Factory-Kitchen museum is a branch of Tretyakov gallery embedded in the architectural monument ‘Factory-Kitchen of the Maslenikov Plant’. This masterpiece was designed by the first female architect, Ekaterina Maksimova, in the early 1930s. The building’s floor plan represents the primary symbol of the Soviet era — the crossed sickle and hammer.
Exhibition is divided into three areas: ‘Kitchen’, ‘Food Distribution’ and ‘Canteen’. Visitors will walk symbolic path of food, starting in the ‘Kitchen’. Here they will learn about NARPIT (Soviet organisation) and the building’s history of creating. Then in the ‘Food Distribution’ they can explore the history and cultural background of Soviet cuisine, typical recipes from a factory kitchen. And in the ‘Canteen’ there are stories of people associated with the Samara factory kitchen. Central installation is a small room reminding Khrushchev’s style kitchen.
We based in the four key visuals in our design. White square tiles (1), bright blue color (2), grey steel (3) and shaping (4). White square tiles refer to Soviet canteens. Blue color refers to drawings and blue tracing papers, which embody the most daring architectural ideas. All this is supplemented by a third visual element — steel panels from which kitchen appliances are made. The fourth key element of our design is shaping. Geometricism is the most important element of Soviet constructivist thought. It is enough to recall the works of A. Rodchenko and V. Tatlin, K. Malevich and E. Lisitsky. We decided to recreate this principle in the arrangement of the exhibition walls and the sectional division of space. In the center, there is a large shape from which smaller shapes fly apart. Walls are embedded into each other, creating additional rhythm and dynamics to the space and form.
Factory-Kitchen museum is a multiple organism contained a lot of narratives and images. All its history is based on the idea of horizontal communications and collective people cooperation in the common cause. This museum became possible thanks to this very fact.