REBUILDING IN RUSSIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25216, 31 May 1945, Page 3

REBUILDING IN RUSSIA

By a Correspondent of the London Times

Just before the war one of the main preoccupations of Russian architects was the design of rural housing—namely, that required for the collective farms which now constitute such an important section of the whole community. In the "Collected Works" of the Architecture Academy for 1940 is a long and well-

illustrated description of a number of designs of various types. In many of these particular attention is directed to the complete layout of the house and farm buildings, gardens, orchards, paths and cattleways, close study being given to every detail. The use of electricity in the rural areas is being developed pro rata with hydro-electric enterprise, both for domestic lighting

and for power purposes on the farms. More recently, in tho journal Arehitektura U.S.S.R. for 1943 and 1944, numerous Articles have been published indicating continued progress in meeting the vast rural housing problems both of European Russia and Siberia. For example, At. Ginsberg, n well-known architect associated with a

good deal of Leningrad building, has lately described the three phases of housing in Russia as (a) urgent or immediate temporary, including earth dwellings, barrack-type structures, and transportable hutments, (b) temporary or transitory or semi-permanent. :nul (c) permanent. Mass Production All of these are to be mass-produced, and preliminary details have been worked out by the Bureau ot .Building Types of the Academy of Architecture. At the end of last year (1941) it was reported that in the Briansk region alone 130,001) new homes had been built in the rural districts and more than

180,000 people moved from huts and dug-outs into new and up-to-date dwellings. Many new villages have sprung up, and a factory has been established for the production of prefabricated

units. In the .Moscow region more than 27,000 cottages have been restored or built in the last two and a half years.

The collective farmers are using timber on a large scale. The State has allotted over 1.000.000 cubic yards of timber free of charge and granted a long-term loan of ;50,000,000 roubles. Rural factories are busy fabricating windows, doors and other units.

Besides rural housing, another huge task is the rebuilding of war-damaged towns, including many which have been completely destroyed. Some of those which have escaped serious damage will be garden cities. For example, the "Russian Manchester," or city of Ivanovo, the centre of a highly developed textile industry, will this coming spring blossom forth with thousands of apple, pear, and cherry trees planted—by the people themselves — along its streets and in squares and open spaces. Three nurseries have been established to provide plants for this year, and the municipal Soviet has organised a special commission of prominent landscape gardeners and bureaux, lite Ivanovo Gardening Society, with over 500 members, has planted 16 acres ot waste land within the city with bush and standard fruit trees and laid out a large cherry orchard in Pushkin Square. A City Gardening Board has been formed; watchmen engaged to look after the young trees; and the production of garden tools, fertilisers and seeds has been speeded up. This is surely a move in the right direction, if only the old problem of protecting communal fruit trees and their crop--from wilful damage can bo solved. Over a Thousand Architects

The restoration of some 140 more or less destroyed towns was the principal subject of discussion' at the first AllUnion Conference of Architects in Moscow, commencing on December 18. 191-1 The chairman of the State Committee for Architecture, Mordvinov, said that draft plans had been submitted for several of the largest cities and towns, including Stalingrad, Smolensk, Rostov-on-Don, Novgorod, etc., and more than a thousand architects are working on approved projects for replantiing. Such planning, he said, differs sharply from that of pre-war days, not only in scale or magnitude but also in tf other qualitative ways more difficult to define. These will include some of the latest improved methods of building technique, such as assembly line operation and prefahrication. Standardisation is also more widelv applied, and more than 100 standard blueprints for dwelling houses and public buildings have been approved A model settlement of 100 houses ot various designs is being built near Kiev, as a visual aid to rural architects rebuilding Ukrainian villages; and a large exhibition of plans for restoration of the largest cities and illustrating the latest building technique is being held at the Architects' Club. Individual architects responsible for the restoration of some _ of Russia s famous arid much-loved cities have lately indicated how they propose to set about their tasks.

