfort of the house. Represented by different items of material culture, the drive was that of changing their value from a denotative to a contextual one22 . Since the 1920s uiut was meant to be independent of the past bourgeois society.

But, due to the slow

replacement rate of the existing stock, and the general lack of uiut, the reformers accepted the ”needed” presence of some of these ”bourgeoise” items.

The explosion of the centripetal plan The late 1950’s early 1960’s saw the dissolution of the centripetally distributed furniture.

Nevertheless, with the changing of material culture that came with Stalin’s death, it indadvertedly was rejected by the byt reformers as being ’old fashioned’. Thus, the new method of planning was one in which the open-plan was subdivided up into functional zones (see Figure 4.2 ). This is a general architectural characteristic that can be found in all the soviet space stations.

Thus Architecture is the identified locality where the world composing of social identity seems to materialise through the way one inhabits the space, and actively or passively chooses to occupy 20 Ibid.,

p.143. p.58.

22 Ibid., p.56.

21 Ibid.,

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the space.

2.5

The Ever-Contemporary Human Society

In his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari discusses the evolution of the Homo Sapiens throughout time. His emphasis falls on the importance of the so called Tree of Knowledge, which bypasses the human genome to perpetuate knowledge from one generation to another.23 This is the testimony that compels us to understand architecture in a similar manner to that discussed by the aforementioned Victor Buchli. Furthermore Harari enriches the depth of insight on human culture by arguing the quintessential nature of the common story or myth in the structuring and development of society. He then continues to discuss how the common myths of after-life, nation, religion, democracy, etc. have shaped the built environment around the cultural understanding of architecture and thus altered our conscious understanding of the world we live in.

This was done in such a way that made us capable of educating future or present generations about the myth itself - self-perpetuating that which we now call culture. Throughout my discussion, I will follow the development of the power embedded in the architectural monument - manifestation which therefore becomes the complex embodiment of the social understanding and consciousness of our time’s common myth.

2.5.1

The Myth - The USSR

The importance of the myth in the cooperation and development of the human society is central.

An eloquent example is that of the myth of Peugeot SA. The entity in itself, doesn’t have a physical boundary and is not defined by physical bodies or physical limits. Nevertheless, Peugeot SA exists in the common knowledge of society and acts and behaves as a person, being able to be sued and represent itself in front of governing bodies.

The act in which Peugeot comes to

existence is, in the eyes of the author of the same mysticism with which, priests would transform banal bread and wine into the sacred entities of Jesus’ body and blood, respectively, which occupy a central role in the Christian faith.24 To the same extent, the Soviet society creates the myth of an egalitarian society, ruled by the proletarian, in which the petite-bourgeoisie conscience is consequently banished.

All this is done by manipulating the architecture and

architectural monuments of both daily life and scientific endeavour.

Another good example can be obtained, by looking at the domestic spaces and the embodied myth of inhabitation. From this social construct one can subtract certain defining qualities. For example, the level of privacy expected by society in its inhabitation, the level of storage needed by society to store their goods, the quality or beauty of design needed by one to express one’s personality, or the right to have exclusive access to a specific property. Contextualising and adding up these characteristics create a culture or a myth. In this culture, the dwelling is in itself enriched with certain mythical properties, defined by laws, and enforced by certain individuals.

These are granted by the mysticism of the entity which we define as the state. If the state (which in our case acts almost like a person in itself) decides that these mythical properties don’t exist anymore (i.e., they are not enforced anymore or even better, they are condemned) the state has to convince all the other people that the common terms of the myth have changed. But in order to do this, the state has to first gain the trust in front of the subjects that it imposes itself on. In 23 Yuval

Noah Harari, Sapiens: A brief history of humankind, Random House, 2014, pp.22-55.

24 Ibid.

22

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other words it has to convince the people that it exists. Throughout centuries, architecture has materialised this sense of an institution by offering a locale and place to the myth. A good example is the Casa Poporului built by the Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

The myth of the autocratic power of the dictator, was materialised by this building and imposed to the nation. Even the name, meaning House of the People, has embedded into itself a certain quality of propaganda and myth.

Figure 2.5: Casa Poporului Under Construction25

25 url:

http://wp.libertatea.ro/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/4686-336122-casa_poporului_1.jpg.

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Chapter Three

The Primitive Space Station - The Brick Moon

Figure 3.1: The Brick Moon1

”The success of this enterprise would promise more for mankind than any enterprise which was ever likely to call for the devotion of my life”2

3.1

Introduction

The idea of a space station orbiting Earth pre-dates by a considerable amount of time any type of human cosmic expedition, and for that matter, any human made object that could reach outer-space. One of the first written examples materialising the concept that will later be called a space station dates to the year 1869, appearing in Edward Everett Hale’s book ”The Brick Moon”.

1 Edward

Everett Hale, The brick moon, vol. 2, Baen Publishing Enterprises, 2013.

2 Ibid.

25

Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

The book is a fictional story in which a spherical artificial satellite made out of bricks is accidentally launched into orbit with people aboard. Thus, it becomes the first space station and artificial body to orbit around Earth.

The Brick Moon represents an appropriate point of

departure into the the study of space stations, due to its encapsulated primitive notion of what a space station’s purpose would ideally be.

The Brick Moon’s initial purpose was to aid navigators in orienting themselves at sea. It was funded and built to supposedly orbit Earth, on the Greenwich meridian, in a manner similar to a modern day artificial satellite. Furthermore, its orbit was meant to be seen from afar, acting like a guiding beacon for sailors.

Due to the fact that Edward Everett Hale was an American, and the story was written in the context of a capitalist, ”bourgeois” society, one shall consider the Brick Moon as the first space station embodying a capitalist propaganda.

3.2

The Fundamental Elements Of Architecture In The Brick Moon

The Hearth At the heart of the project stands human expedition, commerce and the human spirit for adventure. The brick structure’s main drive is, initially, not that of an inhabitable/architectural piece, but more so that of an utilitarian architectural wonder. Its complex geometry is in itself an amazing achievement of what, at the time of writing, human society could, theoretically, design and build using a simple standardised module (i.e. a brick). The aim for it was to gain the status of an architectural wonder, in many ways similar to the buildings of the Great Exhibitions or World Fairs (i.e., the Crystal Palace or the Eiffel Tower).

Nevertheless, the Brick Moon transcends this monumental status by accidentally departing on its mission whilst being inhabited by people.

