Constructivism is an architectural style distinguished by geometrical laconic forms and solidity of the external appearance.
Constructivism appeared in the USSR after the October Revolution as one of the trends in a new avant-garde and proletarian art, and as a result influenced the architectural style of the 20th century in other countries. For example, the famous Eiffel Tower has an open frame with structural elements, that is one of the main signs of constructivism.
The style marked a new era of construction, when art had to serve manufacturing, and manufacturing had to serve people.
In Soviet times buildings were constructed by two architectural groups: constructivists of the Association of New Architects and rationalists of the Organization of Contemporary Architects.
The Association of Modern Architects believed that the form of a building is determined by its function and was in charge of residential houses projects. And since houses were built for living, they arranged apartments as rectangles. So all buildings created by the association got rectangular forms.
The project of the Khavsko-Shabolovsky residential complex, on the contrary, was given to the Organization of Contemporary Architects, who thought that not a stone, but a space is the material of architecture. The Organization wanted to connect the sense of architecture as art and save the free space of the city, so houses got L-shaped forms and were turned 45 degrees to the street lines.
As a result, the complex was a real labyrinth, though in fact the corners of the houses always point to the Serpukhovskoy Val, Shabolovka and Lesteva streets.
In the beginning, the complex was colored red and white colors. Most of the walls remained in red brick. Some areas like projecting parts, corners and porches of the houses were colored white. Each house had a unique color scheme, and house numbers were indicated by large white squares at the corners. Over time, the color navigation was painted over, and now buildings are light yellow.
A separate one-storey building with a library and a club was built on the territory of the complex. Later it got 4 more floors, and the house became partly residential. Today the building houses the library and Avant-Garde Museum in Shabolovka.
