Novinsky boulevard 25 (korpus B)

Moscow

1928 - 1930

Moisei Ginzburg & Ignaty Milinis

(engineer S. Prokhorov)

Perhaps the most elegant and important of all Russian Modern Movement buildings, this is now in tragic disrepair. It was conceived as 'a building of transitional type' (dom perekhodno-go tipa), not fully collectivized, i.e. eliminating the family structure as was envisaged in the communal house (dom kommuna) but prompting social change through minimizing kitchens etc and providing extensive communal facilities in the separate pavilion linked by a bridge. Here the Constructivists first demonstrated the new minimal apartments they designed for the state construction body, Stroikom, including the famous Type-F split-level units and internal corridor-street which inspired Le Corbusier's later Unités d'habitation. The project was also a demonstration of economical construction.

Due to lack of maintenance and conservation control, as well as nearby developments the Narkomfin building is in a critical state and will be demolished if action is not taken in the very near future.