Due to this situation the Hearth of the project

undergoes a change. At this time, the Brick Moon’s purpose becomes facilitating through its architecture the point of contact between man and the universe - a place where scientific research takes place and scientific concepts get to be tested and questioned.

The inhabitants seem to be able to witness a lower gravitational pull (testifying the dependency of gravity on mass), objects orbiting their own moon, and even lichens evolving into trees (confirming Darwin’s evolutionary theory at a time when a lot of people where still debating it).

But something intriguing takes places at the moment when the inhabitants of the moon get in contact with the inhabitants of Earth ( this was done through jumping in Morse Code - also an invention of the 19th Century). The structure becomes not only a scientific base, where the (accidental?)

volunteers become empirical scientist of the highest sort, but furthermore the

architecture of the Brick Moon becomes a vehicle for scientific propaganda. A liveable scientific monument, which uses its architectural, environmental, and image qualities to inform people about the power and validity of science. This is where the duality of the hearth appears.

The main drive is no longer definable as a utilitarian architectural monument, but, it slowly 26

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transcends into an area of scientific knowledge and inspirational education - an area where the structure and its inhabitants try to reshape and impose certain ideas on the observer, or in this case, on the reader by indirectly breaching the fourth wall of the story.

Figure 3.2: Bernal Sphere Interior. An idealised space station, with a form of artificial gravity, flora, and sense of community. It portrays a bigger scale example of what the brick moon was idyllically trying to communicate3

The Earthwork The context of the Brick Moon as described by Hale in his book is of great importance and relevance to my study from this point on. I will discuss it from two perspectives: its initial and its subsequent status. The former refers to the initial purpose of the Brick Moon, whereas the latter, to its becoming accidentally inhabited.

In the initial phase, the Brick Moon’s Earthwork was strictly tied to the navigators and it was relatively confined to its observer’s time-space position, knowledge, and resources. One could have seen the Brick Moon orbiting, and it would have helped him orient himself.

The

architecture’s context was that of global importance, having no knowledge or interest based bias.

During the second phase, the Brick Moon’s Earthwork becomes an ever changing context with multiple nuances and interpretations. Thus we can define the general context as being created by three interdependent sub-contexts.

To begin with, there is the local Earthwork

created around the Brick Moon’s close vicinity. The architecture of this space consists of orbiting objects which, in an attempt, were projected towards the satelite by Earth’s inhabitant. The attempt failed and thus objects of common use (i.e. toys, items of luggage) seem to create a connecting line of need between the Cosmic and Earthly realms. The objects become part of the architectural language of both Earth and the Brick Moon. Secondly, there is an Earthwork defined by the space in-between the Brick Moon and Earth. As will be later discussed, this dimension is solved through the use of corporeal imagination. And then the third sub-context is defined by the distance between the people situated on the Brick Moon and the people they communicate with. This is the propaganda dimension of the Earthwork.

3 Rick Guidice, Bernal sphere interior. ”Interior including human powered flight”, url: http://settlement. arc.nasa.gov/70sArtHiRes/70sArt/art.html.

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The Structure/Roof The tectonic dimension of the Brick Moon is represented by its brick architectural structure.

Brick itself is made from fired clay, a material closely linked with society’s general perception of Earth. By creating this link, brick metaphorically talks about the Earth-bound quality of the artificial satellite. In doing so, it completes our perception of the artificial satellite as a manmade object. An object made of earth ( metaphorically speaking about the initial human condition as being earthbound, unable of escaping its terrestrial cage ) , hardened with the use of fire (metaphorically representing human labour) and bound together in arches and bonds (representing technology and knowledge), made to facilitate our ease of life. Accidentally, by inhabiting this metaphorical contraption, the humans elevate themselves above the initial human condition.

Through this poetic construction, architecture is enriched with a propaganda

dimension.

Furthermore, brick can be seen as the metaphor of a community, where each individual (in this case represented by bricks) works together in order to facilitate the architecture of space colonisation. In this way, architecture has the power to educate people of the importance of the joint effort made by a community to achieve a grandiose goal. Again the power of architecture to embody propaganda is present.

The Enclosure The fundamental architectural element is constituted by two smaller inter-connected parts. The first one is the enclosure of the moon itself, which creates the place that acts as the living chambers of the inhabitants, and second one is the outside atmosphere. The two enclosures (the brick and the air) seem to create a direct link with the idea of an idyllic Earth. Where the architecture is the perfect dwelling and the chamber delimitated by air is ever-welcoming. Again this fundamental element plays on the ideas of common imagery and domestic environments (i.e., the environment of earth) adding an idealised twist to it.

The Propaganda The counterintuitively idealised situation in which the inhabitants of the Brick Moon are placed, captures the propagandistic nature of the architectural structure Hale’s writing about. Although these dwellers are completely stranded both socially and physically from Earth’s environment, they seem to live in the Garden of Eden. environment come into play.

This is where the architecture and its specific

The Brick Moon, due to its smaller size and fast orbit, has

prosperous agriculture. Moreover, due to its position ”in the skies” its inhabitants are more knowledgeable than those of Earth, as they are able to understand - using empirical methods, such as their sense of sight - what the Earth’s poles are made of, not to mention their priceless general topographical knowledge. The benefits of their position, clearly outnumber those of any Earth inhabitant. One of the characters concludes that this is the ideal type of living and that Earth should be in the same way made out of micro-planets.4 In this way, the architectural structure of the Brick Moon ingrains a sense of political propaganda, advocating for decentralisation.

4 Hale,

28

The brick moon.

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3.3

Conclusion

Throughout the fictional description of the Brick Moon, Edward Everett Hale did not only propose to the reader a possibility of a man made architectural structure orbiting Earth. But furthermore, he constantly tried to persuade the reader to adhere and give credibility to certain ideas. Thus, the primitive space station is not only a mere structure but also a promise and a mechanism of social restructuring. Although written in the context of a capitalist, democratic economy, the Brick Moon’s image still embodies Presenting an idealised version of Earth, and creating a context similar to that of the Garden of Eden, this image is meant to reproduce itself on Earth by inspiring and talking of the benefits of the Brick Moon. As will be seen further in this study, this attitude of educating people by architectural suggestion and environmental guidance is adopted by both sides: the Soviets and the Americans.

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30

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Chapter Four

The USSR 4.1

Introduction

Figure 4.1: Salyut Programme Timeline1

The relevancy of the Space Station can be found in the context and scenario the buildings respond to. The three principal Soviet space station models (i.e.,Salyut, Almaz and Mir) were created by the Bolshevik state and engineers to overcome the unsettling social, economic and political environment of threat and pressure created by the world west of the Iron Curtain. These 1 David

SF Portree, “Mir hardware heritage� (1995).

