Postbrutalism and postmodernism in the architecture of Irkutsk in the 1990s and 2010s.
https://doi.org/10.21285/2227-2917-2025-4-756-769
EDN: YPMCII
Abstract
This article is devoted to the consideration of the most significant objects of the post-Soviet period in Irkutsk. The purpose of the study is to identify their stylistic features and basic shaping techniques. The work carried out included updating a number of bibliographic sources aimed at the professional audience of the region, field surveys with photographs of key facilities in 1990-2010, and direct communication with the authors of the buildings under study. The multidimensional nature of the designated period leads to a consistent and equivalent study of the planning and sculptural-artistic component. Based on the results of the research, the article presents a part of the collected photographic database and a table with a brief description of the details that most clearly form the figurative identity of the modern architecture of the city. By systematizing the found materials, the author attempts to provide a scientific description of the cultural significance and role of postmodern trends in the modern architectural process of the city, both from the practical design perspective and in the context of the educational process of the historically established school of Siberian architects. All this made it possible to prove that at the turning point of the epochs Irkutsk architects managed, while preserving the rich heritage of the Brutalists and
their relevant experience, to meet the challenges of modernity with a humane, rational and artistic addition
to this fund. Moreover, Irkutsk post-brutalism, which has not changed the principles of appeal to man and
the human scale, has become a concrete, flattened example of willpower and creative perseverance for
the second quarter of the century, which has become increasingly complicated in economic factors and
the resulting overurbanization.
Keywords
About the Author
N. S. EreminRussian Federation
Nikita S. Eremin,
Independent Researcher
4, 2nd Krasnoarmeyskaya St., Saint Petersburg 190005
Author ID: 1247226
Competing Interests:
The author declare no conflict of interests
regarding the publication of this article.
References
1. Stegaylo V., Buynov A., Zhukovsky N., Demkov S., Sherstova N. Perestroika (1987–1999). Project Baikal. 2015;12(43):101-130. (In Russ.). EDN: ZCPWEB.
2. Iskakov V.V, Lyapin A.A. Irkutsk Architects. Irkutsk: Elit, 1997. 87 p. (In Russ.).
3. Novikov F., Belogolovskii V. Soviet Modernism 1955–1985: an Anthology. A 21st-Century View. Yekaterinburg: TATLIN, 2010. 232 p. (In Russ.).
4. Bronovitskaya A.Yu., Malinin N.S., Palmin Yu.I. Moscow: Architecture of Soviet Modernism, 1955–1991: A Handbook. Moscow: Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, 2019. 352 p. (In Russ.).
5. Bukh V., Grigoreva E. Architect Vladimir Pavlov. Yekaterinburg: TATLIN, 2013. 133 p. (In Russ.).
6. Bokov A. Vladimir Pavlov. Project Baikal. 2010;26:28-30. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7480/project-baikal.26.154.
7. Pavlov V. Objects. Project Baikal. 2010;26:32-129. https://doi.org/10.7480/projectbaikal.26.155.
8. Zolotareva M., Eremin N. Key Object of the Irkutsk Renaissance. Project Baikal. 2025;22(83):113-117. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.51461/issn.2309-3072/83.2493. EDN: KPNTGC.
9. Bokov A., Berzhinsky Yu., Stegaylo V., Zhukovsky N., Astrakhantseva V., Studennikov A. et all. The Golden Age (1975–1986). Project Baikal. 2015;12(43):49-100. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7480/projectbaikal.43.865. EDN: ZCPWDR.
10. Druzhinina I. The Use of Standard Series Plans in Designing Unique Buildings: The Case of V. A. Pavlov’s Residential House in Irkutsk. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 2020;880:1-6. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/880/1/012060.
11. Mozhnyagun S.E. On Modernism. Study One. Truth and Anti-Truth in the Esthetics of Modernism. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1970. 278 p. (In Russ.).
12. Khotulev R.A., Lyapin A.A., Protasova E.V., Demkov S.B. Irkutsk Architects. Irkutsk: Reprocenter A1, 2011. 272 p. (In Russ.). EDN: WILCSX.
