The history of modern domestic furniture

The history of modern domestic furniture began quite recently.

At the All-Union Exhibition in 1956 in Moscow, furniture models were presented, in which an attempt was made to move away from the outdated range that had developed in the 30s.

The appearance of new models of furniture is not an accident. Changes in the assortment of furniture became possible and necessary due to changes in the architecture of residential and public buildings.

In order to identify the best design decisions, the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers on Construction was entrusted with holding tenders for the development of the best standard designs for buildings, structures, etc.

Architectural competitions held in 1956, were of great importance for the development of Soviet architecture. In the best projects, the main features of a new type of apartment building were outlined, with apartments designed for single-family settlement.

Beginning in 1958, residential houses built in cities and rural areas have been provided with economical, well-equipped apartments for one family to move in. The construction of residential buildings is carried out according to standard designs. The economic bodies are instructed to organize the production of furniture and built-in equipment for new type apartments in the required quantity.

The forest of tower cranes has become a characteristic element of urban landscapes. Construction sites began to turn into assembly, since the widespread introduction of standard projects made it possible to organize and develop a powerful industrial base for the production of large-assembly elements — blocks and panels. The volume of commissioning of living space began to increase sharply.

Changes in the development of housing construction made it necessary to re-evaluate the state of furniture production in the country, its volume, range, and model architecture. It was necessary to bring the furniture production program in line with the housing program in the country.

For the first time, the design of furniture was given the importance of a state-important business. Of particular interest is the decision to hold an All-Union competition for the creation of the best samples of furniture for new apartments, designed for one family.

The designers of the country worked on the creation of new models of furniture for mass production with creative enthusiasm and a sense of great responsibility. The results of their work appeared before the public at large exhibitions, shown in Moscow in 1959 in New Cheryomushki (the first competition) and in 1961 in the Upper Mnevniki (the second competition).

At these exhibitions a lot was the first time. And the fact that they are a competition, and that the furniture is exhibited in real apartments and the apartments themselves. And most importantly, it was shown what furniture can and should become in the conditions of modern mass production.

In the process of preparing for competitive exhibitions, furniture makers, primarily designers, have carefully studied the architectural and planning features of new apartments that affect the character of furniture, and applied the results of this study to furniture design.

All-Union competitions for the best samples of furniture for standard one-family apartments gave a huge amount of material for studying many problems related to equipment and furniture of the mass-type apartment.

At one time, the new apartment was called small, and the new furniture was small. But these terms are erroneous.

A modern typical kitchen has an area of ​​5-6 m2, that is, it is smaller than the old one, but it belongs to one mistress and is used by her completely, with all the walls and corners. The aisles and corridors of the apartment have decreased, but they belong to the same family. Under these conditions, the apartment is used more rationally and its size itself says nothing about the convenience of living. It would be more correct to call a new apartment a single-family if some definition of its main feature is required.

It is even more erroneous to call small-sized furniture. There is not a single piece of furniture that is not related in size to the size of a person or his belongings. But after all neither the person, nor his clothes, ware or books do not decrease. So the furniture can not decrease. Of course, the relationship of modern apartments and furniture is, including in size, but its manifestations are not always visible at first glance.

The planning features of a typical apartment influenced the nature of its furnishing. Over the past decade, the range of standard apartments has expanded, various design solutions have appeared. We consider the features of the layout of the apartments, characteristic of the first years of construction according to standard designs, since they had the strongest influence on the architecture of new furniture.

Fig. 1. Furniture set for one-room apartment (VKTIM)

Passages and corridors decreased in size and number. The connection between the rooms in many modern apartments is carried out mainly directly through the rooms that have become walk-through, and not through the corridors. In some typical projects, even the way to the kitchen passes through the room, more precisely through the projecting part of it (reception is unsuccessful, already deposited in the archive). The existence of walk-through rooms meant for furniture makers, firstly, that the length of the walls decreased, since there were more door or openings in the room, and, secondly, that constantly used aisles appeared in the rooms. These factors made it impossible to use the traditional method of furnishing basic, ceremonial rooms of the apartment, which can be called centric.

In the old apartment, where corridors served as passages between the rooms, the room had one door from the corridor. Movement around the room was not through and was caused only by domestic processes occurring in it. Therefore, no one interfered with the dining table, which occupied the center of the room, under the chandelier; around him along the walls were conveniently placed the other furnishings. The round table cover, clearly denoting the compositional center of the interior, was logical in such a room.

It is better not to occupy the center in the aisle room with furniture, because it is more convenient to go straight, rather than skirting the table. The table needs to find another place; he moved away from the center, and in many cases generally joined the wall. At the very first exhibition of competitive furniture there was not a single round table. It just became obvious that the round table had lost its old place, and it looks meaningless by the wall.