31

Shadows of the Soviet Cosmic Hut

pressures manifested on two fronts namely an internal and external one.

Internally the exerted pressure was trying to create a revolution oriented mind-set that would overthrow the existing established government.

This was done not only through the use of

Western propaganda, but also through the military pressure exerted through the Cold War. As a container of the Soviet reactions meant to balance out this environment, the architectural structures were a world creation exercise.

One in which the capabilities, knowledge and

technological worth of the Soviets were exposed. By doing so, the space stations created an idyllic space that was meant to idealise and reinforce the position of the Soviet communist individual in its own society. The space station provided both a coping mechanism for the proletarian to use against the internally manifesting pressure and, a metaphor for the ultimate notion of modernity in the domestic environment (i.e., an exemplary model of the domestic). The former was realised through the use and design of elements and spaces of a common, familiar nature throughout the architectural interior of the Space Station, whilst the latter was addressed through the embedding of the new elements of socialist landscape in the frame of the same architecture.

Externally the pressure manifested through the continuous threat of military warfare or nuclear destruction. To respond to this pressure, the space stations again embodied grandiose displays of technology and skill, meant to balance out the fear of a future warfare event. By continuously developing newer and newer technology, the USSR was able to remain enough of a military threat to maintain its unstable peace and its borders until late 1991.

Another reason for their creation is the embodiment of the Soviet doctrine or, as former discussed, the formation of the Soviet myth through a built monumental architectural programme. As formerly discussed in Section 3.4, the space station was reinforcing the sense of authority of the Soviet state.

In conclusion, this section discusses the power of the Soviet space station to embody through an architectural programme an agenda of social propaganda. By working as an exchange point between the expectations of the byt reformers and the Soviet dwellers, the architecture of the stations becomes an important asset in the continuous transformation and revolution of the communist citizen.

4.2

Frampton’s Elements of Architecture

4.2.1

The Hearth Kenneth Frampton, [...] bases a large part of his argument for a phenomenology of architecture on the” unavoidably earthbound nature of a building”. It seems self-evident. [...] Falling Water leaps from the rock of a Pennsylvania hillside, and Villa Savoye lifts itself above the plain of Poissy; both leave the earth for the sky, but in that very movement reaffirm the earth and the sky as opposites, as poles in a dialectic. It is hard to imagine otherwise.2

As Heidegger would argue, ”building is really dwelling”,3 and the simple existence of the building in a space gives us an invaluable tool to be able to analyse and weigh the environment in 2 Mike

Cadwell, Strange details, The MIT Press, 2007, p.7.

Heidegger, “Basic writings: from Being and time (1927) to The task of thinking (1964)” (1977).

3 Martin

32

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which the building is placed. In his publication, Builidng, Dwelling, Thinking Heidegger builds on the contemporary ideas of Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics elaborated by Albert Einstein.4 By doing this, the presence of an observer thus becomes quintessential for the critical existence of an environment to truly take place. Fact which becomes self-evident in his given example of the importance of a light tower in the weighting and materialising of the environment around it. His argument is that due to the presence of the observer (the dweller ) and of the light tower, the air surrounding the tower, the water continuously sending waves at its foundation, the gravity pulling the tower towards the ground, all manifest and come into existence, there and then.

In the same manner, I propose to formulate a better understanding of what Propaganda is, using the potent metaphor of physics. From my understanding, it is defined as a process that takes place between two entities - one is the observer and the other one is the observed. Through the process of observation, be it of any kind (i.e., dwelling, reading, touching, seeing, etc.), an exchange of information is made. This exchange reduces the infinite possibilities of the observed entity from being able to situate itself in any state, to one static meaning. The static meaning of the observed state depends on the knowledge, state, and cultural bias of the observer. At the same time, by acquiring the stream of information, the observer’s cultural bias has now acquired a new experience which further shapes the cultural bias of the observer. Now, the change in perception and cultural bias of the observer re-shapes the state of the observed, using the same process mentioned before. Thus creating a continuous dialogue between the two. As Heidegger would argue, we attain to dwell only by building, and being present in the frame of the built environment.5 Throughout the analysis, one thing becomes self-evident. The primary hearth of the Soviet space station is the table being closely followed by two secondary hearths - the station’s command module and the scientific / photographic equipment. Through the points of reference to the Soviet world provided, the interior design of the space stations becomes the ’engine’ of the missions and of the architectural structure.

The sense of propaganda and perception

manipulation that is registered in the interior design of the space station, is ever present. This being the case, the aspect can be argued from a variety of perspectives, dependant on the space station.

If we are to study the difference in context between the hearth’s of the Almaz

(representing military), the Salyut (representing civil) and the MIR (representing the new transit society), the table’s role and purpose changes. The only thing that remains constant is the table itself.

4.2.2

The Earthwork

The earthwork creates the site, on which we situate a building. Metaphorically speaking, in the case of the first humans, banished from the Garden of Eden, the earthwork was the ground they all sat down and lit the first fire (in this case the fire is the metaphor of the hearth). It is that which is brought up to life with the help of the hearth, and the presence of the observer.

Given the apparent lack of context of Cosmic Space space Stations, and our former discussion on the Brick Moon’s context, one has to introduce two concepts in order to better understand the 4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

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context of Salyut.

The concepts needed are the corporeal metaphor, and the conceptual

connection between ethnography and technology.

The Corporeal Imagination ”Man articulates the world through his body. Man is not a dualistic being in whom spirit and the flesh are essentially distinct, but a living corporeal being active in the world. The ”here and now” in which the distinct body is placed is what is first taken as granted, and subsequently a ”there” appears. Through a perception of that distance, or rather the living of that distance, the surrounding space becomes manifest as a thing endowed with various meanings and values. Since man has asymmetrical physical structure with a top and a bottom, a left and a right, a front and a back, the articulated world, in turn becomes a heterogeneous space. The world that appears to man’s senses and the state of the man’s body become in this way interdependent. The world articulated by the body is a vivid, lived-in space.”6 One’s capacity to experience an environment or space calls upon the notion of corporeal imagination, an idea put forward by Giambattista Vico in his Scienza Nuova of 1730. In order to understand the space station’s Earthwork, one has to understand his own bodies relationship to the space defined by it and by the journey required to get to that place.

