A monograph devoted to the great Russian architect who is considered one of the leading interpreters of the aesthetic
and social ideals of Constructivism, the Soviet avant-garde architectural movement.
The volume offers a repositioning of Mel'nikov's works within
the context of the Moscow of the Twenties and Thirties.
It highlights his ideational (in the unrealised projects) and concrete (in those realised) contributions to the construction
of contemporary Moscow through a selection of models, flanked by the original designs of the buildings, cartographic reconstructions of the city of Moscow and original photographs.
The essays explore in detail Mel'nikov's biography, his professional education in the Twenties, Stuttgart's architecture school and the avant-garde (1918-1945), Mel'nikov and his dialogue with the city, and works from the first half of the Twenties up to 1936.
The volume ends with the complete list of Mel'nikov's works
and an up-to-date bibliography.