Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage
Encyclopedia
Bus garage
A bus garage or bus depot is a building where buses are stored and maintained. In many conurbations, bus garages are on the site of former car barns or tram sheds, where Streetcars or Trams were stored, and the operation transferred to buses...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, designed in 1926 by Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
(floorplan concept and architectural design) and Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov , was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of world's first hyperboloid structures, lattice shell structures, tensile...
(structural engineering
Structural engineering
Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
). The building, completed in 1927, was an example of applying avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
architectural methods to an industrial facility. Neglected for decades and nearly condemned to demolition, it was restored in 2007–2008 and reopened in September 2008 as a gallery of modern art.
Original design
In 1925, Melnikov travelled to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, supervising construction of his Soviet Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes
The International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts was a World's fair held in Paris, France, from April to October 1925. The term "Art Deco" was derived by shortening the words Arts Décoratifs, in the title of this exposition, but not until the late 1960s by British art critic...
. There, he received private commissions for garage buildings integrated with bridges over Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
river. These drafts never got beyond concept stage, however, Melnikov found an economical layout that enabled parking large number of cars without ever using reverse gear.
Back in Moscow, Melnikov saw a new fleet of Leyland buses tucked into a narrow yard in Bolshaya Ordynka Street. He approached city transportation board and quickly sold his idea for a free-flow garage. It was built on a large lot in Bakhmetevskaya Street, 11 (then a working class suburb north from Garden Ring
Garden Ring
The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring , is a circular avenue around the central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century....
; later, the street was renamed Obraztsova Street). Roof structure was designed by Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov , was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of world's first hyperboloid structures, lattice shell structures, tensile...
; next year, Melnikov and Shukhov worked together on another building, a horseshoe-shaped Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Truck Garage
Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage
Novoryazanskaya Street Garage, also spelled Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage, and known as "Horseshoe garage", was designed by Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov in 1926 and completed in 1929 at 27, Novoryazanskaya Street in Krasnoselsky District, Moscow, Russia, near Kazansky Rail...
. Bakhmetevsky garage housed 104 buses on an area of 8500 square meters.
Bakhmetevsky Garage, sometimes associated with constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
, was in fact styled in an indefinite red-brick industrial livery; circular windows in the attic are the only avant-garde features (and even these were destroyed decades ago). What makes it stand out as an avant-garde landmark is its unorthodox, parallelogram
Parallelogram
In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a convex quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal measure...
-shaped floorplan and the subsequent influence on later industrial designs.
Later development
The whole project was more than just a garage. Melnikov also designed workshops and office buildings on the same lot, filling the irregular voids made by placing a parallelogram-shaped garage on a larger, rectangular lot. His original, unpublished 1927 master plan was found in 1999, in preparation to Melnikov memorial exhibition, and served as a base for 2003 redevelopment plan. However, in 1928 Melnikov changed this plan, and, after completing the office building himself, passed construction management to Andrey Kurochkin.Preservation attempts
In 1990, the aging Garage was listed as an architectural memorial. In 2001, bus company vacated the building and the City Hall donated it to Moscow HasidicHasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
Jewish Community Center for redevelopment, on condition that the Community Center builds a public school on the same lot and returns it to the City. Community Center approached architect Alexey Vorontsov to design the whole project. Before the drafts were completed, in 2001, the builders removed the roofing and began disassembly of Shukhov's roof trusses, destroying eight spans. Public intervention suspended further destruction; Vorontsov persuaded the client to hire a professional restoration bureau to assess the extent and cost of preservation. Eventually, in 2003 Community Center and the authorities agreed upon a compromise development plan by Vorontsov that would retain original exterior walls. The public school however was to be completed on next to Melnikov's garage, leaving the Jewish Community with an opportunity to build another cultural institution incorporating the facade of Melnikov's 1928 building.
After years of neglect, work accelerated in second half of 2007. The garage was fully restored externally in the first half of 2008, complete with 1920-s style lettering on the eastern (entrance) facade; interior work was completed by September 2008. The building was reopened to the public in September as the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture is an important non-profit international arts space based in Moscow founded by Daria Zhukova, which opened in 2008. Garage is dedicated to exploring and developing contemporary culture, whilst serving as a catalyst and meeting place for the city’s emerging...
(abbreviated in Russian as CCC), featuring an exhibition of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov, Russian Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в , is a Russian-American conceptual artist of Jewish descent, born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. He worked for thirty years in Moscow, from the 1950s until the late 1980s. He now lives and works on Long Island...
. New gallery provides 8,500 square meters of exhibition space. The Center is managed by Daria Zhukova; speed and expense of 2007–2008 restoration project is credited to sponsorship by Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...
, who chairs the Board of Trustees for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia — Russian religious organization, unifying communities of «orthodox» Judaism, mostly of Chabad Hasidic movement...
.
On the day of inauguration of the art gallery Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, announced its plans to convert the Garage into a Jewish Museum of Tolerance that is due to open in 2011. The Museum will share space with the art gallery.
See also
- Novo-Ryazanskaya Street GarageNovo-Ryazanskaya Street GarageNovoryazanskaya Street Garage, also spelled Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage, and known as "Horseshoe garage", was designed by Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov in 1926 and completed in 1929 at 27, Novoryazanskaya Street in Krasnoselsky District, Moscow, Russia, near Kazansky Rail...
- Konstantin MelnikovKonstantin MelnikovKonstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
- Vladimir ShukhovVladimir ShukhovVladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov , was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of world's first hyperboloid structures, lattice shell structures, tensile...