THE GIGANT DORMITORY COMPLEX FOR PROLETARIAN STUDENT

HISTORY OF RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CONSTRUCTIVIST BUILDINGS In 1930, with the opening of the Kharkiv Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture and an increase in student enrollment, the problem of housing for students became acute. At that time they lived in bunkhouses and at the church territory of Kharkiv Diocesan College on Artemivska Street (since 1943 – Artema Street, now Alchevskykh Street), which adjoined the city cemetery. The funds allocated by the Social Insurance Central Administration (Hlavsotsstrakh) for the construction of a new dormitory to accommodate 2,500 students were scanty: 2.3 million rubles while 10 million were required. However, in 1929, the construction of the so-called “House for Proletarian Students No. 1” was started under the project of O.H. Molokin and H.D. Ikonnikov, who won the closed competition announced by Hlavsotsstrakh in 1927.  The new dormitory building had large glass surfaces and a horizontal façade laying out typical for constructivist architecture. The design consisted of four shifted to one another five- and six-storey sections that were mirrored and linked together by the central, ninth section. The building had passageways. There were staircases in the semicircular joints of the building parts and volume differences enabled illumination of hallways with natural light. The utility units were combined into blocks.  Particular attention was paid to hygienic standards of the living conditions. Steam baths, laundries, etc. were designed in the basement. The building was equipped with the rooms for health inspection, inpatient treatment, disinfection, and quarantining of patients. The dormitory sections were shared between Civil Engineering, Aviation, Electrotechnical, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering Institutes. In 1931, the “House for Proletarian Students No. 1” on Pushkinska Street was opened as the main building of the complex, called the Gigant (Giant) for its incredible size. The complex was located in the existing housing development of Kharkiv Diocesan College between Pushkinska Street and Artemivska Street. It was also planned to build dormitories of similar architecture on the opposite side, along the thoroughfare from Pushkinska Street to Artemivska Street. The constructivist style of all buildings of the new dormitories formed a harmonious overall architectural image.  After the war, the Gigant needed renovation and reconstruction. The work was started in and continued in 1957 under the guidance of N.M Pidhornyi and A.M. Pokornyi. The complex lost its constructivist features and appeared in a new architecture of “Stalin style” in the spirit of that time. The urban construction concept was preserved, new buildings appeared, and internal roads were changed. The dormitory buildings on 48 and 48b Artema Street (occupied by Kharkiv Civil Engineering and Architecture Institute, now Kharkiv National Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture) were united by links, and the passageway between buildings was rebuilt as the main entrance lobby in 1952. Same as in 1930, the construction work on the Gigant in 1957 was performed by the students themselves and the student civil association – the Committee for Improvement of Students’ Living Conditions. Inna Akmen. Volodymyr Lopatko