Russian Utopia: a depository

Lenin Mausoleum (drawing - Red Pentagon)
Kolotov S. Lenin Mausoleum (drawing - Red Pentagon) 1925

RACDMH

The building constitutes a spiralling 5-faced, 5 storey tower crowned by statues. The building’s broken spiralling line points unbendingly upwards and culminating in the figure of Lenin, represents the revolutionary movement crowned by the triumph of the Leninist idea. Given the movement in lines and details, the very mass of the building answers to its purpose.
On the building’s main facade, above the entrance, lies the orator’s rostrum and a shell serving both as a resonator and place for the presidium. (During national congresses, the presidium can communicate with the ground floor through the corridor leading from the shell to the exit hall. The skeleton of the shell’s vaulting comprises an iron armature displayed on the facade. Displayed in exactly the same fashion are the iron I-beams covering the window openings.
Entry and exit are laid out alongside one another.(Entrance to the right, exit to the left.)
The first room is a small hall leading into the closed descending gallery. This gallery girdles the entire building and descends to the antechamber. It is divided along its length by a colonnade; in its left section occurs the movement of the crowd - the right serves as a safety area for regulating movement in the case of congestion or overcrowding.
The antechamber opens onto the central hall with three apertures, the leftmost constituting an exit, and the other two filled with a balustrade so that visitors entering do not mix with those exiting. The shape of the central hall reflects that of the building as a whole. Its broken spiral lines join in the centre of the ceiling vault and are topped by a 5-pointed red star housing the light source for the whole hall. The hall’s walls, divided up by the reinforced concrete skeleton, are a row of separate panels filled with mosaics and frescoes depicting revolutionary themes.

Utopia Foundation, Moscow




		`Kolotov S. Lenin Mausoleum (drawing - Red Pentagon) 1925` RACDMH The building constitutes a spiralling 5-faced, 5 storey tower crowned by statues. The building’s broken spiralling line points unbendingly upwards and culminating in the figure of Lenin, represents the revolutionary movement crowned by the triumph of the Leninist idea. Given the movement in lines and details, the very mass of the building answers to its purpose. On the building’s main facade, above the entrance, lies the orator’s rostrum and a shell serving both as a resonator and place for the presidium. (During national congresses, the presidium can communicate with the ground floor through the corridor leading from the shell to the exit hall. The skeleton of the shell’s vaulting comprises an iron armature displayed on the facade. Displayed in exactly the same fashion are the iron I-beams covering the window openings. Entry and exit are laid out alongside one another.(Entrance to the right, exit to the left.) The first room is a small hall leading into the closed descending gallery. This gallery girdles the entire building and descends to the antechamber. It is divided along its length by a colonnade; in its left section occurs the movement of the crowd - the right serves as a safety area for regulating movement in the case of congestion or overcrowding. The antechamber opens onto the central hall with three apertures, the leftmost constituting an exit, and the other two filled with a balustrade so that visitors entering do not mix with those exiting. The shape of the central hall reflects that of the building as a whole. Its broken spiral lines join in the centre of the ceiling vault and are topped by a 5-pointed red star housing the light source for the whole hall. The hall’s walls, divided up by the reinforced concrete skeleton, are a row of separate panels filled with mosaics and frescoes depicting revolutionary themes.