The Stalin building is only superficially of stone. In fact it is brick faced with stone. Its lack of "fit" in the modern world is illustrated by this shot of the network cabling which, due to the unflexable (i.e. cannot be "flexed"--inflexible is a different concept) mode of construction has had to be "laid" externally. This reminds me of either Peterhead Prison, where the granite was so hard that they could not plumb in the pipe-work for the lavatories in the post-"slopping-out" cells, or the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Inside, the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere is more reminiscent of the how I imagine the former to be. The security is almost as tight, which rather ruins the atmosphere of careless freedom which universities ought to have, in my opinion, if they are to rise above the Americo-Soviet concept of employment training colleges.
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Moscow University
The Stalin building is only superficially of stone. In fact it is brick faced with stone. Its lack of "fit" in the modern world is illustrated by this shot of the network cabling which, due to the unflexable (i.e. cannot be "flexed"--inflexible is a different concept) mode of construction has had to be "laid" externally. This reminds me of either Peterhead Prison, where the granite was so hard that they could not plumb in the pipe-work for the lavatories in the post-"slopping-out" cells, or the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Inside, the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere is more reminiscent of the how I imagine the former to be. The security is almost as tight, which rather ruins the atmosphere of careless freedom which universities ought to have, in my opinion, if they are to rise above the Americo-Soviet concept of employment training colleges.
