MAIDAN
SURVEY
WINTER
2014
Correspondence
15th January to 26th February
view of what’s going on. We
would also like to draw all possible
devices that are used for the
A hey guys, how are you? Is Kiev
demonstrations and make a book
as bad as we see in the infos ? it
out of this. Seeing your beautiful
looks quite scary hope you are ok. diagrammatic drawings we also
Ø Thank you, all of us is fine.
think that this is something you
It’s true the situation is very
could do with us.
complicated. If you came here now Ø In ideal way—we need to find
you don’t recognize city center!
real authentic stolen from cops
It’s a battlefield.
shields. That guys have it on
Each day we are there, a lot of
“Maydan”, but I don’t belive they
people there! And I hope we have give it to us a lot. One, maybe few
a chance to change situation. In
in maximum (because this is not
another way we should think about the end of protest). We need to
emigration.
ask.
Ø If you know we have 5 dead for A Any possibility to buy them?
now, 2 of them shooted. All west
Ø Tomorrow we try to call to the
Ukraine rise against. All East part military factory. But could be that
sitting quiet, they frightened.
the possibility to buy it have only
There are very strong influence of goverment organization or some
goverment and russian.
other restrictions. Tomorrow we
A I hope you are doing fine. I just
will check it.
wrote a message to Sergey on FB Ø Hi! Civilian couldn’t buy shields
concerning an exhibition that we
on factory. We have only one way
have been invited to participate.
to renting shields from Maydan.
It’s a show called “Orientations,
But before I ask there we should
Young Swiss Architects” and it
know how many we need.
will present a new generation of
I think a van could work. One shield
architectural practices. 6 offices
is 1000×590 mm mass is <= 4kg
have been invited – we are one of Ø Quite a lot. I will ask on the
them. We are seriously thinking
Maydan.
about doing something about
Ø So I was on Maydan till now, and
what’s happening in Kiev and
that the results of today:
how “spontaneous” architecture
– I was talked with the chief of
emerges and is built in this sort
“Samooborona” (local defense
of conflictive event. We want to
of Maydan), and the deputy of
build a sort of a tent made out of
commandant of Maydan. So they
the typical shields that the berkut both think they could give us 20
are using for the demonstrations. shields, result will be today after
Inside the tent there would be a
23:00, after meeting with the
film with interviews of Ukrainian
commandant.
people that have lived the events. – Interviews. After today I have
We would love to work with you
some news, according to situation
guys for this to make interviews
in Ukraine, when government send
of the demonstrators inside the
in jail for 15 years a man who has
tents of Kiev and to have a better few car tires in his trunk. Nobody
knows what happen tomorrow.
So not a lot people want to tell on
camera that they build barricades
or catapult, and I understand them.
People afraid questions like “How
many people were involved in the
building?, What materials were
used for the building? Where did
you obtain them ?”. So now the
mood on Maydan os not so good
for free talking. But we will try to
make maximum possible interviews
in our deadlines.
Ø It’s ok, about shields. Deputy
of commandant, she tell me today
that the groups of “local defense
of Maydan” don’t happy to give
they “captured” “berkut” shields.
Today she will try to push on the
leaders of “local defense”, and
after 23:00 she could tell me the
result. Thats news.
Ø Thank you for the letter. She on
the meeting now (from 21:00) but I
send to her SMS about your letter
and how it’s important for us. But I
really worried about this idea with
shields, because now every body
think that the police will attack
Maydan in monday, nobody knows
how it will. I hope we will get it.
This girl Deputy Commandant, she
is quite adequate, she know about
Museum of Basel and I realy hope
she help us. Unfortunately I can’t
be on this kind of meeting.
Ø This girl, she don’t answer me. In
half a hour I will call again. I called
to the metall diller company they
told me for the list of aluminium
1200×4000 thickness 6mm (for
8 shields) price will be 8720 hrn
(across 1000 dollars). It’s without
cutting in pieces.
Ø Today is very important day,
activation of the protests. All shield
in use.
Ø I was talking with Deputy of
commandant. Bad news. We can’t
get shields. All police shields in the
Ukraine is own to the government.
Any transportation even in Ukraine
—criminal crime. And from Ukraine
too. Even if we get the official
letter from Museum and then try
to move shields from Maydan we
will be out of the law. Because
previous owner was not legal.
(shields stolen from “berkut” so...)
That’s the situation.
Ø Military suppliers sell it only for
police’s and army structures not
for civil using. If it was possible
then all protesters was used them.
I was phoned on that factory last
week. Lets look on the copies.
Ø it’s now.
