Decisions of the Congresses of the Union of Architects

The second half of the 1950s was filled with activities aimed at restructuring design methods and building technologies in accordance with the goals and objectives set by the party and government for the architects of our country. The creative union congresses provided significant assistance in restructuring the design and construction sector in the republic.
In August 1955, the fourth congress of the Union of Architects of Kyrgyzstan took place. The congress called on all architects of Kyrgyzstan to implement their creative plans based on the widespread use of industrial construction methods, to be conduits for everything new and progressive, and to focus primarily on the design of mass construction projects — housing and buildings for cultural and domestic purposes.
At the fifth (1959) and sixth (1961) congresses of the Union of Architects of the republic, issues of typification remained a leading topic. With a certain amount of experience behind them, architects discussed specific problems hindering the development of large-panel housing construction in Kyrgyzstan. At the subsequent seventh (1964), eighth (1966), and ninth (1967) congresses, issues related to activating the union's activities, unifying its ranks, enhancing the promotion of creative achievements, further improving the professional skills of its members, and refining mass construction were discussed.
By this time, the leading issues became those related to urban planning development. A turning point occurred in professional creativity, driven by the understanding that large social programs cannot be solved based on "individual" design — a serious urban planning approach is necessary. In 1969, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in a resolution "On Measures to Improve the Quality of Housing and Civil Construction," set tasks for architects and designers to engage in intensive searches for improving architecture, particularly the aesthetic expressiveness in mass housing construction based on standard projects. By the end of the 1960s, both in the country and in the republic, the issue of forming a full-fledged urban environment was sharply raised.
The fifth congress of the Union of Architects of the USSR, held in October 1970, had special significance for determining the overall direction of architecture in the country after this resolution, with urban planning problems at the center of attention. At the congress, issues of construction industrialization took on a new hue. It was noted, in particular, that the transition to new methods of building construction does not negate such concepts in architecture as composition, proportion, rhythm, scale, and others. At the same time, it was pointed out that mass building architecture is accompanied by uniformity, monotony, dullness, and facelessness, and that one of the tasks for the subsequent period should be to overcome these shortcomings.