Save Shukhov Tower!
Avangarde Poster Series
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Poster series Save Shukhov Tower! was a part of a social responsibility campaign against demolition of the world famous radio tower by the architect and pioneering engineer Vladimir Shukhov, which is considered an icon of early 20th century modernist design.

The 160 meters tall Shukhov Tower has become an iconic part of the Moscow skyline and is considered an architectural masterpiece, but is under threat of demolition so the plot could be sold to developers. Completed in 1922, this hyperboloid lattice structure is built from a diagonal grid of straight steel beams yet seems to pulsate as it rises skyward, each of its six sections growing smaller in the form of an upside-down spyglass.

The tower was one of the first buildings to be constructed on the basis of a mathematical model and is often referred to as "Russia's Eiffel Tower". It has influenced architects and designers all over the world, from Sir Norman Foster to Le Corbusier. Since it stopped broadcasting in 2002, however, the tower serves no function for Russian Ministry of Communication, which owns it, and is closed to the public. Instead, it offers a lucrative development opportunity, as it is located in central Moscow's zone of historical construction, a prime location in one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the world. Ministry of Communication suggested that the tower should be dismantled arguing that it could fall on the nearby residential buildings. Moscow urban activists, architectural and art historians launched Save Shukhov Tower! campaign to preserve the tower, give it UNESCO World Heritage status and develop tourist infrastructure around it.

Save Shukhov Tower! poster design celebrates the delicate beauty and mathematical poetry of the tower as well as quotes constructivist poster art from the 1920s. Just like the tower was transmitting its radio signal for more than 70 years and has become a symbol of communication now it speaks for itself using as little text as possible transmitting SOS signal worldwide from the posters.
Awards:
Red Dot Communication Design Award 2015

Client:
Center of Russian Avangarde

Industry:
Culture

Online publications:
IdN world
Made on
Tilda