Fig. 2. A set of furniture for the dining room (KB factory "Standard", Tallinn)

Fig. 3. Set of furniture for the recreation area (KB factory "Standard", Tallinn)

Fig. 4. Wall cabinet for the bedroom (ECB, Lithuanian SSR)

The release of the center of the room from the table has not yet solved all the tasks of the new arrangement of furniture. It was necessary to look for such tricks of furnishing, in which the new place of the dining table would not look random, so that when placing furniture in the room there was an internal sense, order, pattern.

The reception of the centric furnishing of the room was replaced by the reception of zonal furnishing (Fig. 1). It is based, in addition to the already mentioned techniques, a simple observation: as a rule, a room serves several purposes at the same time. We do not have the opportunity to have a room just for eating (dining), only for working and storing books (study), only for relaxing, talking, reading (living room), etc.

When a sofa bed, a coffee table and a TV are placed in the room, this room is usually called the common room. When a children's corner or a desk appears in the bedroom, and sometimes both at the same time, the room is no longer a bedroom (the term has not yet been invented for it). These vital requirements are taken into account by the zonal furnishing. In one part of the room is organized a dining area with its characteristic furniture attributes: table, chairs, cupboard for dishes. In the other part of the room, you can equip either a recreation area - a sofa, armchairs, a TV, a table, or a work corner - a desk or secretary, a bookcase or shelves, or an armchair. Such combinations can be many. After all, there are no two families of the same composition, professions and tastes.

Exhibitions of competitive furniture presented to visitors options for zonal furnishing. Some furnishing options have come into life.

A new approach to the composition of the interior of furniture for a modern apartment turned out to be more multifaceted than the simple linking of the sizes of furniture and an apartment. But the dimensions must also be taken into account. The most important of them is the height of the rooms. In a modern mass-type apartment, the height of the rooms is 2.5-2.7 m. This height (and even less — 2.4 m) is adhered to in many countries of the world, since it is not the height of the room that is important, but the volume of air that falls on one living In compliance with the rules of settlement, this indicator is consistent with hygienic requirements, the rest is a matter of habit and competent furnishing. When furnishing new apartments, it turned out that the cabinets of the traditional range, having a height of about 2 m, do not fit well into the space of the room, creating ugly proportions in height. The solution was twofold: reducing the height of the cabinets to 1.6 m — 1.8 m or raising them to the ceiling.

The study of the features of furnishing of apartments has drawn attention to another important factor - the congestion of furniture in the area of ​​the rooms. It turned out that on average, each two-room apartment under the furniture of the traditional range employs 40–45% of the floor. It was impossible to put up with such irrational use of living space, it was necessary to look for more economical options for furnishing. After all, even in a spacious apartment, freedom is needed for people, not for furniture.

Thus, the creators of new furniture were faced with the task of great importance - to radically change the range of furniture, bring it into line with the market needs in terms of quantity and diversity, with apartment features - in architectural and compositional qualities, and in terms of aesthetic requirements of the time - in artistic qualities.

A large number of specialists from all over the country took part in designing the new furniture. Already in the first competition of 1958-1959, designers from Moscow, Leningrad, the Baltic republics, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, a number of cities of the RSFSR participated, and the exhibition of competitive offers took up two sections of new houses and two floors of boxes in a separate building. The work of architects, artists, production workers - participants in the competition marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of the country's furniture industry and furniture art.

What are the achievements of this period, which determined the architecture of new furniture?

The constructive solutions of products, now designed for industrial, highly mechanized production, have changed radically. The main element of the design of steel shields, the method of forming products and determining the size of the elements was unification. The introduction of shield semi-finished products made a revolution in furniture production, radically changed the nature and pace of the technological process of manufacturing products, the nature of their architecture.

Furniture has become an organic part of the architecture of the home, an integral part of the interior; until the beginning of the 60s, the furniture was often randomly filled with rooms not connected with the interior space of the apartment. Furniture design has changed significantly according to the method, the basis for the development of new furniture models is now necessarily the study of the architectural and planning features of the premises for which the furniture is intended.

Modern furniture is close to the conditions of operation, to the needs of the person - the owner of things. Bulky, luxuriously finished, furniture made only for beauty, subordinates the person to himself, prevents him from quietly, comfortably living and using things.

The way of life of the recent past envisaged an excessively respectful attitude to things, to their place, since they did not like furniture rearrangements in the old days.

Modern life proceeds at a different pace, with a different attitude to things. Televisions, radios, desks, books come into life, and all this requires new, not traditional furnishings. Furniture products often change places, furniture acquires many individual traits - the result of the desire of the modern person to adapt a home to their specific needs. Lovers often appeared to rearrange the furniture in the room, updating the interior. Modern types of furniture that have entered life after competitions, meet this new human need.

A new look at the beauty of modern housing, mass production of products in combination with changes in the constructive-technological base of furniture production - the basis of modern furniture architecture.