TATLIN NEWS #50

Element of Chance | Moscow, Russia | CU Reserve | Fusion-park | photos by Yuriy Palmin | text be Evgenia Bakhturova If comprehended literally, the phrase «ele- ment of chance» is a kind of a paradox: an element is a fundamental principle of every- thing, it is a unit that creates the Order when multiplied, while «chance» is an element of the Chaos. However if we study the matter more profoundly we will see that the chance is a particular case of regularity; since these two phenomena present the same concept. All architectural activity of Vladimir Plotkin is based on operating the Chaos and the Or- der and their inversion; this is the thing that makes him most outstanding in his capacity of an architect. Despite the seemingly modernis- tic look of his buildings, they seem to possess some sort of enigma and daring; Plotkin mix- es in accurate proportions the modernist tra-

dition, which he has mastered so well, and the enigmatic Russian soul, by reflecting one in another and creating an indivisible unity. This is what earned him much appraisal by both critics and customers. The bureau has been keeping momentum for two years, every time working on three projects at once and hav- ing another three under construction, which means that though complicated, their archi- tecture is not eccentric and it keeps attracting the developers scared by Europeans architects with their extravagant projects. The complexity of the latest realized project by Plotkin is not only inherent but also nomi- nal: this is neither a separate building nor a residential area with one underlying principal of design; this is a whole complex comprising both an apartment block and office premises, and even a museum. A variety of functions complicated the volumetric and sculptural so-

ТАТLIN news 2|50|69  2009   83