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Tashkent, the southernmost metropolis of millions in the Soviet Union, is a city redolent with architectural contrasts and para doxes. Home to the most beautiful prefabricated buildings in the world, it features a prominent urban duality pre dicated upon the oriental Old City and the Russian New City. Never was this contrast brought into sharper focus than during the severe earthquake of 1966 which left the New City rela tively unscathed but the Old City in ruins. Yet one respite was offered: a rebuild ing effort which triggered an upsurge of inno vation. The city thus became the face of seismic modernism - unprece dented in history, the earthquake stimulated the modernisation of urban development in Tashkent. Archi tects incor porated regional building traditions in their social ist modern designs, includ ing the visually intrig uing façade mosaics attri buted to the little-known Zharsky brothers. The rebuild ing of Tashkent provides a perfect example of Soviet ideas about urban planning - in which technical standardisation and social require ments were no more of a contradiction than the design of experimental living concepts and the simultaneous search for an expression of national identity in building. Tashkent thus represents a unique example of radical urban redevelopment in a Soviet megacity with standard designs.
About the author
Philipp Meuser, Jg. 1969, Architekt BDA und Verleger. Architekturstudium in Berlin und Zürich. Architekturbüro in Berlin. Planungs- und Bauprojekte in Osteuropa und Asien. 2005 Gründung des Verlags DOM publishers.
