Seminar

30th Seminar. Psychology and Teaching of Architecture in the USSR in 1920s

May 30, 2023

Speaker: Ekaterina Orel (HSE University)

In the 1920s, applied psychology was actively developing, both in the USSR and in the world as a whole, and its achievements were often introduced into other professional fields. The presentation will focus on the school of Nikolai Ladovsky, who saw psychology as an important tool for the development of the architectural profession. In the 1920s, Ladovsky taught the propaedeutic course "Space" at the VKhUTEMAS / VKhUTEIN, and also opened a laboratory for psychological research in architecture. We will talk about how Ladovsky used psychological tools, why his method was called "psychoanalytic" and whether it is related to Freud.