I go
Ø yes
i’m only from there
more than 200 wounded
few dead
maydan surrounded now
I’m hardly came in office
Ø maybe tomorrow maydan will be
cleaned
Ø about 10 armored troop-carrier
cops have fire gun weapon
Ø we was there
—running from cops
Ø it’s online, journalist between
maydan troops and cops
yes thanks I’m fine
we try to rest and go
Ø just now 10 dead shot in head by
snipers
Ø Sorry
“They don’t give it—
this shields save their lives”
0
Майдан Незалежності
Щіти Самооборони
Катапульта Правого сектору
Таран на Інститутській
Турнік Самооборони
Баліста “Пугач”
“Картофелестрел”
Загородження
“Тітушкомет” на Інстітутській
Відсувне загородження
Тимчасовий тент
Катапульта №1
Стіл - резерв шин
Катапульти Правого сектору
Місце обігріву
Фрагмент барикади з прапором
Тент з бочкою
Флагшток
Місце обігріву - Калуш
Вежа на Міхайлівській барикаді
Накривка з піччю
Автобус “Беркуту” на Грушевського
“Вінницький Курінь”
Юрта Романа та Василя
Їдальня
Барикада на Інститутський до штурму
Інформаційний екран для “Беркуту”
Протипіхотні їжаки
Фрагмент барикади на Майдані
Вежа на Інстітутській
Нижня Інститутська барикада після штурму
Верхня Інститутська барикада
“Казарми”
Барікада Хрещатик
Index
fig. 1 Plan
fig. 2 Elevation
0 Maidan Square
1 Self Defense shields
2 Right sector catapult
3 Institutska battering ram
4 Self Defense pull-up bar
5 Ballista pop gun
6 Potato gun
7Roadblock
8 Institutska Titushkomet
9 Movable barricade
10 Temporary tent
11 Catapult number 1
12 Table and tire stock
13 Right sector catapult
14 Sitting area with heating
15 Barricade with flag
16 Tent with fire barrel
17Flagpole
18 City of Kalush tent of warmth
19 Mihaylivska barricade watchtower
20 Tent with furnace
21 Hrushevskoho Berkut bus with piano
22 Vinnitsa hovel
23 Yurt of Roman and Vasil
24 Eatery
25 Institutska Barricade before assault
26 Cinema display for the Berkut
27 Roadblock for the infantry
28 Fragment of Maidan barricade
29 Institutska Watchtower
30 Institutska first line barricade after first assault
31 Institutska second line barricade
32Barracks
33 Khreschatyk Barricade
34 Mihaylivska Sich
35 From modernity to tradition
“Міхайлівська Січ”
It is now more than 20 years since Dutch
architect Rem Koolhaas published the
definitive version of his theory of Bigness.
This eulogy to Bigness has since become
a classic work, allowing an understanding
of both the end of the Modern era—from
Mies van der Rohe to Le Corbusier—and
the dawn of vast projects bearing the
names of a few major figures, including
Rem Koolhaas himself. “Beyond a critical
mass,” Koolhaas explains, “each structure
becomes a monument, or at least raises
that expectation through its size alone.”
This “Bigness”—a popular trope
among fin-de-siècle architects – is based
on several core principles: the liberating
power of elevators, the autonomy of
different parts of a new building, a clear
separation between indoors and outdoors
and, most importantly of all, the fact
that “Bigness is no longer part of any
urban tissue”. It sticks two fingers up to
context.
Over the space of 20 years, Bigness
has become a mainstay of the landscape,
from vast Olympic projects to Asian
skyscrapers in cities such as Dubai
and Shanghai. It is now up to the new
generation of architects to criticise and
rethink this trend, while proposing a new
professional code and different ethics.
The recent financial and property
crisis has led to the emergence of
new social movements. In short, the
game has changed. These movements
initiate a discourse at a grassroots level,
focusing on the needs of those for whom
Bigness is simply out of reach. Across
the globe, public squares play host to
demonstrations that attract hundreds of
thousands of citizens over several days.
Irrespective of their temperament—
indignant, angry or peaceful—these vast
crowds create a new type of horizontal
Bigness that is taking over large squares
in some of the world’s major cities. In
Paris, the Bastille was a monumental
prison that symbolised the excesses
of power. Once it was demolished, the
site became a square synonymous with
the Revolution. Thus, Istanbul’s Taksim
Square, Cairo’s Tahir Square, Madrid’s
Puerta del Sol, New York’s Zuccotti
Park and Kiev’s Maidan describe a
superlative, a levelled-out Bigness.
All of these squares have one thing in
common: they have become symbols of
people power, where vast crowds gather
temporarily for a few days. They are
what Hakim Bey calls “TAZs” (Temporary
Autonomous Zones). These TAZs poke
fun at Big Business, forming assemblies,
committees, security personnel and
conscience groups to invent new ways
of dismantling the structures and
architectures of power.
In Kiev, the square is known as
Maidan (literally, “square”). Although it
is now officially known as “Independence
Square”, Ukrainians are aware that it has
changed its name five times in the last
century. In Maidan, where 15,000 people
are camped, there is a need to organise
the exorbitant disorder and to establish
spaces, pathways and boundaries. In
short, the protesters need to create their
own autonomous zone architecture.
