I had a fascinating afternoon touring Tashkent yesterday with architects visiting our school to renew our Master Site Plan. I wanted to give them the full flavor of Tashkent and Uzbek architecture. Alexander Federov led us on a tour focusing on Soviet-era modernist buildings. He is a graphic designer, artist, activist, historian, and passionate about preserving these historic buildings in Tashkent. His enthusiasm for Soviet-era “Oriental Modernism” was infectious. It was sad to learn how these buildings are slowly being replaced or altered. I understand the Uzbeks, however, and they might not want reminders of being colonized by the Russians. Something is lost if these buildings are not preserved. They are part of the history of the city and make Tashkent distinctive and add to its charm of east meets west.
It was also fun learning from architects talking about their work and architecture. I learned a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright and the fundamentals of architecture and design over the 4 days I spent with them. I feel our school’s Master Site Plan is in good shape with Cam and Joe and their firm of Truexcullins. We also took the subway back and got to admire the Soviet’s recreation of the Moscow subway station design in Tashkent. Below are some of the buildings and sites we saw on the tour.
Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists (1974) Rashidov Ulica 40
One of my favorite buildings is the Experimental House жемчуг “Pearls”. It was finished in 1985 and recreates the idea of the mahalla in apartment block form. As you can see in the photograph in the far right, there are 5 common areas that children and families can play and socialize, recreating the idea of the neighborhood streets. There was even a pool on the roof that is no longer working.
The National Historical Museum used to be the Lenin Museum and was built in 1970.
We started the tour at my favorite building in Tashkent, the Hotel Uzbekistan. I learned that it used to have an outdoor pool in back with an amazing roof and that the concrete facade hides utilities underneath.
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