In an article in Cabinet magazine entitled 'Bodies at Rest', Tony Wood gives a fascinating overview of the fantasies of sleep that flourished in the Stakhanovite culture of Stalinist Russia: http://cabinetmagazine.org/issues/24/wood.php
Central to his account is a scheme drawn up by the celebrated avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov for the 'Sonata of Sleep', a huge new dormitory building on the outskirts of Moscow, whose temperature-controlled atmosphere, soothing background sounds and gently rocking mechanized beds would 'instantly relax the most overwrought veteran of the metropolis'. Sadly, this magnificent monument to sleep was never built. Curiously enough, however, Melnikov's plan for an architecture of sensory immersion caught the imagination of Samuel Rothafel and John D. Rockefeller Jr when they visited Russia in search of inspiration for what would become Radio City Music Hall. It is odd to realise that the blueprint for this neon-drenched temple of American popular culture has its origins in the unfulfilled dreams of a Soviet architect.
Central to his account is a scheme drawn up by the celebrated avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov for the 'Sonata of Sleep', a huge new dormitory building on the outskirts of Moscow, whose temperature-controlled atmosphere, soothing background sounds and gently rocking mechanized beds would 'instantly relax the most overwrought veteran of the metropolis'. Sadly, this magnificent monument to sleep was never built. Curiously enough, however, Melnikov's plan for an architecture of sensory immersion caught the imagination of Samuel Rothafel and John D. Rockefeller Jr when they visited Russia in search of inspiration for what would become Radio City Music Hall. It is odd to realise that the blueprint for this neon-drenched temple of American popular culture has its origins in the unfulfilled dreams of a Soviet architect.
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