In this case, however, the structure is
no longer what the Modernists referred
to as a “human settlement”. Instead it is
a temporary installation, an emergency
shelter with a unique function (kitchen,
bathroom, library, hospital, place of
worship) but also a shared function: a
refuge against the bitter cold and snow of
the Ukrainian winter.
Occupied public squares have clearly
defined boundaries: the limits of the
autonomous zone mark the boundaries of
the area controlled by the Power against
which the protesters are demonstrating.
In the streets that lead to these squares,
the State installs security forces and
hardware as a symbol of its power. These
military and paramilitary personnel,
protected in their trucks and barracks,
defend their own zone, separated from
the protesters by a no-man’s-land or a
barricade.
The term “barricade” comes from the
French word “barrique” (barrel), since
these barricades were once made by
rolling and stacking barrels to create a
protective shield. These days, the barrels
have been replaced by tyres, which
are easy to roll, or by street furniture
uprooted from areas where it hinders free
movement through re-captured public
spaces. In some cases, cars or even piles
of television sets are used to create an
obstacle. For centuries, barricades have
come to symbolise a desire to regain lost
freedom. They are a symbol of defiance
against Bigness, against grandiloquence
—a rallying cry for the power of what we
might call “Smallness”. These barricades,
bearing flags or draped with banners,
mark the boundary of the autonomous
zone.
In Kiev, after months of resistance,
another object has come to symbolise
the resistance movement at the Maidan:
the Roman shield or scutum. Initially used
sparingly as a symbol of war, it has since
been deployed on a massive scale. Unlike
the shields used by the Teutonic Knights
or Samurais, the scutum was a piece
of curved, stretched hide designed to
protect the full length of the legionnaire’s
body. As such, a standard size was
adopted: 130 × 67 cm. It is described
at length in accounts of battles by Dio
Cassius, but the most impressive account
is that provided by Plutarch in his Lives of
Illustrious Men, in a description of a battle
between the Romans and the Barbarians:
“For they thought they were riding
up for plunder and booty, not battle, and
when they encountered many missiles
and saw that the Romans were fresh and
vigorous and eager for the fray, they were
once more tired of the struggle. However,
as the Romans were descending some
steep hills, the Parthians attacked them
and shot at them as they slowly moved
along. Then the shield-bearers wheeled
about, enclosing the lighter armed troops
within their ranks, while they themselves
dropped on one knee and held their
shields out before them. The second rank
held their shields out over the heads of
the first, and the next rank likewise. The
resulting appearance is very like that
of a roof, affords a striking spectacle,
and is the most effective of protections
against arrows, which glide off from it.
The Parthians, however, thinking that
the Romans dropping on one knee was
a sign of fatigue and exhaustion, laid
aside their bows, grasped their spears by
the middle and came to close quarters.
But the Romans, with a full battle cry,
suddenly sprang up, and thrusting with
their javelins slew the foremost of the
Parthians and put all the rest to rout.”
When this military formation—known
as the “tortoise” formation—descends a
hill, it appears like the tiers of a theatre
or a pleated shell. In Kiev, these shields
are used not only by the government
forces, but also by the Maidan
security personnel. Despite their size
(100 × 59 cm)—slightly smaller than the
Roman scutum—the resulting tortoise
formation is the same. The tortoise acts
as a moving barricade, a sort of mobile
front line. It marks the boundary of the
zone and is able to retreat in an orderly
manner or advance and re-capture the
surrounding streets.
In this case, the occupation of public
space is not an urban theory concept.
Instead it is a reality playing out on a
resolutely human scale. It is an inverted
form of Bigness, suited to the professional
approach of the new generation of
architects. These new architects are
rolling their sleeves up and getting really
stuck in. Give them a shield, a shelter or
a barricade and they will create a small
project out of it, the manifesto for how
architecture will be in years to come.
MAIDAN SURVEY,
WINTER 2014
A Project by
BUREAU A, Leopold Banchini &
Daniel Zamarbide (CH)
with BURØ, Sergey Ferley (UA)
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
ORIENTATIONS.
YOUNG SWISS ARCHITECTS
23th March – 4th Mai 2014
at the Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel
Correspondence Sergey Ferley
Daniel de Roulet
Text Translations Simon Thomas
Drawings
Manon Fantini, Leopold Banchini
Photography Sergey Ferley
NORM, Zurich
Design
TypefaceReplica
Printed by Druckerei Nicolussi, Zurich
Published by BOABOOKS
ISBN978-2-940409-66-2
www.boabooks.com
BUREAU A / BURØ, Shield, Aluminium, 100×60×10cm, 2014
© 2014, BUREAU A. & BURØ.
All rights reserved
Backcover
BUREAU A / BURØ
From Modernity to Tradition
Project for S AM, Basel, 2014
35
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