Through the exploitation of this idea the Earth dweller, is exposed to the image of the space station, making oneself transcend the situation in which he is situated. The distance between the observer’s body and the space station creates the architecture’s Earthwork. But this realisation of the infinite is not enough for the Earth dweller to be enticed or convinced by the propaganda of the space station. To understand why we must analyse the next quote written by Gottfried Semper in Der Stil:”7 ”Surrounded by a world full of wonder and forces, whose law man may divide, may want to understand but never decipher, which reaches him only in a few fragmentary harmonies and which suspends his soul in a continuous state of unresolved tension, he himself conjures up the missing perfection in play. He makes himself a tiny world in which the cosmic law is evident within strict limits, yet complete in itself and perfect in this respect; in such play man satisfies his cosmogonic instinct. However, this artistic enjoyment of nature’s beauty is by no means the most native or earliest manifestation of the artistic instinct. On the contrary, the former is undeveloped in simple, primitive man, whereas he does already take delight in nature’s creative law as it gleams through reality in the rhythmical sequence of space and time movements, is found once more in the wreath, the bead necklace, the scroll, the circular dance, and the rhythmic tone that attends it, the beat of an oar, and so on. These are the beginnings out of which music and architecture grew; both are the highest purely cosmic nominative arts, whose legislative support no other art can forgo.”8

Although the human being finds nature as universally beautiful, (a Darwinian theory of beauty), this comes second to the beauty that he founds in the human made. The way we produce is 6 Frampton,

Studies in Tectonic Culture, the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Centrury Architecture, p.10.

7 Ibid., p.10.

8 Heidrun Laudel; Gottfried Semper, Architektur und Stil, Dresden : Verlag der Kunst, 1991.

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derived from the naturally beautiful but at the same time is dependent on the variation of culture, and ethnographic aspects. In his study, Frampton gives the example of the Berber’s house and the Japanese house, showing how both are influenced by the culture’s understanding of a specific art or cultural beliefs.9 In conclusion, the space station’s earthwork is a continuous dialogue between the interpretation of its ethnographic, spacial, and political relationships when compared to those of the observer.

Made through Soviet design the space stations are thus manifestations of the Soviet ethnographic forces.

Situated in a continuous orbit movement the space stations’ status depends on the

territory it is currently moving above.

When situated above friendly territory the space station’s architecture seems to be at home, imposing an attitude of victory through the Space-Earth ties it defines, of a majestic situation through the use of the corporeal imagination, and of scientific triumph through the research it undertakes. Furthermore, its architecture relates to the beliefs (or future beliefs) of the inhabitants of the places that relate to it. Thus giving a sense of reinforced justice for the people that, in a sense, live the life the space station talks about.

When situated above or in the range of enemy Territory the space station’s context is deemed to be hostile. The shadow it casts on earth seems to be that of a menace from the sky.

Like an eagle scouting for prey, the threat it possesses seems to reinforce and give power to the interior of the station. Now, the domestic nature of the soviet interior is not only allowing the soviet society to live, but furthermore it imposes itself and its rules upon the conscious of their adversary. The character of the created propaganda is that of threat.

4.2.3

The Structure/Roof

The framework and roof is the element of architecture which kept the rain water from falling on the fire of the hearth. It is the one element that creates the vertical aspect of architecture, and it is the element that counteracts the effects of gravity.

Denying The Lack Of Gravity The interesting aspect about all the Soviet space structures is the fact that they deny the actual lack of gravity. Thus being designed, and thought as defining the interior space in an Earth like, gravity dictating, manner. In previous drawings (Figure 4.19, Figure 4.20, Figure 4.25) one can find a sense of up, down, left, right. Although in microgravity these directional definitions do not exist the space is still designed with the concept in mind. This is where we can read the intended use of architecture’s power of propaganda.

Through the maintained directional aspect of

architecture, the connection of the Space station with the Earth dwelling is maintained.

4.2.4

The Lightweight Enclosure

The character of the lightweight enclosure comes to compensate for the lack of freedom and spatial character of the framework/roof element. Thus, colours and soft finishes were used to give the opportunity for the astronauts to inhabit the space without suffering of complete disorientation and to offer a certain amount of comfort (or in this case uiut). If we look at the traditional Russian interior, we can see the presence of colourful embroidery on the walls of the houses. The 9 Ibid.

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connection between the wall as a guide and the wall as art and tapestry, is where the regional and ethnographic aspect of the space stations seem to express themselves. If we are to compare this to the American, SkyLab it is easy to see how this notion of comfortable coloured and soft wall disappears leaving space for a sterile and clinical white membrane. To a certain degree, the American approach resonates with the 1920’s, extreme modernist restructuring of the Socialist Byt, more than the interior of the Soviet Almaz/ Salyut.

4.3

Soviet Archaeology

Figure 4.2: .

A Room With Zoned Spaces [Below]’ Merzhanov And Soroking 1966]’A Room With A Traditional Arrangement [Above]. A Room With Zoned Spaces [Below]’ Merzhanov And Soroking 196610

Space Station / Narkomfin Communal Apartment The space station’s design was very similar to an apartment in the USSR in order to create links and ties between the life of the astronaut and that of the soviet person.

Through these

connections the byt reformers were educating people to adhere to the new rules of domestic and social life, in order to change society in general. Some similarities that can be found in all the Soviet space stations are:

10 Buchli,

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, p.142. p.71.

12 BJ Bluth and Martha Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs” (1986), p. 44.

11 Ibid.,

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Figure 4.3: Interior Of F-Unit Stroikom 193011

Figure 4.4: Salyut Working Module12

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Figure 4.5: A Commode That Converts Into A Hi-Fi And Dressing Table, Kratkaia Entshiklopedia Domashengo Khoziaistvo, 1962, Vol. 2, P. 104113

Figure 4.6: Details On A Control Panel In The Soyuz Orbital Model14

Control Desk Similar to Radio And Commode The design of the control desk equipment and most of the user interface of Soyuz, Salyut, Almaz and MIR are similar to that of radios and furniture that can be found in the Soviet home. (see Figure 4.5, Figure 4.6) Open Plan As can be seen in both Figure 4.3, Figure 4.2 and Figure 4.4, the common method of planning used is that of the open plan. Through the openness of the interior an idea of grandeur and modernist planning is maintained throughout the interiors.

Multi Functional Furniture As discussed before, the use of multifunctional furniture was quintessential to the new byt.

