Russia has a long history and over the last 100 years has been quite a bloody time. From the overthrowing of the Russian Tsars and the creation of the USSR and then through the horrors of the second world war followed by the Iron Curtain and communist rule to the falling of the Iron Curtain to a more open society today.
During this time there have been many marvellous artists, the famous ballet dancers, their grand masters in chess and their space program where they put the first man, animal and woman in space. All of this was made possible because of their industrial cities and their industries. During this bleak time many industrial buildings were built so the hard working Russians could produce a massive amount of goods. On the back of this they were able to fund their space program and their scientists to try to make Russia an industrial powerhouse.
Sadly the citizens of Russia during this spell did not reap 
rewards, certainly not in the way people in the west enjoyed them. All the time where they worked in these industrial cities and beavered away in their industrial factories, to a certain degree they were like battery hens. Not in the sense they were confined in a small space but had to endure hard working conditions for the good of the nation. Obviously your country has to come first but this was so different to life in the West and ultimately this led to the falling of the stranglehold the USSR had on the Eastern Bloc countries.
Industry is the key to the wealth and well being of all nations and industrial buildings are key to this. The need for economical industrial buildings to be supplied and assembled quickly became essential and this is where it would have been good if Capital Steel Buildings was around during that period. With their cost effective light industrial buildings made from cold rolled steel which could be made to any size with totally clear spans inside would have been a boon. From small personal industrial units to large commercial size operations these could have been provided.
Recently in Copenhagen there was an exhibition of works of Nikolai Bestuzhev, the famous Russian graphic artist, to celebrate the beauty of industrial buildings and the inspiration of industry. At this exhibition at the Loft Club in Copenhagen his drawings showed the ‘shadows of the cities’ showing the industrial architectural beauty of Russia’s commercial structures such as chimneys, factories, commercial workshops and industrial sheds.
The Kauchuk factory which was famous as an example of 19th century industrial architecture was depicted in these works. This iconic factory was demolished in 2008 as well as many of the Russian capital’s industrial buildings, often to be used for offices and new homes in this enlightened country.
Mr Bestuzhev said that when he was a child he used to walk through these old factories and the old gas holders used to charm him. They seemed at the time to be intriguing to him so he wanted to show monumental industrial objects as they were. It’s good that people can take this view as industrial buildings can have a beauty all of its own. It’s not only Russia which is losing its industrial heritage as a number of industrial buildings in London’s and Sussex were recently transformed into living space and this seems to have become the ‘norm’.
