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how to live without a kitchen and fall in love with constructivism - Moscow 24, 08/11/2015

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

A world-class monument to constructivism, Narkomfin's house looks like a utopia. It was created as an ideal home, and now it is in dire need of restoration and preservation. At the same time, people live in the house - from simple school and hospital workers to well-known journalists, musicians and bloggers.

An m24.ru correspondent talked to the residents of Narkomfin and those who come here to work and asked if they like living here and what, in their opinion, the future of the house is. As a result, I received diametrically opposite answers. He also learned how Narkomfin lives today, why new residents consider Ginzburg’s idea to be brilliant, and the old ones say that the house should be demolished, what skirting boards and wall colors are shown as museum exhibits, is it easy to get used to living without a kitchen and is it convenient to do yoga on the roof.

Transitional house: towards a bright future through housing

The Narkomfin House on Novinsky Boulevard is an experimental building built by the architect Ginzburg for employees of the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR in 1930. The architect called his creation a transitional house. The layout and filling of two buildings, public and residential, were supposed to contribute to a gradual transition to a new way of life and new values. For example, the inhabitants of the house were going to be freed from kitchen slavery and the need to wash: a dining room and a laundry were supposed to work in the public building. It had its own kindergarten, library, and on the roof it was possible to play sports and relax.

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Ginzburg came up with a unique layout for the residential building. First, the body stood on columns. The fact is that the author of the project considered the first floor to be the least suitable for life, so he completely abandoned it. In the entire six-story building there were only two corridors, along which there were doors to cell apartments. Downstairs were apartments for families, upstairs were smaller apartments for non-families. The entrance to many of them began with a staircase, and the space was divided into a chamber sleeping part with a ceiling of 2.3 meters and a main one with a ceiling of 3.6 meters. The amenities in the apartments themselves were minimal - a small bathroom, a small shower, in apartments for family residents - a small place for cooking.

It is interesting to read the childhood memoirs of Ekaterina Milyutina, the daughter of one of the ideologists of building the house and its resident Nikolai Milyutin.

Expert opinion

For me, this house was the whole world - I was born and raised in it. Already entering the courtyard and seeing it from afar: white (and after the war already light yellow), on black columns (later without them), with blue ribbons of glass that reflected the sky, with flowers above the windows, with brick-red chimneys on the roof, with its amazing proportions - I felt joy, elation.

The lower corridor (on the second floor) was always mysteriously dim with a series of doors leading to a balcony-gallery, on which it was so great to run, play, hiding behind the columns, from which it was so tempting to jump into the snow with a beating heart. The upper corridor, on the contrary, was bright and joyful; white, with a row of black and white doors, it seemed sunny even on cloudy days. …. - The stairs led to the solarium, which was breathtaking from the height, from the fact that the railings from the pipes were completely transparent, it seemed that they were not there, the wind would blow harder, and you would fly down.

From the book "Residential complex "Narkomfin House"

Ekaterina Milyutina

Daughter of Nikolai Milyutin, statesman, resident and ideologist of the Narkomfin House

"It is necessary to demolish and build a similar one"

, did not take root. For example, it turned out that residents do not want to eat in the dining room - they take their lunches home. Some of the experimental materials turned out to be fragile, and, moreover, with poor sound insulation. Major repairs that could solve some of the problems were constantly postponed (the first major repairs in house was held only 70 years after construction, in 2000).0003

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

Life in Narkomfin became more and more difficult, people were resettled, and many were happy to change the "utopian house" for an ordinary apartment with amenities. In some empty cells, creative workshops appeared and artists settled. However, this period in the life of the house is over. Today, most of the 46 apartments belong to the Copernicus investment group and there are six apartments where the former tenants live.

Viktor Alekseevich, local resident

I have lived in this house for a quarter of a century. Then, 25 years ago, we really had a house-commune. There was no guard sitting at the entrance, but there was no garbage and no mess - we cleaned ourselves, everyone had their own plot. If something broke, the housing office reacted quickly. On holidays, we gathered on the roof, grilled kebabs ... And now everyone has moved out, the house is drained of blood. There are six old residents left: police officers, customs officers, hospitals, schools. Many of them are embittered, because the settlement by new tenants was ambiguous at first. They came to me once, they say, when are you thinking of moving out of here? And maybe I didn't even think about it! But I will leave soon, although it was difficult to decide.

