House Melnikov

The House of Konstantin Melnikov, a Russian architect with a meteorite career that sadly finished early, in the 30's when he was in his 40's, the taste of the USSR veering towards pastiche. The house was one of his last build project and was completed in 1929. More info on his life and the house here.

As for the villa Malaparte, it is a case of a simple geometry, the cylindrical tower, done with straightforward technology - rendered brick walls and timber floors. It is more complex to build as it is curved but the windows themselves are remarkably simple. The brick create corbel arches to form the windows. This is what impresses me the most, the ingenuity of using almost archaic technology to produce such an exceptional building.

The resulting rooms have a quality of being bright and yet private. Light flows in from all directions but without being seen from - or seeing - the outside. This is particularly good in such an inner city situation.