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Glazing the Future Exhibition

Sergei Tchoban’s Architectural Fantasies : Architecture Information

Glazing the Future Exhibition in Brussels

Sergei Tchoban’s Architectural Fantasies

Location: Square Brussels, Belgium

The exhibition opens on the 1st. of October at 6 pm at the Square Brussels. Roberto Polo, art historian and theorist has been invited to hold the opening speech.

Architectural capriccio, Piazza Venezia in Rome or: Two worlds No. 1 / Film Stage Project Design. 2013. Pen, Indian ink, watercolor, pencil on paper

The harmonial contrast is the harmony of the 21st century: polyphony is meant to be the new language of the contemporary architecture. For several years now, the architect and artist Sergei Tchoban masters this language at its best by reflecting the multiple layers and ambivalent soul of our cities in his architectural drawings. The historical fabric and the present urge towards a significant object-based architecture are melted in fantasy-like perceptions. His hybrid structures of ancient buildings and modern glass towers may also remind of Bach´s Inventions: in a piece with two, three or more parts each of them unfold equally. Not only in his drawn architecture fantasies aspires Sergei Tchoban to achieve this unity with diversity. The Museum for Architectural Drawings for instance, is led by this idea of a symbiosis of static and boisterous, stone and glass, fantasy as well as reality.

Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin. 2010. Charcoal on paper

The architecture of the future, the shape of the metropolis of tomorrow – these are themes that apply to every designer. Russian-German architect Sergei Tchoban is no exception. In constructing buildings, he is always looking for a balance between the function of his future buildings and their architectural surroundings, between laconic forms and an intense study of surfaces. Masterfully working with natural stone and materials such as metal and glass alike, the architect meticulously explores the possibility of dialogue between artistic and space-planning techniques from different eras. The content and validity of this dialogue is undoubtedly the key to all of Tchoban’s work.

Fantasy drawing for the project of the Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin or: Evolution of form 1. 2010. Charcoal on paper

Drawings play a huge role in his study on the identity of modern architecture: unconstrained by the parameters of real sites and the requirements of clients, in his drawings Sergei Tchoban maximally focuses thought on how much more contrasting and less harmonious in the historical sense of the word the surrounding urban environment has become. Tchoban is far from criticizing the buildings that seek to stand out and make an impression on the historical context with their exaggerated distinctive forms, materials, and volumes. On the contrary, in such diversity, in the variety of urban layers and their constant mixing, the architect sees the “contrasting harmony” which, in his opinion, is the key to understanding the nature of the 21st century metropolis and the main direction of its development.

Future Bridges 1. 2014. Indian ink, sepia, watercolor on paper

And if “Urban Layers” can be considered a kind of collage on the theme of a European city ensemble, the path elapsed during the 20th century from the typical quarter building system to high-rise buildings, and then to the sculptural, object-based architecture, then in the “Two Worlds” series Tchoban brings the contrast of these combinations almost to the point of absurdity – the background for futuristic glass volumes are Piranesi’s Roman antiquity – the triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus and the Piazza Venezia in Rome. A genuine dramatic effect is also inherent in the series of sketches from the Museum for Architectural Drawing, in which parallels are drawn between the figures of chimeras adorning gothic churches and the comparable expression of abstract architectural compositions made of cubic elements.

Interestingly it is precisely glass, which allows volumes to be realized in any shape and size, that often becomes a metaphor for modernity in Tchoban’s fantasies. Particularly indicative in this sense are the “Future Bridges” – a complex maze of galleries and passages that form a new fine-spun facade of the old town – relatively permeable and at the same time clearly tangible. In its translucent surface and in the flashing reflection in it, it is the architect that gazes so intently, trying to find an answer to the question of how to create mise en scène in cities without blindly copying, in their quality and visual intrigue worthy of the best historical designs, and in doing so predict the future.

Two Worlds / Film Stage Project Design, St. Petersburg. 2014. Indian ink, watercolor on paper

General Partner of the exhibition is AGC company.

Glazing the Future Exhibition in Brussels image / information from nps tchoban voss

Location:Brussels Square, Belgium

Museum Buildings

Museum Architecture – Selection

Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum, UAE
Jean Nouvel

image from architect
Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum

GRAM – Art Museum, USA
Design: wHY architecture

photo : Chris Barrett@Hedrich Blessing
GRAM Michigan

Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, Spain
Frank Gehry

image from the architect
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Glasgow Transport Museum, Scotland
Zaha Hadid Architects

image from architect
Glasgow Transport Museum

American Air Museum – design by Foster + Partners

ATELIER BRÜCKNER

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Glazing the Future Exhibition Brussels

Website: nps tchoban voss