The Rusakov Workers' Club () in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

is a notable example of constructivist architecture. Designed by Konstantin Melnikov, it was constructed in 1927–28. The club is built on a fan-shaped plan, with three cantilevered concrete seating areas rising above the base. Each of these volumes can be used as a separate

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

, and combined they result in a capacity of over 1,000 people. At the rear of the building are more conventional offices. The only visible materials used in its construction are

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

. The function of the building is to some extent expressed in the exterior, which Melnikov described as a "tensed

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

Preservation

The building was included in the 1998 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund to call attention to its very poor condition. According to the Fund the roof and foundations had weakened, the columns were in need of reinforcement, and brick walls were cracking. The site was listed again in the 2000 World Monuments Watch. With a grant from

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, the World Monuments Fund provided a much-needed replacement roof for the building in 1999. The project was overseen by the ''Moscow Committee for Monuments Protection'', which provided additional funds. In 2005 a

commemorative coin A commemorative coin is a coin issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Some coins of this category serve as collector's items only, while most commemora ...

(3 ruble, silver) was issued by the

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, featuring the Rusakov Workers' Club building. In 2015 the building reopened after a refurbishment that provided practical upgrades, and restored some original features, such as windows in the sides of the projecting auditorium volumes and signage, while changing or not restoring other elements. It remains in use as a theatre and cultural centre.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Moscow Constructivist architecture Russian avant-garde Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Modernist architecture in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow