Soviet avant-garde: the house with ideas of new living standards is showcased at "The Birth of Scale"

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The experimental residential building of the Narkomfin House, a monument of Soviet avant-garde and constructivism architecture, is presented at the National Centre RUSSIA as part of "The Birth of Scale" exposition. The architects of this project, the outstanding specialists of their time, Moisey Ginzburg and Ignaty Milinis, created a building that is unique for its spatial planning, innovative engineering solutions, and the idea of collective living. The building is located on Novinsky Boulevard.

"The building was constructed between 1928 and 1930. It features ribbon windows. This is a residential building containing apartments, which are referred to as 'cells,' all of which are two-story. There is a dining hall, a laundry, and the domestic chores are handled by the service staff. Next to the model of the building itself, there is a model of the apartments. In the living room, where people spend most of their time, the ceiling is high. It was believed that in the bedroom, where people only sleep and rest, a lower ceiling is sufficient. There is a kitchen, but the residents did not prepare elaborate meals; they came from the dining hall, reheated their food, and ate. The living room windows face west, allowing residents to enjoy the sunset. The bedroom windows face east, allowing them to wake up with the first rays of the rising sun. The apartments varied in size: some were 37 square meters, and others were 90 square meters, designed for families with children," said Anastasia Kozlova, a guide at the National Centre RUSSIA.

Apartments in the Narkomfin House could not be purchased. They were assigned to employees of the Ministry of Finance of the USSR, already furnished and with completed repairs. The interior of the apartments was not allowed to be altered or modified.

The restoration of this experimental residential building began in 2017 and took more than three years. Workers dismantled later additions and extensions, reconstructed the volumetric and planning structure of the building blocks, and restored the historical color of the facades.

"The Birth of Scale" exposition at the National Centre RUSSIA showcases completed architectural projects, as well as ideas that remained only as concepts. These are unique models of buildings, drawings, and layouts that were kept in museums and private collections. The exposition is open for free to the public from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 20:00. To visit the exhibition as part of a guided tour group, prior registration on the National Centre RUSSIA website, russia.ru, is required.

Partners of "The Birth of Scale" exposition include DOM.RF, the Ministry of Construction of Russia, Gazprom, the State Research Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Yakov Chernikhov Architectural Charitable Foundation, and the HSE School of Design.