Contemporary Architecture (Russian: Современная архитектура, Romanized: Sovremennaia arkhitektura) was a Soviet architectural journal published in Moscow. The journal ran from 1926 to 1930, releasing six issues per year, with occasional publications of "double issues." It was published by the OSA Group (Organization of Contemporary Architects), a group of constructivist architects. Contemporary Architecture served as a platform for presenting and illustrating the constructivists' project of revolutionizing residential living for a socialist society in the twentieth century and put forward new ideas on numerous theoretical topics and innovative new projects in the field of architecture.
History
In 1925, the Artistic Division of the People's Commissariat for Education of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic decided to organize the publication of a new architectural journal. Pavel Novitsky, the head of the division, tasked Moisei Ginzburg with this project. Ginzburg proposed that the architectural group of the Institute of Artistic Culture become the publisher of the journal and, in consultation with the leaders of the group, that the journal would be the instrument of a new creative movement: architectural constructivism. Later that year, Ginzburg and Alexander Vesnin created a new group of like-minded constructivist architects known as the Organization of Contemporary Architects (OSA Group). The OSA Group became the publishers of Contemporary Architecture. The backside of the cover of the first issue from 1926 offered this statement from the editors:
The Journal of Contemporary Architecture is primarily the result of the work of the members of the Organization of Contemporary Architects (OSA), united by common architectural views and aspirations. Nevertheless, Contemporary Architecture does not intend to be locked into its inner circle. On the contrary, the editors strive in every possible way to systematically reflect all the exciting issues of our architectural modernity. And in precisely the same way, Contemporary Architecture widely opens its pages to all its like-minded people, scattered not only within confines of the USSR, but throughout the whole world.
Among major peer architectural organizations in the Soviet Union during the 1920s, only OSA had its own periodical print journal, Contemporary Architecture, that published regularly, unlike a few publications that were released annually or otherwise irregularly. While a few other journals were approved for print, they only lasted for one or two issues, whereas Contemporary Architecture boasted twenty-seven issues, including three "double-issues," over its five-year run.
It was during this time that the theoretical and professional foundations of a new creative movement of architectural constructivism were developed. In its early stages, Contemporary Architecture focused primarily on identifying the constructive practicability of a new architectural form. Later, the journal became concerned with combating eclecticism and stylization in the spirit of a "constructive style." The journal adopted slogans such as: "Down with eclecticism!"; "Long live the functional method of thinking!"; "Long live constructivism!" The more theoretical articles in the journal repeatedly underscored that constructivism was not a new style, but an entirely new method of creativity that demanded a correspondingly new attitude towards design, function, and form in the production of art.
The journal's final issue was published in 1930 and included an editorial piece, entitled "1926-1930," summarizing the activities and achievements of Contemporary Architecture and OSA during those five years. That same year, OSA and other previously independent Moscow-based architectural organizations entered into the Moscow Branch of the All-Union Architectural and Scientific Society (MOVANO). MOVANO planned to create a new architectural journal on the basis of Contemporary Architecture, and in the final issue of Contemporary Architecture, there was an advertisement for the upcoming Revolutionary Architecture journal. However, this journal never reached publication.
Organization
Vesnin and Ginzburg jointly served as the editors-in-chief of Contemporary Architecture from 1926 to 1928. In 1929, an ordinance was issued requiring all scientific publications to have only one editor-in-chief. Ginzburg was selected for the role, and he was listed as the sole editor-in-chief for all 1929 issues. However, beginning with the first "double issue" of 1930, Vesnin was once again listed alongside Ginzburg as an editor-in-chief in the 1930 issues.