The school for improving professional skills and discovering talents has been the participation of our architects in republican, all-union, and international competitions. The tradition of architectural competitions in the republic has a history of almost half a century.
Competitions activate the creative activity of architects and help, especially the young ones, to find themselves. Public discussions held on the materials of the competition, which sometimes provoke lively debates, awaken creative thought. The entire process of the competition is a kind of education and discovery. Competitions in the republic are usually organized by the Union of Architects in collaboration with the State Construction Committee of the Kyrgyz SSR and clients. The themes of the competitions are diverse: from small forms of architecture, individual residential and public buildings to large urban planning complexes and monumental art pieces. For instance, at the early stages of architecture's development, in 1946, a competition was held for the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz SSR in Frunze, in 1947 a competition took place for a series of standard designs for one-story single and two-family houses for individual construction in Kyrgyzstan, and in 1950-1951 a competition was held for the public library named after Chernyshevsky in Frunze.
Competitions have gained particular significance in addressing issues of urban development in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. As a result of reviewing the competition materials, projects were selected and the building of the State Museum of Fine Arts, the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR, the V. I. Lenin Library, and the branch of the Central Museum of V. I. Lenin were constructed. The largest monuments—"Young Guards," in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kyrgyzstan's voluntary entry into Russia, "To the Fighters of the Revolution," academician K. I. Skryabin, and others were realized as a result of competitions.
Since 1965, architects from Kyrgyzstan have significantly participated in international competitions. (V. Kurbatoff, E. Chubenko, V. Shaposhnik, and others). One of the first participants in such a competition was architect V. Lyzenko, who that same year was awarded a prize—the purchase of the project for the building of the National Theater of the Hungarian People's Republic in Budapest. A year later, the author team received an encouragement award for their project of a residential area for 100,000 inhabitants in Bratislava (Czechoslovakia). In 1968, the board of the Union of Architects of the USSR commissioned a team of Frunze specialists to develop a project for the reconstruction of the central part of the city of Weimar in the GDR (ordered competition). Subsequently, architects from Kyrgyzstan completed several other interesting projects in international competitions, including the Monument to Soviet-Arab Friendship in Aswan, the reconstruction of an area in the center of Santiago (Chile), the planning and development of the resort area of Said-Manavgat (Turkey), and the project for the Center of Arts in Paris.
The architectural youth showed particularly high activity in international competitions from 1982 to 1985. The themes of the competitions were diverse—from housing projects for developing countries to the semi-fantastical "Crystal Palace of the 20th Century," inspired by memories of J. Paxton's masterpiece. The aspiration for the sublime and fantastic, along with connections to other arts, unites most of the works of young architects.
In 1983, at the traditional competition of the company "Central Glass and Shikenshiku" (Japan) on the theme "Housing in the Context of History and Local Conditions," the project by architects A. Tsevmenko and L. Spector was awarded a prize and selected for display at the EXPO-85 exhibition in Tsukuba. This project realized the idea of a house for developing countries located in a monsoon climate. In 1984, at an international competition in Prague, the project "Touring Theater" by architect A. Tsevmenko was awarded a II degree diploma, and at the same competition, a team consisting of A. Zusik, S. Ryspekova, A. Zagrudny, with the participation of T. Ryspekova, also received a II degree diploma. The work of Kyrgyz architects received particular resonance at the international competition in 1984 on the theme "Housing of the Future," organized by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects for the International Year of Youth (1985). Out of 60 projects submitted for this competition, five were selected for submission, among which two were completed by architects from Kyrgyzstan. The first team—A. Zusik, S. Ryspekov, T. Ryspekova, A. Zagrudny (I prize from UNESCO), and the second—G. Konduchalova, G. Katz, I. Likhterov.
The works of architects from Kyrgyzstan have also received significant recognition at all-union reviews and competitions. In 1982, at the review "Best Project of the Year," architects K. Tokochev, V. Lyzenko, I. Likhterov, D. Egimbaeva (under the guidance of Professor N. Ullas) were awarded a medal for their project for the development of the center of Frunze. In 1983, at a similar review, a medal was awarded to architects S. Lebedev, I. Kambarbaev, A. Nezhurin, M. Baibekov, and engineers V. Bushuev, Ya. Grinshtein for the project of an 18-story, 100-apartment residential building in monolithic structures. In 1983, at the review of works by young architects of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the best works were recognized as those of Kyrgyz architects A. Sogonov, A. Zusik, R. Ibragimova, K. Tokochev, B. Sarymsakov, V. Kudryavtsev, and others.