In a local resident's workshop. Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

And the house cannot be said to be alive, but it is original. He will still hit back for such an attitude.

What should be done with the house? Demolish and rebuild. This house and architecture are incompatible words. For example, if there were problems with water at one apartment, it was necessary to block the whole house. Sometimes we waited half an hour for the hot water to get hot. We made our own kitchens and bathrooms, because it was impossible to live in the conditions that we designed. And all the checks understood this - they turned around and left. Cells? Cells in a poultry farm.

"This is the most comfortable house in my life"

Anton Nosik, journalist, public figure

I ended up at Narkomfin in June 2014. First, he rented an office for a startup here, and a month later he moved to live. When I moved in, I felt that I had never been so comfortable anywhere in my life and nowhere. Despite the fact that I lived in Moscow in a variety of apartments and I have something to compare. Everything here is very well thought out. Orientation of the house to the cardinal points, ventilation, layout, wall color. It is so cozy here that you can walk around the house in slippers ...

In the apartment of Anton Nosik. Photo: lj_dolbob

Ginzburg brought up in people an understanding of socialist values. Look at the ceilings: when you sleep, you have a low ceiling in your bedroom, like a lair. And when you go to other rooms to socialize with your comrades, it becomes high, almost four meters.

I think that the most interesting and important thing here is that Ginzburg's original idea of ​​a socialist utopia, human community, was eventually realized. Not at 1930s, when people from the ministry were settled here by order. They did not become brothers, they did not want to spend time together. Namely, now, when creative figures, creative people drove up here one by one. Wonderful relations have developed here, business partnerships, everyone helps each other. It's like a state within a state. But we are here temporarily. The house is waiting for reconstruction, then an increase in rent, and we will all pack our bags and move out. The utopia will end.

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

"The house helped me come up with a project"

Sarah Ramazanova, director of the F.uk School

The first time I went to Narkomfin's house was on August 10 last year. I opened my English language school and chose a place for a creative studio. And it was this house that influenced the format of education. The fact is that for a long time I could not determine how education would go, what would be the basis - rigor or softness. When I moved in, it was August and September outside, it was warm, the roof was open - and being here, I realized that teaching in my school should be built on mutual warmth. This warmth was inspired by Narkomfin, and many people tell me that I am the only one who feels it so strongly.

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

We really live here as a family. Pupils come here to talk, watch movies, sometimes they ask: "Can we just sit here?". We are friends with all the neighbors, and when, for example, students bring pastries, I always share them with the guards. And it's not me who is so kind - it's the atmosphere at home.

But at the same time, it seems to me that the house has its own sadness, and it is connected with Ginzburg. The idea that he saw in his creation did not last long. And if he knew what state his house would end up in, he would be upset, to put it mildly.

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What is it like to live without a kitchen?

Sarah Ramazanova, Director of the F.uk School

When I brought my friends to see what kind of room I had rented for a creative studio, and they walked along the corridor, then still without repair, terrible, destroyed, they asked me: "Are you doing well "What did you take off?". And when they went inside, to the eighth cell, and saw the layout and furnishings, they could only say "Wow!".

Yes, there were inconveniences. At first I was confused by the noise, here everything is heard through the walls. I was scared, I thought they were walking around the apartment. Then I got used to it. There is no kitchen yet, but I am a person who does not like to cook, and this does not bother me. It seems to me that the former tenants complained about the same lack of kitchens because they were settled here not at their request. And now they live here of their own free will, and relations between people are different.

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

It offends me madly when Narkomfin is called a terrible building! Even once there was a conflict: a girl on the street says on the phone, they say, I'm standing here in front of a dumb building. I told her that she was creepy.

If the house is closed one day for renovation, I don't know how I'll survive it. I don't know how I lived without it before.

Anton Nosik, journalist, public figure

The house is shabby in some places, but the shabbyness does not bother me, but delights me! There is a difference when there is no castle, no guards and homeless people sitting downstairs - this is uncomfortable. And when there is no cosmetic repair and you see the age of the building, it's beautiful.