Creating the nichego lishnego was connected to the idea of devaluing the cultural value of property and furniture. A property specific to the Post-Stalinist period, it constantly appears throughout both the design process and the finalised design.

(see Figure 4.25, Figure 4.23,

Figure 4.24) It is very visible in Figure 4.4, where we can see that even the table (the hearth) is foldable / multifunctional.

The Explosion of the Centralised Plan Although the table being the central Hearth of the space stations, as formerly discussed the apparition of secondary hearths and points of focus is similar to the Post-Stalinist decentralising 13 Buchli,

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow, p.144.

Pangburn, The Soviet Who drafted The Space Race, url: http : / / motherboard . vice . com / read / the soviet-architect-who-drafted-the-space-race.

14 DJ

38

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of the open plan.

Through creating multiple points of focus in the interior design, the

architecture inherits multiple paths of interpretation and multiple uses. Thus the space station can be the dwelling, the weapon, the scientific laboratory, or the vehicle.

Figure 4.7: Salyut Evolution15

4.4

The First Space Station (1970-1974)

Even though work on the Almaz stations was continuous, OKB-52 ended up falling behind the original schedule.

Due to this the project was moved to Korolev’s organisation in February

17

1970. . The internal pressure was high for the space station to be finalised and launched ahead of USA’s Skylab project.18 The importance of launching the Space Station before the USA is a critical aspect in understanding the fact that the Soviets were challenging the status of leader in the Space Race. Through this ’rush to be first’ strategy one can see the underlying political pressure to prove themselves in front of the entire world and in front of their own people, after losing the Lunar Race. With propaganda at heart, there was no place to end up on the second place.

15 Bluth

and Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs”, p. 26. p. 46.

17 Portree, “Mir hardware heritage”, p. 63.

18 Ibid.

16 Ibid.,

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Figure 4.8: Salyut Space Distribution16 Using Soyuz hardware for subsystems, together with Almaz hardware for large components such as the hull, Korolve’s bureau and OKB-52 completed the world’s first space station.

The

Long-Duration Station-1 (Russian acronym DOS-1), was finalised in just 12 months.19 The first Space Station was designed by combining both military and civil (scientific research specific) engineering and components. This metaphorically represented, a reflection of the status quo in which domestic architecture was situated in the 1920’s byt revolution period. A time when, the domestic habitat was the warfront for the battle against the burgeois byt.

DOS-1 was initially called Zarya 1 (meaning Dawn 1 in Russian) until shortly before its launch, when in order to avoid confusion with another identical, pre-existing codename the station was hurriedly renamed Salyut 1 (meaning Salute 1 in Russian).20 In the name Zarya, one can find the Eastern-centric view of the architectural achievement, and a somewhat sense of defiance towards the USA.

4.5

Salyut 1 (1971)

As can be seen in Figure 4.9 It was constituted by two habitable compartments, to which the carrier Soyuz attached and became the third habitable space. The spaces were divided as follows: • the transfer compartment (2m dia by 3 m long), containing the drogue docking apparatus and an EVA hatch; • at the aft of the ship, the work compartment (4.15 m dia by 4.1 m long), • the command section with a small-diameter ( 2.9m dia by 3.8 long), • the latest two were linked by a 1.2-m-long frustum. As can be seen in Figure 4.10, the two spaces were communicating freely, in a manner similar to an open plan.

This configuration doesn’t suffer any major changes during all the iterations of the analysed 19 Portree,

“Mir hardware heritage”.

20 Ibid.

21 url: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/73686- 122- tantareslv- stockalike- n1and-more-1018122016n1/&page=64.

40

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Figure 4.9: Salyut 1 Axo21

stations. The size of the spaces increases or decreases, and subsystems are changed and replaced but the general spatial configuration remains unchanged.

The same thing is valid for the

distribution and positioning of the architectural elements.

The Central small-diameter compartment served a wardroom function, with provisions for the cosmonauts’ spare time. These included a cassette player and cassettes, a sketch pad, and a small library of books. It also held a table where the astronauts could dine and work. This typology of inhabitation is specific for the typical soviet living room, providing a sense of familiarity for the Soviet observer. The viewer would have felt transported to the Space Station, but moreover having the impression that his apartment is in the same manner as the vessel, heroically, �exploring the Universe�.

The large diameter work compartment was equipped with a large conical structure housing astronomical instruments and other scientific guidance equipment. Thus the space diagram was that of a live/work space in which the cosmonaut could find all the elements necessary to undertake his mission in space. The simple fact that the larger module was the workshop one could have simple necessity base explanations. Thus, one could argue that it is necessary to have a larger space to accommodate the equipment and activities that were taking place inside the compartment. But, at the same time, this can have a more propaganda prone quality.

The Hearth From these characteristics the hearth of the architecture of the space station can identified.

Although a valid answer can be represented by the interior of the space the ship, the true heart of the Soviet space station is (as previously mentioned) the table . In early Salyuts, the table seems to have a more introverted, self-reflecting nature.

The inhabitation of the space is

performed in a restrained manner, one in which there is an underlying sense of fear. The rather rare opportunities of looking directly outside the space station, make it the most used space.

The Structure / Roof One of the highest purposes of the structure, in the initial (and further discussed) subsequent Chapter 4

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space stations, is that to permit the dweller to position himself in cosmos, and only after that, subsequently analyse and obtain information about different physical and environmental factors.

In this sense, the purpose of the Soviet space station is similar to the acquired purpose of the Brick Moon. It’s structure still defines the human condition by still defining the sense of an apparent gravity. (See Figure 4.10)

Figure 4.10: Salyut Typical Section22

The Skin Equipment compartments lining the inside of the hull covered by removable panels that form the station’s interior walls. This landscape creates an image much like the Ethazerka discussed in chapter two, being covered with embroideries to allow for the uiut. Each of the walls had different colours (light and dark gray, apple green, light yellow) to aid the cosmonauts in orienting themselves in weightlessness.23 Characteristic, and colours often found in the traditional kovrik.

Absence Of The Bed Cosmonauts slept in sleeping bags attached to the walls of the large diameter compartment or in the orbital module of the docked Soyuz. An interesting aspect is the acceptance of the lack of gravity being present in the stations designed with scientific intent in mind rather than the military ones. The positioning of these sleeping bags is in private pockets inside the wall. As previously discussed in Chapter Two, the bed plays an important role in the Russian culture, the omission of it in the scientific vesels might represent an attempt to elevate from the myth of the bed as an entity, striving towards material reduction. (see Figure 4.10) Sanitation/hygiene unit Located in the large diameter section of the work compartment within an enclosure with a ventilation system and washable walls.

