O'Neil Ford Monograph 6: Narkomfin — Moisej J. Ginzburg, Ignatij F. Milinis

This volume documents the House of the Narkomfin, built (or “montaged”, as the Constructivist architect Moisej J. Ginzburg 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. But the Narkomfin is more than a housing block with a recognizable style. It is the converging point of the history of Constructivism, where purposefully reassembled functional spaces were given an active role in transforming everyday social life. 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. The book includes essays by Danilo Udovički‑Selb, Vladimir Papeny, Wilfried Wang, Tijana Vujošević, Dmitry Khmelnitsky, Alla G. Vronskaya, Yury Volchok, survey drawings and models, historical photographs.