Narrow your search

Library

LUCA School of Arts (1)

UGent (1)


Resource type

book (1)


Language

English (1)


Year
From To Submit

2016 (1)

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by

Book
Narkomfin - Moscow 1928-1930 : Moisej J. Ginzburg, Ignatij F. Milinis
Author:
ISBN: 9783803007889 3803007887 Year: 2016 Publisher: Tubingen : Ernst Wasmuth Verlag,

Loading...
Export citation

Choose an application

Bookmark

Abstract

The House of the Narkomfin was built, or better, "montage"--As the Constructivist Moisej J. Ginzburg (1986-1946) preferred to call it - between 1928 and 1931. It is therefore contemporaneous with Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, as well as with Le Corbusier's visit to Moscow. On a superficial level, they both share a common aesthetic that in France was nicknamed "le style paquebot," while the Narkomfin was soon called the "The Steamer," or even the "Agit-Steamer" in a symbolic reference to the boats of the Agit-Prop movement that carried the message of the Revolution along the rivers of the Soviet Union. On a deeper level, the Narkomfin is more than a housing block with a recognizable style. It is the converging point of the history of Constructivism. It is the most sophisticated expression of a "social condenser," in Ginzburg's words, where purposefully reassembled functional spaces are given an active role in transforming everyday social life. Echoing the Russian Formalist method of analytic editing, like the cinematic "montage of attractions" - to use Eisenstein's expression - it stems from reconfigured semantic series of the notion of traditional abode, intended to transform everyday life - the "byt." In this sense, the Narkomfin - a building without precedent - is more than a symbol; it is, in a nutshell, the very program of Constructivism. It is also the zenith of five years of intensive experimentation under Soviet Russian government sponsorship, from 1926 and 1930, with new ways of dwelling, boasting emancipatory social relationships for women in particular. Intended for the working class, these industrialized dwelling types sought ways to raise numbers without sacrificing quality. Widely transcending the confines of Soviet architectural practice itself, the Narkomfin anticipated by twenty years Le Corbusier's own experimental housing block in Marseille, which resulted directly from his visit

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by