Hacia La Nueva Sociedad Comunista: La Casa De Transición Del Narkomfin, Epílogo De Una Investigación

Abstract

In the context of instability and change experienced in the USSR during the 1920's, a group of architects directed by Moisei Ginzburg approached the subject of housing the masses. His mission would not only be to solve the housing problem, but to redefine it as the framework suitable for a society subjected to an unprecedented change. The answer was developed through a research process that lasted more than five years, in three successive approaches that culminated with the Narkomfin building. The first, conceptual in character, was formalized in the Friendly Competition of 1926. The second was articulated through the research of the Stroikom under scientific and methodological premises. Finally, the typological conclusions reached in this second stage were materialized in the construction of some examples, among which the Narkomfin building was highlighted. This last approach, of empirical character, has traditionally been examined by the experts as an isolated fact. However, its study must necessarily transcend the genius of the author-creator in favour of the research process to which it belongs. Only from this point of view can sense be made of Ginzburg's consideration of his own building as a proactive and non-imposed environment: a project conceived as a tool of transition towards a more advanced society.