Rector of the Moscow Architectural Institute Shvidkovsky complained that architecture students had forgotten how to work with their hands

“Young specialists make 80% of projects using artificial intelligence”

October 8 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Honored Architect of the Soviet Union, a native of Chisinau, Alexei Shchusev. The experts who gathered at the press conference at RIA Novosti, dedicated to World Architecture Day, mainly spoke about the personality of the master. This event is celebrated on the first Monday of October, this year it falls on the 2nd.

“In our country, they talk about architecture and architects very rarely,” complained the rector of the Moscow Architectural Institute, Dmitry Shvidkovsky. – At meetings where I attend from time to time, the word “construction” is used constantly, but the word “architecture” may not be used for years.

Students and young professionals do 80% of their projects using artificial intelligence, on a computer; they don’t want to draw with their hands. This is sad, because the appearance of cities, their face, depends on the architects, continues Shvidkovsky.

“It is very important for architects to get acquainted with the works of the past, so that they have an eye to see, so that they can create good projects,” says Natalya Shashkova, director of the State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture named after Alexei Shchusev.

Such works, of course, are considered to be the works of the master of architecture Alexei Shchusev. His anniversary this year is celebrated by Russia and other countries of the former USSR (in particular, Uzbekistan, Moldova), where he also worked.

Many of the master’s works have become the hallmark of Moscow. Among them are the Lenin Mausoleum, the Komsomolskaya metro station on the Circle Line, the Kazansky railway station, the Intercession Church of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, the FSB building on Lubyanka and two hundred more projects.

– People have appeared who dispute the authorship of some of Shchusev’s works. They say he couldn’t do so much,” says writer and historian Alexander Vaskin. – Yes, one person, indeed, could not single-handedly create a project for, say, the Kazan railway station.

But Shchusev is a good organizer; he assembled a team, with whom he created this wonderful building. Shchusev was very educated, he studied abroad, among other things, and was very hardworking.

There is a legend that Shchusev suffered his last heart attack after seeing destroyed houses in Veliky Novgorod, says Natalya Shashkova. Whether this is really so can be found out, in particular, at the exhibition in the VKHUTEMAS gallery dedicated to the hero of the day. Other museums are also organizing exhibitions for the architect’s 150th anniversary.