Smolensk and Novgorod George Goltz will recreato Smolensk, which he regards as the old, tried and trusted friend ot Moscow, the outpost protecting the road to the capital. The Red Army was in time to save many old historic buildings, and the new plan .will be based on or at least be consistent with the preservation of these, around the ancient nucleus, the Smolensk Kremlin, and the Lenin Square overlooking. the River Dnieper. The city spreads away from its centre in concentric circles and had a clear-cut system of ring and radial streets, conforming well with the surrounding landscape. On a section of the new wide avenue leading from Lenin Square will be erected the municipal buildings; and a circular boulevard will connect the centre with the residential districts. The parks and public gardens will he enlarged and increased in number; heaw traffic will be diverted to new arterial roads; two circular routes within the city will accommodate local transport. The steep slopes on the outskirts will be covered with small cottages surrounded by orchards, Novgorod and its replantiing is in the capable hands of Alexei Shehusev, a great lover of old Russian architecture. Down to modern times Novgorod preserved its old-world appearance, with its quiet little two-storey houses and whi,to churches, giving an air of tranquil beauty, except possibly in the more exclusively commercial quarters. Shehusev says that while much of the past will be preserved, much that is new will he added: theatres, parks, hotels—Novgorod shall have them all. The new buildings will be in the classic PskovNovgorod stylo. "We shall not Inso our little white Novgorod." (Tt may be explained that "little" is often used in Russian as a term of affection rather tlian size.) Improving River Cities

Nikolai Kolli says of Kalinin that it was built to the plans of some of the greatest Russian architects, and their buildings, in spite of terrible destruction, can be restored. The old proportions of the streets and squares are perfect, and the general planning is altogether admirable. But in building on these classic foundations, the demands of the present will, of course, be considered. With the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal the general composition of the town must be more closely related to the great river whose banks must carrv many more buildings. mostly commercial on the right hank, but the left bank facing south will bp reserved for dwelling-houses surrounded by gardens. The area between this bank, and the highway ,will he. a park belt with promenade.'

CITIES RAVAGED BY ENEMY

MANY TO BE RE-PLANNED

GOODS FOR CIVILIANS

A somewhat different task confronts Rudnev, who is replanning Voronezh, the cradle of the Russian Navy, for which rebuilding plans had been setSled before the war. These are now being re.studied and improved. The old buildings which blocked the view from the centre to the river will not be rebuilt ; a broad tree-lined boulevard will skirt the elilf on the river-bank; a long stone bridge will cross the low-lying river valley; and ail industrial enterprises will be removed from the centre to the outskirts, where settlements of small dwellings will be built. Coloured tiled roofs and avenues of chestnut trees and poplars will make Voronezh a pleasant place. Reconstruction in Leningrad has been remarkably rapid. More than 8,000,000 sq. ft. of living space has been restored during 15)4*1 and 14,000,000 sq. ft. of roofing repaired. Even in Siberia Turning now to the far-off regions of Eastern Siberia, there is a remarkably interesting and outstanding example of Soviet economic planning and development iu its widest sense, whereby the social level has risen in 20 years from tents to cities —in the Buryat Mongolian Republic. From 192,' iit has grown from a backward agrarian land to one of highly-developed industries and agriculture. Population has increased as a whole by 50 per cent, and in the towns it has quadrupled, with a sixty-fold increase in industrial output. The capital. t lan Ude, now has a population of 129.000, is a large industrial and cultural centre, and one of tlu> most important railway junctions in Eastern Siberia. The people no longer live in tents, but iu clean, warm wooden houses, with vastly increased amenities in the matter of schools, hospitals and scientific research centres. Among the latest miscellaneous building notes from Russia may be included a reference to the Saratov-Moscow natural gas installation which is to be completed by December, 1915. It comprises, among other things, a mains supply 482 miles long, six powerful compressing stations at Saratov, and j two distributing stations in Moscow. The lirst borings yielded gas in abundance. Forty shafts have now been sunk, of which one was sufficient for Saratov's domestic and industrial needs.

