City Living: The Narkomfin Building
As we pull up to our next stop, the Narkomfin Building, try to look past the building’s deterioration and imagine yourself living inside communally with many others.
The building is also an example of Constructivism OSA architecture. Designed by Moisei Ginzburg, it is now a Cultural Heritage Monument on the Russian cultural heritage register. Communal facilities dominated the living spaces, as residents shared kitchens and laundry rooms, in true socialist sharing fashion. Perhaps the key phrase when describing this site is “social condenser.”
Congruent with OSA’s goal to solve societal problems, the Narkomfin building was used to solve the problem of isolation that urban planners faced. The building was supposed to act as smaller, more unified community within the bustle and anonymity that city living brought. Many amenities were added to increase the community feel, such as a library, shop, dining room, meeting rooms, and rooftop solarium. The corridors encouraged neighbors to communicate and to form meaningful relationships.
The “social condenser” idea was key to OSA architecture and its use in Communist style housing and apartments. OSA architects championed collective living; while residents got a private, single cell space, facilities and living spaces were to be shared. This communal living was used in order to congregate and stimulate the masses to act socially and work uniformly. Ginzburg stated that architecture was to “harness the activity of the masses, and to ‘stimulate but not dictate’ their transition into a ‘socially superior mode of life.’” 1 While very plain and aesthetically boring on the outside, in Constructivist form, the building served a practical purpose of providing much needed housing, while grouping individuals together to form a more unified society. Additionally, its use of in house amenities was congruent with the modern and advanced industrial and first world status that Russia was trying to achieve, and that was originally advanced in Talin's tower through its own use of modern and advanced technology and amenities. These advanced opportunities and spaces that residents had were congruent with Constructivist style of conveying a more advanced and well-providing Russia. The modernity of the building, coupled with its communal spaces, was intended to create the idea of utopian style close living, whereby all residents and neighbors could live harmoniously together in one perfect communist society.
Today, the building sits in a very dilapidated state and is on the UNESCO Endangered Buildings list, although it is still surprisingly partially inhabited and used. Activities like yoga classes are conducted on the top floor, while some rooms are still occupied today. Nevertheless, the building, once a symbol of a harmonious communist society and modernity, is now a crumbling eye-sore in its area. Its structure and purpose for communal living and advanced amenities have deteriorated along with the deterioration of the idea of a dominant Soviet communist state, and the idea's transcendence through Constructivism.
As we turn to the next form of Constructivism, we reflect on our OSA sites. While very popular at the time, these sites were also struggling against social conservatism and urban stability. While the goals of OSA architects to “relieve the city” were valid, the Soviet government did not provide much support for their work. Nevertheless, many structures representing OSA architecture remain and continue to function. Buildings like the Narkomfin and other OSA style apartments symbolize the new Russian style of communal housing and living, and they emphasize a utopian vision of Russia as a society where the most important materials, the people, could collaborate in order to form a more perfect communist state.
1. Cathcart-Keays, Ashlyn. "Moscow's Narkomfin Building: Soviet Blueprint for ..." The Guardian. The Guardian, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/moscow-narkomfin-soviet-collective-living-history-cities-50-buildings.
Today, the building sits in a very dilapidated state and is on the UNESCO Endangered Buildings list, although it is still surprisingly partially inhabited and used. Activities like yoga classes are conducted on the top floor, while some rooms are still occupied today. Nevertheless, the building, once a symbol of a harmonious communist society and modernity, is now a crumbling eye-sore in its area. Its structure and purpose for communal living and advanced amenities have deteriorated along with the deterioration of the idea of a dominant Soviet communist state, and the idea's transcendence through Constructivism.
As we turn to the next form of Constructivism, we reflect on our OSA sites. While very popular at the time, these sites were also struggling against social conservatism and urban stability. While the goals of OSA architects to “relieve the city” were valid, the Soviet government did not provide much support for their work. Nevertheless, many structures representing OSA architecture remain and continue to function. Buildings like the Narkomfin and other OSA style apartments symbolize the new Russian style of communal housing and living, and they emphasize a utopian vision of Russia as a society where the most important materials, the people, could collaborate in order to form a more perfect communist state.
1. Cathcart-Keays, Ashlyn. "Moscow's Narkomfin Building: Soviet Blueprint for ..." The Guardian. The Guardian, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/moscow-narkomfin-soviet-collective-living-history-cities-50-buildings.