“The Contemporary Architecture Vocabulary” Exhibition
- location
- Russia, Moscow, A. V. Shchusev Museum of Architecture, Ruina Wing
- design
- 2024
- authors
- Anton Nadtochiy, Vera Butko, Sergey Nadtochiy, Petr Alimov, Alisa Sylantyeva
In September 2024, ATRIUM acted as the author and curator of the Vocabulary of Contemporary Architecture exhibition, held in the Ruina Wing of the A. V. Shchusev Museum of Architecture in Moscow. Marking its 30th anniversary, ATRIUM reinterpreted the experience accumulated over these years and presented it in five sections reflecting key aspects of contemporary architectural discourse.
The exhibition was based on materials from architectural, urban planning and design projects, models, art objects, research and even computer games. These exhibits illustrated key concepts of the architectural vocabulary, trends in contemporary architecture, digital technologies and other aspects of professional practice.
The Vocabulary of Contemporary Architecture developed by the curators was structured into six sections, each corresponding to a letter in the company name ATRIUM, used as an acronym. The vocabulary terms were accompanied by short essays revealing the authors’ position and placing each concept within the context of current professional discourse. In this way, the exhibition became a research project based, on the one hand, on self-reflection and the authors’ view of the profession, and on the other, on the formulation of universal principles and theses underpinning contemporary architecture.
The key connective element of the exhibition, running through all three floors of the Ruina Wing, was a red ribbon, vividly contrasting with the museum’s old brick walls. It played the symbolic role of the ATRIUM Vocabulary scroll, while also serving as the main exhibition surface and shaping the spatial structure of the exhibition halls. This structure defined the six principal sections of the narrative: Architecture as Art, Architecture of Tomorrow, Architecture as Research, Architecture as Identity, Architecture as Urbanism, and Architecture as Morphology / Language.
As part of the exhibition, we presented the book ATRIUM Vocabulary of Contemporary Architecture, which became part of this large-scale research project and reveals our philosophy and approach to architecture.
In addition, over the four weeks of the exhibition, a public programme was held with lectures and round tables open to everyone, discussing current issues across various aspects of professional architectural practice.
drawings
