any architecture gurus out there?

[Jack Kollmann]

Dear Liv,

         I think your terms refer to the Classical Orders of Greco-Roman
architecture (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, etc.).  Your first terms
refer to exterior details (decoration, ornamentation) borrowed from the
Classical Orders:  either full use of columns with capitals and entablature
according to one or more of the Classical Orders, or partial use thereof --
e.g., a window surround (nalichnik) might be framed by small decorative
columns with capitals.

         Your second term I think refers to "monumentality" of a building
or design that is achieved without use of the Classical Orders.  Classical
style is typically associated with monumentality (think Greek temples,
Roman Forum, Washington, DC government buildings).  I think your terms
suggest a monumentality (large size, or appearing as if large) achieved
without use of the Classical Orders.  Architects in the 1920s were indeed
attempting to escape from traditional use of Classical and Neo-Classical
Orders.  "Constructivism" of the late '20s/early '30s was an example of
this non-Classical trend -- e.g., old Izvestiia Building in Moscow, by
Barkhin, 1927, and Gosplan (Duma) Building in Moscow, by Langman, 1932-35,
although the latter suggests columns at the main entrance, signaling the
start of Stalinesque Neo-Classical (Metro buildings and stations, former
U.S. Embassy/Intourist Hq. next to Hotel National, MGU in Lenin/Sparrow
Hills, etc.).

         I know of at least one English/Russian, Russian/English
architectural dictionary, but it does not contain the adjective "odernyi"
or "bezordernyi":  "Anglo-russkii i russko-angliiskii
arkhitekturno-stroitel'nyi slovar'," Kiev, 1961 -- other dictionaries do,
but with no meaning other than referring to the Classical Orders.  I think
the meaning of your terms is a simple interpolation of "order" not in the
English sense of "organized/disorganized," or "regular/irregular," but with
reference to Classical architecture (Orders).

         Hope the above helps.

Jack Kollmann


>I am translating an article that has unexpectedly veered into Russian
>architecture of the 1920s, and am faced with two terms:
>
>klassicheskie ordernye detali
>and
>bezordernaia monumental'nost'.

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