Paradoxien der Geschichtsschreibung zur Baukonstruktion: Eine kurze Untersuchung am Schabolovskaya-Sendeturm in Moskau

Paradoxes in construction history: A study of the Schabolovskaya Radio Tower in Moscow, Russia.

August of this year marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Russian engineer V. G. Shukhov (1853-1939). The Schabolovskaya Tower in Moscow, built 1919 to 1922, belongs to his most well-known and widely cited works. However little is known about its construction and access to the tower is restricted, which creates obstacles for conventional research methods. A group from the IDB at ETH Zurich, acting within the framework of the D-A-CH Research Project (Konstruktionswissen der frühen Moderne - Schuchovs Strategien des sparsamen Eisenbaus), has made a new study of the tower, based on archival material and the opportunity of a short investigation of the structure in-situ. The research group has identified artifacts that help reveal links between this particular structure and the history of Russian industrialization. This article outlines the different stages and methods of construction research employed in the study of the Schabolovskaya Tower and describes the array of themes which continue to push the research of industrial structures towards interdisciplinarity.