Yes, there is no kitchen, only stove and microwave, but I don't cook anywhere and never, it doesn't matter to me.

Photo: m24. ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

Plinth as a work of art

Arseniy Afonin, organizer of the "SoftKultura" project

We have an architectural bureau and courses for architects "SoftKultura" here. We chose this particular cell because it needed minimal modifications to maintain its authenticity, to showcase the architectural values ​​and highlights that this home has. Our students come here as if on an excursion. After all, most of them have heard about Narkomfin, seen its drawings, but only when you find yourself here do you begin to understand and feel the architect's intention. Many come to us specifically for this purpose. We are happy to tell you, we have made a book about the house.

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In the first room we decided to open the old walls and came to the original blue color of the 20s, we opened the old parquet from the same period. Skirting boards, which smoothly round to the stairs, are a very valuable detail, they are rarely preserved anywhere. We also left a sewing machine, a refrigerator from the previous owners, here you can see the notches of the child's growth.

The space here is small, but we don't feel it because of the ceilings. In general, the environment and configuration contribute to the interaction of people. You can’t live here, work here, and still not communicate with anyone. If you are a lonely introvert, then the house is probably not for you, a regular office with a coffee machine is better.

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

As for the fate of the house, of course, it needs to be reconstructed. But there are many questions, including the materials from which it is made. It cannot be "licked" - it will lose its atmosphere. And if we go from the issue of preserving the heritage, here it is impossible to paint the wall in a different color. From this point of view, Narkomfin is a house of compromises.

Sit out and brag to the hipsters

Shaggy Cheese Creative Agency

When we moved in here a year ago, there were strange graffiti on the walls, empty windows, a draft in the hallway. Then it was repaired, the balcony was covered with plasterboard, it became much better.

We spent a lot of time on the roof last year. The solar eclipse was watched by the whole house. But now they have made a paid entrance there, and in general, many interesting things are slowly being phased out. It looks like some kind of utopian country, where at first everything is possible and a lot of interesting things, but gradually this is curtailed or prohibited.

Photo: dolbob.livejournal.com/

One cannot say that the house is comfortable. It is suitable for temporarily sitting out in a room with cheap rent. And show off in front of your hipster friends. "I work in a house recognized as an object of cultural heritage, built by Ginzburg himself, Deineka lived here" - and they "Oh, Deineka, they haven't seen a single picture, but it sounds cool!"

"I can't love other houses"

Vocalist of "The Seventh Race" Alexander Rastich

I've been living here for 10 years. We used to shoot the next cell, and it was more like a creative studio. We arranged musical evenings and meetings there. Considering how loud it is here, I can't imagine how the neighbors put up with it...

Alexander Rastich at home. Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

Then I moved to this cell, I rent it from the owner. In a room with a low ceiling, a full-fledged kitchen has been made here, and where there are high ceilings, we have a bedroom. It's actually quite comfortable to live here. Rent is expensive, but when I look at other apartments, they seem like closets to me, I'm used to these big streams and light. After Narkomfin it is difficult to fall in love with other houses.

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Passion around the roof

Lemon Haze Tea Room

We are in the penthouse that belonged to Milyutin, which was specially designed by him. When we moved here last summer, there was almost a squat here. At first we gasped at the state of the room, then we estimated the estimate and decided that we would still make a tea room out of it. The work has been done enormously.

Photo: m24.ru/Vladimir Yarotsky

The room is actually luxurious, but I wouldn't call it residential - there is no bathroom, no kitchen. We would do better here, but the norms don't allow it. It's an architectural monument, you can't come and fix the roof yourself. And looking at her, I really want to. We fenced off a small part for ourselves and more or less landscaped within the framework of what was allowed.

The roof has recently been paid for, which the residents really don't like. They rented apartments in a house with access to the roof, why do they have to pay for it separately now?

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Rooftop Fitness Project

We offer yoga classes on the roof, including anti-gravity yoga in a hammock. We do the same in Flakon, but more people go to Narkomfin. This is a comfortable space, the only thing that some people are afraid to practice in the last hammock: the height of the roof is felt there.

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