Harbour development is to play an important part in Russia's post-war plans. A leading Russian architect expressed the view that there will he considerable expansion of international commercial and , cultural relations, especially between the members of the anti-Hitlerite coalition. Town-planning schemes will include the provision of Soviet ports capable of accommodating the largest transatlantic liners and having the most modern harbour equipment.

AMERICAN INDUSTRY

GREAT PRODUCTION PLAN NEW YORK, May 28

From now on. within the limits imposed by the requirements of the war against Japan, the United States will produce more and more civilian goods, while regulations over industry and limitations on production will bo relaxed.

The chairman of the War Production Hoard, .Mr Julius Krug, announcing ibese changes, said that within a year the United States would be producing at the rate of 16.700.000,000, dollars' worth of consumer goods a year, or mofe than per cent more than in 10.'59.

Explaining the Administration's pro-; gramme for establishing a highlv pros-• perous national economy free of most: Government restrictions during the transition period from war to peace. Mr Krug said that of 650 regulations in effect on April 1, 156 had already: been revoked and another 80 would be revoked in the next six weeks. The change-over to the production of consumer goods would mean temporary unemployment in «?>me areas, said .Mr Knig. This would hp partly solved by starting new public works. Of the! 51,200.000 persons now employed in the 1 United States, however only ahouti 6.000.000 would hp affected by the re-1 diiction of military production. In other cases companies now producing military requirements could switch hack to the production of civilian goods. Mr Krug said that the basis for the United States' optimistic outlook was the "staggering" demand for consumer goods, both„at home and abroad. In 1944, statistics indicated that if the goods had been available Americans would have spent 120,000,000 dollars on consumer goods. They actually spent only 98,000,000 dollars. This pent-up demand was the foundation on which the country could build a strong transi tional economy

Mr Krug emphasised that the War Production Bonrd would continue to give top priority to military production programmes, and that manufacturers with war contracts would have to fill them on schedule and would not he allowed to divert, energy from war work to civilian operations.

BRIDES OF AMERICANS

NEW MIGRATION PLAN NO WAIT FOR QUOTA A new policy to facilitate entrance to America of brides-to-be of American .servicemen is being prepared by the State Department and Immigration Service, says the New York Daily News. Under the new ruling, girls from Australia, New Zealand and Greece are likely to be brought to America on visitors' visas instead of waiting for quota permits. So far, only these throe countries are affected, because their yearly quotas have been filled for many years ahead. "The soldiers would be old men before they were able to marry their liancce.s if the girls had to wait for ' heir quota call," according to an immigration official.

. "Visas are to hp issued as transportation is available," the Daily News states. Only those young women who have birth certificates, good health and normal mentality ran take advantage of the ruling. Should the marriage not occur as scheduled, the_ girls will not be allowed to remain in the United States., "Tvventv thousand Australian and New Zealand -women, ,<KKi Knglishwonten, and '!S,(KH) others from everv .section of the globe are anxious to come to America because of their marriages to American servicemen.

"Several thousand have already arrived on non-quota visas, since the husbands or wives of Americans are not affected by the quotas. Of this group, a relatively large number are begging for exit visas and return transportation to their native lands." Ihe Daily News adds: "A number of white girls in Australia, where there is no colour line, married negro soldiers and came here to live with their parents-in-law. Shocked by American segrogation, they are now tearfully pleading for a return passage home."

NEW CANADIAN FLAG PRIME MINISTER'S PROMISE WINNIPEG, May 25 The Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Mackenzie King, said in a speech that if his Government were returned it would ask Parliament to authorise a distinctive Canadian flag and would enact a clear and comprehensive definition of what constituted a Canadian citizen.

Mr Mackenzie King said that Canada's development to nationhood had never been a source of disunity in the Commonwealth. Its reality 'had long been achieved, but certain outward symbols irera lacking*