10 September 2012

Honeycomb

© Igor Palmin

The finest existing specimen of Konstantin Melnikov's work is his own Krivoarbatsky Lane residence in Moscow, completed in 1927-1929.

The highly original design consists of two interlocking upright cylinders with numerous elongated hexagonal windows and a large front wall of glass. The house was built with traditional Russian materials (stuccoed brick for exterior walls and wood for floors) used structurally in inventive ways.

The recognized masterpiece of architecture is a honeycomb lattice shell made of bricks with hexahedral cells.

The similar lattice shells out of metal were patented and built by the great Russian engineer and scientist Vladimir Shukhov (1853-1939).

Double curvature steel lattice shell by Shukhov in Vyksa, 1897

Konstantin Melnikov's house consists of two intersecting cylindrical towers decorated with a pattern of hexagonal windows.



 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin

 © Igor Palmin


Igor Palmin was born in Volgograd (previous names, Tsaritsyn (1589–1925), Stalingrad (1925–1961)) in 1933. He lives in Moscow. He works mostly in architecture photography since 1980. You may look at his beautiful black and white portfolio here: flickr/igor palmin




Melnikov House (1927-1929) by Konstantin Melnikov


Melnikov's 1929 house during construction