The importance of cleanliness in the soviet reform,

transcends actual need or logistic feasibility. As will be discussed further ahead, the difficulty of having a shower overcomes the need.

22 Bluth

and Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs”.

23 Ibid.

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Figure 4.11: Salyut 3 / Almaz 2 Section26

Absence of the hob The large diameter compartment had two refrigerators for food storage, but no hot plate or cooking unit.24 This intentional omission will remain present until Salyut 7, reinforcing the presence of the 1920’s feminist byt reforms in the architecture of the space station.

4.6

Salyut 3 / Almaz 2 (1974-1975)

Salyut 3 / Almaz 2 was a military station, and although a few subsystems differ between the normal Salyut and Almaz, they still present generally similar characteristics. Even if it was the second Almaz station, it was the first one to be effectively manned. More so, It was the first Cosmic Space weapon, being equipped with a 23 millimetre automatic cannon mounted on its long axis.25 The Hearth The Agat Earth-observation camera, with a 10-m focal length , dominated the large diameter workshop compartment, and it was used primarily for military reconnaissance purposes. Through it, the cosmonauts are said to have observed targets set out on the ground at Baikonur.

Secondary objectives included study of water pollution, agricultural land, possible ore-bearing landforms and oceanic ice formation.27 . The machine represents the secondary hearth of the Almaz space station in the same manner that, reconnaissance and warfare were central to the existence of this architectural monument. Aboard the ship, a picture could have been shot, developed, scanned and broadcasted back to the USSR in 30 minutes.28 .

24 Ibid.

25 Oct. 2012, url: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/- Kaj4KI7QHxQ/UHhEjiZgVqI/AAAAAAAACuk/2yUEL9EfDAI/s1600/ Salyut+3+cutaway.jpg.

26 Ibid.

27 Portree, “Mir hardware heritage”.

28 Ibid.

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The Cosmic Weapon The fact that the military cosmonauts had one standing bunk, one foldaway bunk, and a shower in the station’s living section raises an interesting discussion.29 Although completely unnecessary, such architectural artefacts still seem to appear in the military architecture.

Here, one can

speculate the presence of few elements that are to do with the strict military procedures inside the Soviet environment.

Thus the interior was designed to be in a sense, oppressive, and

common. Through the lacked sense of liberty, the military station becomes a weapon of war more than an architectural monument of internal social propaganda. The typology of propaganda communicated by the space station is one equivalent with the internal fit out of the architecture; one of war and spying.(see Figure 4.11) The Zoned Plan Even though civilians could not see the interior of the space station, the internal design was created in such a way that it replicated the idea of the exploded centripetal plan (see Figure 4.3).

Due to a bank of 12 tanks for storing gas, the small-diameter living compartment was separated from the work compartment. Presumably oxygen for breathing or tanks holding extra fuel to compensate for the gun shooting. The open plan of the previous stations disappears in order to allow for more utility, but the correlation between the the architect, and the domestic revolution, crystallises an interesting fact.

Although the architectural monuments represented by space stations, have a clearly incredibly potent propaganda dimension embedded in their design, it is not necessarily a planned or pre-meditated placement of propaganda. But one which grows naturally due to the influence of the propaganda itself, at a certain point in the past of the designer/architect.

The Skin Floor was covered with Velcro to aid the cosmonauts in moving about. The softness of the wall, is ever present in the soviet space station. Reminding of the kovrik, the cultural heritage of the helpful wall is ever present.

4.6.1

Salyut 4 (1974-1977)

Salyut 4, was the last of four DOS-type stations based on hulls from the Almaz program. The only reason why it is worth the mention is the: Soviet Cleanliness / Consumerism Paketa (”rocket”) hoover which was present in the transfer compartment. This is an item which at the time could have been found in many of the Russian households. Its presence creates an invisible link between the normal life lived by people on Earth and the life of the astronauts aboard the station. The idea that even cosmonauts had to hoover the space station in the same manner that people would do at home had an interesting propagandistic character. The item’s existence seem to be part of the 1920s cleanliness based uiut.

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Figure 4.12: Salyut 6 Diagram30

4.6.2

Salyut 6/DOS-5 (1977-1982)

Although the large section of Salyut 6 becomes longer (from 4.1m to 6m), the internal spaces remain unchanged.

The major change that appears in the Architecture of Salyut 6 is the

dweller’s attitude towards inhabiting the space.

New Attitudes and Responses To Old Architecture Ryumin noted in his diary on August 16 that every night before going to sleep the crew activated the Kristall or Splav-01 materials processing furnaces.33 This was done to reduce the level of disturbance caused by crew movements around the station, improving its microgravity conditions for materials processing. Previous expeditions had operated the furnaces for a maximum of 10-12 hr at a time, but for Salyut 6 Principal Expedition 4, longer melts, of 120 hr and 60 hr, were carried out. Furthermore, fuel consumption drastically increased on Salyut 6, not only because of heating, but furthermore due to the astronauts positioning the station in such a way so that it would be possible to watch Earth.34 On September 10 1980, the same Ryumin also noted in his diary that he and Lyakhov had decided to postpone their monthly shower.35 Furthermore in the July of the same year, after the treadmill broke, Ryumin refuses to repair it, as it ”would have taken too long”.36 Although the architecture and its propaganda remain the same, and Ryumin was for the second time on orbit, people seem to react differently to it. These reactions might be the first indicator of what in 9 years time is about to happen.

When you begin to think of all the preparatory operations you have to do, and then how many post-shower operations you have to perform, the desire to take a shower diminishes. You have to heat the water, in batches, no less. You have to get the shower chamber, set up the water collectors, attach the vacuum cleaner . . . it takes 29 Portree, 30 Bluth

“Mir hardware heritage”. and Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs”.

31 Ibid.

32 Portree,

“Mir hardware heritage”.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

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Figure 4.13: Salyut Work Compartment Section31 nearly the entire day just for that shower,”37

4.7

Salyut 7/DOS-6 (1982-1991)

The final Salyut model was almost identical to the previous one.

Generally, living conditions

improved over those on Salyut 6. For example, Salyut 7 had hot plates for heating food and continuously available hot water. The re-domesticating sphere of the Post-Stalinist period seems to manifest itself within the addition of food hot plates and the existence of continuously working water heaters. Part of the contemporary uiut, the inclusion of hot water in the station, could have reminded people of the centralised public heating systems that were present in their apartments. Thus creating yet again, a connection between the interior of their apartment and the space station.

