A bold architectural utopia: the model of the ring city at "The Birth of Scale" exposition
"The Birth of Scale" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA showcases not only the architectural achievements of our country but also projects that were never realised. One of the most unusual is the model of the ring city "Saturniy," designed by Viktor Kalmykov, a graduate of the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS).
The project proposed the construction of a rigid ring rotating synchronously with the Earth. The author claimed that it would be held in the air without supports due to the force of gravity directed towards the centre of our planet.
"The project is called 'Saturniy' because it resembled the planet of the same name. This ring is essentially an equatorial radius over 40,000 kilometres long, to which spacecraft were supposed to arrive. It was in the 1920s and 1930s that the boldest ideas appeared. VKhUTEMAS graduates were very advanced," said the National Centre RUSSIA guide Yevgeny Artemenkov.
The ring city project became one of the vivid examples of the utopian ideas of the Soviet avant-garde, combining bold engineering concepts with a futuristic vision of the future.
The installation of "Saturniy" was planned to be carried out with the help of dirigibles. A continuous runway was to be placed on the top part, with tiers of residential and public premises located below.
"The Birth of Scale" exposition consists of both the National Centre RUSSIA's own objects and those provided by museums and private collectors across the country.
Partners of the exposition "The Birth of Scale" include DOM.RF, the Ministry of Construction of Russia, Gazprom, the State Research Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Yakov Chernikhov Charitable Architectural Foundation, and the HSE School of Design.
Watch the cycle of educational lectures of the National Centre RUSSIA with art historian Yelizaveta Likhacheva and learn more about Russian architecture.
