Diamond in intellectual world

The construction of a diamond-shaped building of the National Library was launched in November 2002 in Minsk. It is about to be completed. “The diamond” is sparkling at the end of Avenue of Victors. It is to be dressed in a glass “blouse”. Finishing operations are to be conducted
The construction of a diamond-shaped building of the National Library was launched in November 2002 in Minsk. It is about to be completed. “The diamond” is sparkling at the end of Avenue of Victors. It is to be dressed in a glass “blouse”. Finishing operations are to be conducted.

It is hard to believe that it is a woman, Lyudmila Shokhina, chief project engineer of Minskproekt institute, who resolved to take the charge of the construction project. She is a person no less unique that the future library. She is one of the few specialists with a 40-year work experience, who built 105 sites, many of which are cult ones. One should be strong to carry such a responsibility for so many years. Let’s try to figure out how she managed it.

— Lyudmila Mitrofanovna, is it typical today that a woman agrees to undertake responsibility for such an important construction object?

— It is traditional that technical professions, where mathematics is involved, are dominated by men. Women are thought to be gravitating to humanitarian sciences. But I believe that it is a matter of character or of genes. I remember my mother telling me, when I was little: “You are exactly like your father! It is impossible to make you change your mind!” “I want” has been my favourite motto line since childhood. I worked at Kamchatka for two years after graduation. Mountaineers and volcanologists were the most revered heroes then. I was not in shape for mountaineering. But I was determined to climb a mountain. And I did it. Mathematics has always seemed more attractive to me than languages. When I was at school, I had this embarrassing stutter. To get rid of it and get a means of creative expression, I decided to attend the popular art section. The stutter is in the past and sense of purpose is the name of the feature of the character.

— Maybe you parents brought you up in some special way?

— It seems to me, there were no upbringing methods used whatsoever. I mean, there was no forbidding. I was a self-willed but responsible child. My parents respected this. Besides, all my friends were at least 10 years older than me. That was interesting. They gave me progressive books to read. Then there was a group of mountaineers and volcanologists. My mother would groan sadly: “Don’t you want to don a dress, high-heeled shoes and go to a restaurant or a theatre? Why do you choose to go to the mountains with this overloaded rucksack?” But I liked being on my own, being independent. By the way, mountaineers taught me an important principle: “Help your fellow first.” To be reliable and have people to rely on is an invaluable ability that comes in handy quite often in life. Such people are rare and few.

— Lyudmila Mitrofanovna, the National Library is your 105th project. Is the figure of any significance to you?

— This object is undoubtedly very complex. I was chosen to head it by no accident. The thing is that many professions suffer from a break of “generation ties,” which means that there is nobody in-between the elderly professionals and young specialists just out of the university. So when I was offered the project, I decided to maintain the reputation of Minskproekt, where I worked all my life. This is the first site to be constructed in Belarus that has 50 volumes of design documents. The calculations were conducted by most prominent scientists, including doctor of technical sciences Prof. Timofey Petsold and doctor of technical sciences Prof. Dmitry Lazovsky. To be honest, when the architectural project appeared, there was a lot of scepticism about it being turned into reality. It is easier to draw that to construct something that complex. There had been no experience in carrying out such calculations either. Can you imagine a sphere with heavy pressure that book depositaries render?

The library is to become a symbol of Belarus, as Eiffel Tower is a symbol of France, for example. The library complex will also include an observation deck, a business centre, a cafe, recreation areas and a park. Sphere — the form of the book depositary — is the most compact form found in nature. It is to house 8 million books under its roof (the limit is 14 million). The speed of delivery of books is the major advantage of “the diamond”. The recently built National Library of France guarantees it in an hour, while the new National Library promises to make it in 20 minutes. The building will represent Belarus in the intellectual world.

Anna Shadrina
Заметили ошибку? Пожалуйста, выделите её и нажмите Ctrl+Enter