37 Portree,

“Mir hardware heritage”.

38 Ibid.

39 Bluth

and Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs”.

40 Ibid.

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Figure 4.14: Salyut 6 Axo32

Figure 4.15: Crew Soyuz T-5 Onboard Salyut 738 It can be argued, that yet again, the sight of ’the oppressing hob’ makes its appearance into the world of the domestic soviet world, after being completely omitted in all the other previous space stations. This novel appearance could be explained by the new role of the man in the domestic territory, as discussed below.

Feminism Salyut 7 was the first station to be boarded by a woman.

This constitutes a controversial

decision, with some sources stating that it was a historical moment only realised due to the will to counter the possibility of the USA sending a female into space before the USSR.41 Valentina Tereshkova’s was the first female and civil person to go into space. Oh her return, Nikita Khrushchev, the then political leader of the USSR, whilst standing next to her declared: ”The bourgeoisie always claim that women are the weaker sex. Now here you can see a typical Soviet woman who in the eyes of the bourgeoisie is weak,” he said. ”Look at 41 Pallab

Ghosh, “Valentina Tereshkova: USSR was ’worried’ about women in space”, Guardian (17 September

2015).

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Figure 4.16: Salyut 7 Layout Axo39 what she has shown to America’s astronauts. She has shown them who is who!”42 In 1982, after 19 years from her Tereshkova’s first success, Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya, became the second woman to reach space. 2 years after, in 1984, she performed EVA work on the Salyut 7. This comes at a time when Brezhnev was pushing forward the idea of men and the domestic realm.43 Gender roles seem to be still active in Soviet society regardless of the byt reformers.

These aspects of a patriarchal society, seem to materialise themselves with the

reintroduction of the domestic appliance inside the space station.

Salyut 7 is home Nevertheless, on Salyut 7, Lebdev, an astronaut, seems to be impressed by the homeliness of the monument’s interior. On September 1 Lebedev concluded his diary entry: I look around the station and view it with a different attitude. Now I think of it as home. The whole place looks so familiar. Everything in it is so near and dear to me now. When I look at the interior of the station, I feel no alienation, no sense that my surroundings are temporary or strange. Everything is ours. We’ve touched every square millimetre and object in here. We know exactly where every piece of equipment is mounted, not from documentation but from memory. Many little details, such as photographs on the panels, children’s drawings, flowers.44

4.8

MIR, USSR/Russia, (1986-2001)

The Hearth As previously discussed, at the hearth of MIR stands the table (see Figure 4.22). MIR’s table is the place where not only dinners are eaten and discussion are carried out, but with the admission of international astronauts, and the falling of communism and the USSR. It is the locale around 42 Ghosh,

“Valentina Tereshkova: USSR was ’worried’ about women in space”.

An Archaeology of Socialism: The Narkomfin Communal House, Moscow.

44 Portree, “Mir hardware heritage”.

45 Bluth and Helppie, “Soviet space stations as analogs”.

46 Portree, “Mir hardware heritage”.

47 url: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-76/html/sts076-344-034.html.

48 url: http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/multimedia/sts-81-photos/81p-003.htm.

49 Pangburn, The Soviet Who drafted The Space Race.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

43 Buchli,

48

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Figure 4.17: Salyut 7 Layout40

which the new international relationships crystallise.

MIR - the symbol of the new Russian spirit Being an astronaut on the MIR becomed a day job, in which the astronaut got training whilst being on the station and had the weekends off.52 A landscape of clutter Krikalev, a former astronaut on MIR, stated that the levels of cleanliness and clutter on the station varied according to the standards of the resident crew. To the same extent the level of clutter inside would vary considerably.(see Figure 4.21)53 As the life of the architectural monument advances, the and level the sense of ownership seems to increase. To a certain degree, the same thing was happening with the communal residences in Russia, at the time. Even though inhabited beforehand by other people, each future generation of astronauts personalise the architecture of the space station.

Through the perpetuated propaganda of inhabitation, the

architecture seems to be enriched by a sense of the personal, and the intimate.

New items of soviet material culture Mir relies much more heavily on automation than previous DOS-type stations, part of a general Soviet trend toward increasing automation in manned spacecraft.

52 Portree,

This is also evidenced by

“Mir hardware heritage�.

53 Ibid.

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Figure 4.18: Soviet Stamp, featuring Leonid Popov, Svetlana Savitskaya, Aleksandr Serebrov

Figure 4.19: MIR Section45

Soyuz-TM and Progress-M modifications. A French publication called it ”the first computerised station in orbit.”54 In addition to the station’s control computers, each cosmonaut has now a personal computer. This captures the Soviet society’s transition into the digital age, and testifies the fact that at any point, the space station was the embodiment of the Russian idea of modernity.

4.9

Conclusion

Although the architecture of the Soviet space station presents a clear and definite power of propaganda, I am sceptical to say that this enrichment is made completely through a conscious move. Given the presence of domestic elements and qualities, motivating social re-structuring in the interior architecture of the station, the environment clearly speaks of its Soviet heritage and of Soviet values.

The flexibility of the Basic Elements of Architecture is easily testified by the ability to completely define an individual space station through the use of these 4 architectural conceptual constructs.

Moreover the enrichment of these concepts through the power of architectural metaphor, creates a sense of the common myths (i.e., nation, culture, communism, etc.)

present in both the

domestic space of the USSR, and the political image that its society is trying to embody through 54 Portree,

“Mir hardware heritage”.

The Soviet Who drafted The Space Race.

55 Pangburn,

50

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Figure 4.20: MIR Section46

Figure 4.21: MIR Interior47 the architectural monument of the Soviet space station.

Figure 4.22: MIR meal48 Chapter 4

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Figure 4.23: Design For The Cabin Of The MIR Space Station, Final Variant Of The Interior Fittings (1980).49

Figure 4.24: Galina Balashova Design For Mir50

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Figure 4.25: Design For The Communal Room Of MIR51

Figure 4.26: Sketch Study for MIR55

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54

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Chapter Five

The USA 5.1 5.1.1

SkyLab 1973-1979 Introduction

Skylab was the first American Space Station to orbit Earth, the equivalent of Salyut 1 for the Soviets. The only Western space station produced by the USA during the Cold War, SkyLab represents an interesting precedent, due to both its similarities and differences with the Soviet stations.

