AURREA

I’m almost crying right now. I really don’t know why this has to happen. I am truly a member of Russian culture but since when did the violence become a part of it ?

We all are trapped here inside this stupid situation.

I always wanted to create and share the best part of our world despite all the disadvantages of its creations. That’s my true job as an architect. But all that’s happening now…..

The building was built in 1965-1971 as an experimental House of New Life, but upon completion of construction it was transferred to Moscow State University and used as a hostel for teachers, interns and graduate students, and later students.

The building was conceived as a social and architectural experiment to create mass housing for the country of victorious communism, not taking into account the limitations of the current moment in time. Initially, it was called the House of New Life and was designed by a group of architects led by Nathan Osterman, the author of the experimental 9th ​​quarter of Novye Cheryomushki, for singles and young families.

Osterman's project rethought the experience of Soviet communal houses of the 1920s and Le Corbusier's ideas of residential construction, and, according to the architect himself, was intended to help a person overcome the loneliness, loss and alienation of life in a modern big city.

In addition to 820 residential units of various sizes, public spaces in the project of the House of New Life were allocated a service building, connecting the residential buildings with a jumper. The complex included club rooms with an auditorium, a laundry, a clothing and footwear repair shop, a gym with a swimming pool, a clinic, a library with reading rooms, a kitchen and a dining room for 150-200 seats, a winter garden and a greenhouse, a cafe and a bar with billiards, a kindergarten, a small hotel and an administrative block. Solariums and shady awnings, a dance floor with a stage and places for quiet outdoor recreation were conceived on the roofs of the houses.

The building functions till now as a dormitory and has massive cultural affect in different types of art.

Location: Moscow, Russia.

Year: 1965-1971.

Architect: Nathan Ostermann.

Weiße Stadt Berlin

White town Berlin

1928-31 Weimar Republic

• Otto Rudolf Salvislberg

• Bruno Ahrends