Evolution of Structural Solutions of Public Spaces of Commercial Facilities of the XIX–XXI Centuries

Trade buildings exist in every city, many of them were built in the middle of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The public space of retail buildings is their compositional core, as well as a part of the city’s historical center. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, London, Paris, historical commercial buildings were often rebuilt, changed, transformed, expanded their boundaries and, at the same time, retained their significance in the structure of the modern city. At the same time, as a rule, historical buildings and their structure were preserved. The evolution of public space in commercial buildings is directly related to the emergence of new and the development of existing structural systems and the use of new building materials. Only after the advent of translucent structures, large commercial buildings (covered markets, arcades and department stores) with public spaces in the form of arcades and atriums formed as the main architectural types and spread throughout the world. It was the development of these structures that made it possible to create public and commercial spaces, and additional comfortable communications in the structure of the city. It was the department stores that Zh.E. Haussmann called “the basis and model of the city” during the reconstruction of Paris. The main types of commercial buildings (markets, gostiny yards, passages and department stores) and the types of their public spaces – passages and atriums are considered in the context of the development of constructive solutions.

I.A. PROKOFIEVA, Candidate of Architecture (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Moscow Institute of Architecture (State Academy of Architecture) – MARKHI (11, Rozhdestvenka Street, Moscow, 107031, Russian Federation)

1. Gidion Z. Prostranstvo, vremya, arkhitektura [Space, time, architecture]. Moscow: Stroyizdat. 1984. 455 p.
2. Maitland B. Peshekhodnye torgovo-obshchestvennye prostranstva [Pedestrian commercial and public spaces]. Moscow: Stroyizdat. 1989. 155 p.
3. Prokofieva I.A., Khait V.L. Moscow passages – yesterday, today, tomorrow. Tradition and modernity. Arkhitektura i stroitel’stvo Moskvy. 2001. No. 1, pp. 18–23. (In Russian).
4. Prokofieva I.A. The cylindrical vault of V.G. Shukhov in public, commercial buildings in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod. Zhilishchnoe Stroitel’stvo [Housing Construction]. 2010. No. 10, pp. 28–32. (In Russian).
5. Prokofieva I.A., Public and commercial buildings in the structure of the historical center of Moscow and Paris. Principles of succession and development. Zhilishchnoe Stroitel’stvo [Housing Construction]. 2021. No. 3, pp. 25–32. (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31659/0044-4472-2021-3-25-32
6. Prokofieva I.A. The history of the trading house of the economic society of officers on Vozdvizhenka Zhilishchnoe Stroitel’stvo [Housing Construction]. 2022. No. 8, pp. 11–17. (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31659/0044-4472-2022-8-11-16
7. Prokofieva I.A. Gostiny yard. History and modernity. Academia. Architectura i stroitel’stvo. 2010. No. 1, pp. 41–46. (In Russian).
8. Prokofieva I.A. Ilyinka. Arkhitektura i stroitel’stvo Moskvy. 2010. Vol. 549. No. 1, pp. 32–50. (In Russian).
9. Grefe R., Gappoev M. M., Perchi O. V.G. Shukhov (1853–1939): Iskusstvo konstruktsii [Shukhov (1853–1939): The Art of Construction]. Moscow: Mir. 1994. 192 p.
10. Geist J. Arcades. London. 1985. 604 p.