The first noted act of attention dedicated to the architecture of the space station was in 1967 when George Mueller (the ”father of the space Shuttle”) expressed his concern about the living amenities available on the SkyLab for life in Cosmic Space. Through his expressed consideration towards the importance of the Skylab crew members to have more than just a boiler room to live in, one can see the start of the creation of the American architectural monument. Launched two years after Salyut 1, Skylab embodies the character of American architectural propaganda.

5.1.2

Frampton’s Fundamental Elements of Architecture

The Hearth Skylab’s main purpose was meant to be represented by American scientific research undertaken in Cosmic Space.

Through the sheer size of the workshop space, the hearth of SkyLab is

represented by it.

Similar in layout and configuration to the way a nuclear power station’s

operating office would look like (see Figure 5.4, the American architectural propaganda was clearly aimed at being defiant and at the same time representative of its aim.

Similarity to nuclear power station Planned as a multi level circular space (see Figure 5.2), SkyLab was not only interested in the creation of an opposing mode of inhabitation than the one used by the Russian (i.e. linear typology), but moreover the station was intended to defy the Russians through the power of architectural imagery. Being a direct reminder of the USA’s nuclear technology, the space station defined a propaganda of threat.

The Earthwork 1 Portree,

“Mir hardware heritage”.

55

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Figure 5.1: SkyLab1

From the contextual point of view there is no difference between the American and Soviet Earthwork, other than the ethnographic aspect of the relation communicating to a different culture (i.e.,he American culture). constructs the two are identical.

With regards to methods, concepts and architectural In the same manner, Skylab is situated in a dualism of

war/peace and is interacted with in a manner exploiting the corporeal metaphor.

The Structure/Roof The Soviet space station was designed as a one big volume, with undivided spaces and an open plan concept behind it, and to a certain degree, Skylab is designed in a similar manner. The difference appears in the disposition of the spaces on a multilevel, longitudinally disposed array of spaces on the axis of the station. The presence of cellular individual spaces predefines a (Figure 6.1) clear emphasis on the privacy of the astronaut (Figure 5.3). To the same extent to which the sheer size of Skylab’s workshop seems to overwhelm the observer, the living quarters are on the more domestic side.

Scale Grandeur Although both the Soviet Union and the USA, at the time of the Cold War had under control vast amounts of space, the vastness of Skylab characteristic speaks of the grandiose scale of American domestic architecture. There is an inherent propaganda quality to be observed in the general exuberance of space found in the American space station , especially when compared to the Soviet, small humane scale. Part of the American culture, size and grandeur are usually associated with wealth and power (i.e., ”bigger is better”).

Another main difference can be seen in the difference in scale. The Scale of Skylab was so big, and the spaces so vast that an astronaut could actually get stuck in the middle of the space, being left trying to ”swim” inside the interior.

The layout is completely different, although there still is a notion of up and down, the layout is that of a multilevel habitat.

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Figure 5.2: Skylab Configuration Detail

2

Figure 5.3: Crew Quarters3

The Lightweight Enclosure Whilst the Soviets investigated the importance of the visual environment of a spacecraft, the Americans found it dubious to do so4 . Thus, if the Soviets proposed the idea that ”changes in decor could be employed not only to relieve visual monotony but furthermore to maintain the space traveler’s link to the home planet”5 , the Americans thought that the only decor needed was a sight of Space and Earth.6 With regards to this aspect, USA’s Skylab environment was that of a clinically white contemporary laboratory. Although it was an aspect looked into by the designers, the fact that colour schemes do not make the final design of Skylab whilst they are one 2 NASASITE 3 Stephen Garber, Skylab Drawings and Technical Diagrams, Mar. 2007, url: http : / / history . nasa . gov / diagrams/skylab.html.

4 William David Compton, Charles D Benson, and Paul Dickson, Living and Working in Space: A NASA History of Skylab, Courier Corporation, 2011.

5 Mary M Connors, Albert A Harrison, and Faren R Akins, “Living aloft: Human requirements for extended spaceflight” (1985).

6 Compton, Benson, and Dickson, Living and Working in Space: A NASA History of Skylab.

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of the major things in the Soviet space stations, helps us understand the cultural bias of the interpretation and design of these architectural monuments. Not having the colourful kovrik as part of their cultural heritage meant that neither astronauts, designers or non-soviet observers, could not perceive the usefulness of such an intervention. Even so, after visiting MIR, and in modern times aboard the International Space Station’s Russian module, American astronauts highly praised the benefit of the coloured soft walls.

This aspect confirms that cultural architectural propaganda doesn’t depend only on the cultural bias of the observer, but more so on the experience that the observer is exposed to.

By exploiting the use of an universal language (i.e., colour, space,

texture) of architecture, propaganda can be me made to be understood universally (again, to a certain degree).

Figure 5.4: Interior Of A Power Stationt7

Figure 5.5: Interior Of Skylab8 7 Oct. 2010, url: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/wp- content/uploads/2010/10/suxnet- worm- nuclearpower-plant-risk.jpg.

8 url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab.

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Figure 5.6: Waste Management Compartment9

Figure 5.7: Sleep Compartment10

5.2

Conclusion

Although the architecture of the American space station presents a clear and definite power of propaganda, the main differences appear in the treatment of the skin and the scale of the internal partitions. The languages used are completely different, due to the different cultural perspective of the two space stations.

9 Garber,

Skylab Drawings and Technical Diagrams.

10 Ibid.

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Chapter Six

Conclusion 6.1

General Statement

Through the study there is a coherent general sense of the Space Station as a metaphorical place of existence. Architecture truly is able to embody the messages and means of social reshape and daily life re-structuring. This is the quality of architecture that tries to create an environment of propaganda. Done through landscapes of domestic qualities and with the help of the corporeal metaphor, the space station is a potent architectural monument rich in metaphorical constructs.

6.2

Basic Elements of Architecture

As proved and discussed, the basic elements o architecture can be found, even in the completely new taxonomy of a space station. Although appearing with certain modifications and adaptions a general sense of truth can be seen in the aforementioned statement. This ensures the general validity and aplicability of the subsequent studies on the power of architecture to embody propaganda and metaphor.

6.3

Metaphor In Architecture

Throughout the entirety of the study the metaphorical property of architecture has been revealed with enough arguments and ties to the conscious design process to prove the validity of its existence and importance.

6.4

Propaganda Cosmic Hut

Finally the character most flagrantly captured by the study is the propagandistic quality and power of architecture. This characteristic and arguments testifying it create a great description of this specific taxonomy.

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