Melnikov House: Saving an Avant-Garde Icon

5th Iconic Houses Lecture Tour Europe

The 5th edition of the Iconic Houses Lecture Tour Europe takes place from 7 -15 October 2019, when Pavel Kuznetsov, Director of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov and Deputy Director of the Schusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow will tour six iconic houses in six European cities with his lecture on the Melnikov House in Moscow.

The Melnikov House

The Melnikov House, designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov (1890-1974) for himself and his family, is an icon of the Russian architectural avant-garde. The experimental cylindrical structure was built between 1927 and 1929 to test Melnikov’s concepts for mass-produced housing. Melnikov believed that the essence of his house lay in the balance and equivalence of weight, light, air and heat. The original layout, elegant spatial arrangement, and ingenious engineering techniques are combined in a unique architectural form that still looks modern. Retaining some historic elements of the 20th century, the house also reflects the tragic life of this solo architect in a collectivist society.

Pavel Kuznetsov will discuss the history of the Melnikov House from its inception in the early 20th century through establishing the museum in 2014 and conservation project nowadays. He will explore the newly found information that uncovered the architectural, engineering, and philosophical ideas lying behind Melnikov’s ambitious plan to build an architectural manifesto in 1920s Soviet Russia.

Film

Fragments of the documentary 'Konstantin Melnikov' (1999) by Jet Christiaanse and Marjo Leupers accompany the lecture to see the person of Melnikov in a historic context of the 20th century through the eyes of architectural historians and Melnikov’s son, the artist Viktor Melnikov (1914-2006). The film is already a piece of its time when the future of the Melnikov House and other buildings designed by Melnikov was uncertain.

Pavel Kuznetsov

Pavel Kuznetsov, is an economist by education, and a researcher in Soviet avant-garde architecture by vocation. He lives in a constructivist apartment in a house commune in Moscow and works as deputy director of the Schusev State Museum of Architecture. Since 2014, he has overseen the collections and archives of the Melnikov House and its transition from a private home to a public museum. As director of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov he also directed the pre-conservation survey of the Melnikov House, supported by a grant from Keeping it Modern, an initiative of the Getty Foundation. His book, The Melnikov House: Icon of the Avant-Garde, Family Home, Architecture Museum was published in Berlin in 2017. When not researching, he was the first Russian to successfully swim the English Channel (in 14 hours, 33 minutes, 25 seconds).

Book

The Melnikov House - Icon of the Avant-Garde Family Home Architecture Museum

This book, authored by Pavel Kuznetsov, gives a detailed account of its creation and history right through the 20th century, the transitional state from residential dwelling to museum, and the house's current condition while still awaiting an in-depth survey and conservation work. The volume contains rich archival materials as well as recent photographs. It describes the challenges and choices of museumification. Many memorial objects from the house are linked to the professional and family life of the architect and published for the first time. Dom Publishers, ISBN 978-3-86922-436-7. https://www.naibooksellers.nl/the-melnikov-house-icon-of-the-avant-garde-family-home-architecture-museum-pavel-kuznetsov.html

Thursday Bite

Before the Thursday Night you can grab a bite to eat with the speakers and staff of Het Nieuwe Instituut. At 18:00 Het Nieuwe Café will serve a light vegetarian meal. Dinner vouchers are available for € 7.70 up to a day before the particular Thursday Night event via the Tickets link.

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