Mosaic - Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning #1 - Chisinau

Designed by Aleksandr Kuzmin for the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in Chișinău, this trio of ceramic mosaics presents abstract, architectonic compositions. Two wall-mounted panels appear in sheltered spaces, while the third spans the exterior of a skybridge connecting two buildings. Dominated by blue and grey tones, the first panel presents the clearest display of architectural motifs: skyscrapers, high-rises and spiraling forms. The top right likely displays Tatlin’s Tower – the famous 1919-1920 project for the Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin that was never built. Slightly to its left is a ziggurat structure, perhaps a simplified reference to the (also unrealized) Palace of the Soviets. Industrially made ceramic tiles cover the mosaic. Interestingly, some of the dark grey tiles (and a few lighter ones) appear to have been painted over – the result of late restorations? The second panel, rendered in shades of red, ochre, and brown, mirrors the first in style but appears to be more abstract. I feel that it takes on the educational aspects – an architect’s tube to carry blueprints or drawings and perhaps some mock-ups or maquettes. Like the first, the grout lines between certain sections of tiles may have been painted over. The third mosaic, set on the exterior of a raised walkway, uses a vertical panel format divided into sections that continue the supporting columns. It’s the most abstract, and I can only make out a sun and its rays and some vegetation.