13. Dorofeev P. Neighborhood Structures Of the 1960s-1970s in Irkutsk. Project Baikal. 2014;11(39-40):230-251. (In Russ.). EDN: ZOFXIT.
14. Dorofeev P.A., Khokhrin E.V. Evolution of Concept of “Mass Housing Project” in the Context of French Ideas in Housing Policy of the USSR. Proceedings of Universities. Investment. Construction. Real estate. 2012;2:128-135. (In Russ.). EDN: QCUWZT.
15. Eremin N.S., Zolotareva M.V. Irkutsk Regionalism as a Trend of Soviet Modernism. Proceedings of Universities. Investment. Construction. Real estate. 2024;14(2):383-397. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.21285/2227-2917-2024-2-383-397. EDN: IWWETQ.
16. Kolmakov Yu.P. Irkutsk Chronicle 1661–1940. Irkutsk: Ottisk, 2003. 847 p. (In Russ.).
17. Bystrova T.Yu. From Modernism to Neo-Rationalism: Creative Concepts of Architects of the XX–XXI Centuries: Monograph. Moscow, Yekaterinburg: Cabinet Scholar, 2018. 400 p. (In Russ.).
18. Rappaport A.G. Environment and Architecture. In: Urban Environment: Problems of Existence. Moscow: VNIITAG, 1990. P. 157–178. (In Russ.).
19. Kudryavtsev A. Architecture Schools and Regional Practices. Notes of the Eyewitness. Project Baikal. 2020;17(64):32-36. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7480/projectbaikal.64.1631. EDN: BWEYPE.
20. Goldhoorn B., Meuser P. Capitalist Realism: New Architecture in Russia. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2009. 303 p.
21. Orelskaya O.V., Khudin A.A. Postmodernism. Styles in the Architecture of Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod: Behemoth, 2019. 239 p. (In Russ.).
22. Zolotareva M.V., Ponomarev A.V. Spa Postmodernism (On the Example of the Architecture of Kislovodsk at the End of the Twentieth Century). In: Sovremennye problemy istorii i teorii arkhitektury. Sbornik materialov IX Vserossiiskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii = Contemporary Problems of the History and Theory of Architecture. Collection of Materials of the IX All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. 05–06 November 2024, Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg; 2025. P. 115–120. (In Russ.). EDN: EDIYHJ.
23. Kirsh D. Changing the Rules: Architecture in the New Millennium. Convergence. The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. 2001;7(2):113-125.
24. Lefaivre L., Tzonis A. Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World. Munich: Prestel, 2003. 159 p.
25. Didem A.A. Brutalism Now: Rethinking Brutalism in Contemporary World Architecture. Arts. 2016;5(2):3. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts5020003.
26. Klotz H. The History of Postmodern Architecture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988. 478 p.
27. Samsonenko A.N. Irkutsk Construction Projects: From The Dawn of the Twentieth Century to The Lightning of the Twenty-First. Zemlya Irkutskaya. 2006;3(31):43-51. (In Russ.).
28. Eremin N.S., Zolotareva M.V. The Phenomenon of Irkutsk Multi-Faceted Identity Formation. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. 2025;565:469-483. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-80482-3_45.
29. Bagrova N., Zhurin N., Pustovetov G., Filonov S. Siberian Architecture and Art School: Yesterday and Today. Project Baikal. 2020;17(64):110-113. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7480/projectbaikal.64.1645. EDN: GGNINC.
30. Druzhinina I., Astrakhantseva V. Architectural Education in Irkutsk. Project Baikal. 2020;17(64):130-139. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7480/projectbaikal.64.1649. EDN: HZMPIM.
Review
For citations:
Eremin N.S. Postbrutalism and postmodernism in the architecture of Irkutsk in the 1990s and 2010s. Izvestiya vuzov. Investitsii. Stroitelstvo. Nedvizhimost. 2025;15(4):756-769. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21285/2227-2917-2025-4-756-769. EDN: YPMCII
JATS XML



















