Vol 1, No 3 (2016)

The article is devoted to the problem of value in the historical environment of the city. The authors believe that everything that we got from the past is valuable in the urban culture: the architectural environment, the urban space, buildings, and information related to them. We consider some distinctive features of the Samara building and the architectural and spatial environment of the city. To preserve the identity of the city center, it is supposed to solve the socio-cultural, architectural-spatial, functional, transport problems of its modern development. The conclusion is made about the preservation of the architectural space as a condition for preserving the urban identity. Some directions of preservation of urban values are revealed.

Based on an analysis of all the existing master plans of Togliatti, it is evident that most of the urban areas were carried out according to 1953 plans (Central, Komsomolsky districts) and by the master plan of B. Rubanenko (Avtozavodsky district). Planning structure of the areas, developed by the architects in the Soviet Union, continues to be the main «skeleton» of the city without any significant innovations. Based on all the considered master plans, it can be concluded that the territorial planning documents always offered three options for the city development. Now there are many untapped territorial reserves, which must be developed.

We consider the design concept of accommodating the social and business complex at the confluence point of Samara and Volga Rivers in Samara. The area was allocated and justified out of the regular quarter structure (1782) of the city in the area, which was not utilized properly for the 235 years of development. The project concept is revealed - the structuring of the territory, space and time, expressed in morphology changes of the territory planning organization, creation of a public space, accent fixing of a 430-year development of the city reference point. The need for creation of a system-based prepared program of town-planning transformations of the historical center is justified.

To understand the features of the urban environment and search for ways of interaction, it is necessary to thoroughly study the morphology of urban space, which should form the basis of town planning documents. It is proposed to study the environment structure by the example of the historical center of Samara, and the already existing attempts to identify morphotypes of the given space are demonstrated. The categories, where the urban environment was considered, are described, as well as the parameters that are included in this category. An example of the morphology research can be viewed across the whole historical center/quarter/yard. The summary and recommendations on the application of these developments in the field of town planning documents are proposed.

This article discusses the reasons for a return to simple architecture at the turn of XX-XXI centuries. There are three main reasons: the economic crisis, which sets the task for architects to create a new model focused on simplicity and resource conservation, spiritual crisis as a society’s response to the formal redundancy of previous years, and finally, the pendulum movement from complex to simple, and vice versa, as a basic premise for sustainable development. The aim of the work is to identify a compromise approach towards the study of the simplicity phenomenon in modern architecture.

The aim of the work is to determine the method of transferring the experience of space perception into the language of abstraction and then architecture. The importance of research is to develop the mechanisms that make it possible to compare the emotional experience, obtained as a result of the space perception, and the real environment with its material and physical characteristics. The results of this approach allow us to identify the spatial features that cause a particular emotional state. Realizing principles and relationships of space qualities, feelings it evokes, it is possible to design a comfortable environment, based on an emotional scenario and combining it with spatial qualities.

The «Environmental Design» department was opened in SGASU in 1997 on the initiative of the Doctor of Architecture Elena Akhmedova, who instructed us to develop a preliminary program and the concept of the entrance exams. In her work, Akhmedova united architecture, design, and art by common aesthetic foundations of the form, image, indicating the integrity of the environment at the level of the humanitarian principles of life [1]. The narration of the story about events, related to the emergence of a new kind of creative activity for the university, and, in fact, a new profession, is interesting due to many experiments, thanks to which the context, subject, and tasks of this direction began to be developed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the various aspects of using white colour in architecture from ancient times to contemporary architecture and to explain the metaphysics of white as a creative idiom of an architect. While selecting analogues, studying scientific works and projects of architects, comparing them, the aspects of white color interaction in modern architecture are revealed. Theoretical and practical prerequisites for research on white color in architecture and the analysis of objects in modern architecture have helped us to identify the basic techniques and principles of space development using white colour.

This article considers the influence of architectural environment on child development from 0- 6 years. Taking into account that modern children spend most of their time in preschools, the special attention is paid to the creation of an architectural space, which nourishes the child in creative and aesthetic aspects, where every child will be able to reveal the maximum of his/her creative abilities. Four main types of author pedagogical theories of early education, recognized throughout the world, are compared. The necessity for having a large central zone in the kindergarten, which promotes relations and meetings development, group interaction, conversations and social relations, is identified and justified.

A brief analytical review of existing urban development problems was conducted: a case study of Samara and other cities in Russia. We consider three main urban development periods: the historical times of the imperial reforms, industrial, which was further developed in the Soviet period, and the post-industrial, which is continuing today. The need to introduce a «green belt» into the planimetric structure of the city using the routes of communication, as functional zone boundaries, was identified. Consideration of the urban development problems concerning the development of space-time and aesthetic understanding has a number of advantages since it allows us to identify the most specific aspects of architecture and urban development as a special sphere of artistic and technical creativity. The research is concerned with the suburban area of Big Samara.

The sustainable urban design of country residential construction considering such landscape and climatic resources of the territory as natural landscape, relief, the sun, the wind, natural gardening, fertility of soils, the presence of water objects, etc. The tasks of aeration, insolation, greening, watering are considered as part of sustainable design methodology of the residential environment. The following solution is proposed: measures for wind protection, collection of thaw and rainwater, vertical planning of sites, planning of an artificial relief, an artificial reservoir, construction of protective earth levee, planting of green protective windbreaks, greening of land, terraces, roofs, which is considered as part of sustainable design methodology of residential environment.

The paper addresses matters related to the architectural typology development of infrastructure facilities in special protected natural areas. The aim of the work was to develop a comprehensive picture of different building types, which should be built to improve the performance of various institutions, that belong to the category of special protected natural areas (SPNA): state nature reserves, including biosphere reserves, national parks, nature parks, state nature sanctuary, dendrology parks and botanical gardens, as well as for conservation and demonstration of natural monuments. Residential, administrative, scientific and research, educational, cultural, entertainment, sports, health, service, transportation and engineering groups are identified. It is concluded that the complexity of network, nomenclature, quantity, building size, and also the nature of improvement should be determined in each specific case, taking into account the category of SPNA. The «green» standards implementation is put forward as the main condition of architectural objects design.

The aim of the research was to study the concept of natural light as an object of physical reality in contemporary architectural design. The paper presents an analysis of prerequisites to consider natural light as the object of the material world, and also, the research results of architectural criticism concerning this issue. Creative concepts of contemporary architects, who consider the material natural light as the basis for form making of architectural space, were analyzed in the study. It was revealed that reified natural light, along with mass and volume, becomes the main mean of the architectural space forming.

The article considers the issues of a real design when developing an object. The question of specification importance in design material is raised. The role of knots and details in the constructive solution of the building, and in the solution of architectural tasks, in general, is discussed. The features of design approach in contemporary architecture are revealed, the role of an architect when designing a building and its individual elements is defined. The evaluation of structures and building materials in contemporary objects from the functional and aesthetic points of view is given. The opinions of foreign architects on the role of details in architecture are considered.