One of the Arbat neighbourhood’s most legendary buildings is hidden behind a grotty fence and some trees on Krivoarbatsky pereulok – the house and design studio built for himself by architect Konstantin Melnikov. It’s the circular building that looks like two connected cylinders with diamond-shape windows.
Melnikov designed his own house to be built on a vacant plot of land in the 1920s. The design is entirely unique, comprising two asymmetric cylinders with six-sided diamond-shape windows. Melnikov planned to use the building as both his design studio and his home – and he spent the rest of his life living there. The architect’s son, Viktor Melnikov, bequeathed the building to the State – but on the condition that it be used to house a museum dedicated to his father’s work. And thus the controversy began…
Melnikov could not have imagined the furore that would grow to surround the future of the house when he first built it. It now features on the 2006 Watch List of major world buildings which stand at severe risk of wanton destruction.
But the building still attracts thousands of visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of its unique appearance. A glimpse, however, is all you will manage – the doors are firmly shuttered to visitors, and no museum of Melnikov’s work has ever even been started.
Melnikov designed his own house to be built on a vacant plot of land in the 1920s. The design is entirely unique, comprising two asymmetric cylinders with six-sided diamond-shape windows. Melnikov planned to use the building as both his design studio and his home – and he spent the rest of his life living there. The architect’s son, Viktor Melnikov, bequeathed the building to the State – but on the condition that it be used to house a museum dedicated to his father’s work. And thus the controversy began…
Melnikov could not have imagined the furore that would grow to surround the future of the house when he first built it. It now features on the 2006 Watch List of major world buildings which stand at severe risk of wanton destruction.
But the building still attracts thousands of visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of its unique appearance. A glimpse, however, is all you will manage – the doors are firmly shuttered to visitors, and no museum of Melnikov’s work has ever even been started.
