One of my favorite aspects of the city of Tashkent is the legacy of Soviet architecture. UNESCO is considering granting “World Heritage” status to 16 Tashkent Modernist Architecture. I hope this gets approved and these projects will be protected. I understand that Uzbekistan was under Russian control for many years, but I think at this point, it is part of the history of the place and it enriches city experience for future generations of visitors and inhabitants.
Tashkent was the fourth most populous city in the USSR. The Russians invested a lot in the infrastructure as they viewed the city as a showcase of the “Soviet Orient”. The UNESCO bid for heritage status argues that the Soviets held many conferences and meetings in Tashkent and brought back the idea of “east meets west” from the heydays of the Silk Road. The 16 TMA (Tashkent Modernist Architecture) projects are outstanding examples of unique buildings the Soviets and Uzbeks designed and built from 1961 to 1990.
For my birthday last weekend, I went on a tour of the жемчуг “The Pearl” apartment building. UNESCO describes it as follows:
Zhemchug (design 1972–1984, construction 1975–1985) is a seventeen-story residential building designed by Ophelia Aydinova. In 1986 it was awarded the gold medal as the building of the year by the Union of Architects of the USSR. Zhemchug is a highly experimental building aspiring to create a vertical analogue to the single-story community housing of Central Asia’s historic cities, the mahallas. The apartments are grouped around three-story suspended courtyards where inhabitants could practice the collective way of living within extended family units. Zhemchug was also one of the first uses of fully monolithic concrete construction in Tashkent, with the sliding formwork liberating the architecture from the rigid constraints of prefabricated construction. The experimental construction and the ability to merge modernist architecture and quasi-anthropological interpretation of traditional mahallas make Zhemchug a unique example in the global scenario of modernist architecture.
A resident of the building gives tours. She welcomed us in front of the building and walked us through the building, including going up to the roof top. She didn’t say much and it was cool to explore on our own and experience the architecture. People live in the apartments and we saw several residents coming and going in the lobby and standing outside of their doors. The architect, Ophelia Aydinova’s big idea was to recreate the traditional mahalla inside a high-rise apartment block. She did this by designing five, three-floor plazas that encouraged residents to interact with each other. She also made the rooftop a public space with a pool and gardens. The building is in a great location in the central area of Tashkent surrounded by big urban parks. We were told the apartments are not spacious and the construction has not been adequately maintained since it completion almost 40 years ago. It would be fun to renovate an apartment and rent it out on Air BNB.
The best part of the tour was to be able to share the experience with my wife Nadia and friends. Nadia knows I love doing stuff like this and she made it happen! I am blessed to have such a supportive wife and fun friends. It was a great day!
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