The Melnikov House intercom system
Everyday Interaction Design Classics #4
Ed. For a bit of context, do read the previous entry on visiting the Melnikov House in Moscow.Fourth in an occasional series on everyday interaction design classics, and this found in one of the true icons of 20th century architecture, designed and built between 1927 and 1929 by Konstantin Melnikov.
One of the many quirky delights of the Melnikov House in Moscow is this internal intercom system. Two holes on the ground floor corridor. The right speaks to a tube on the top floor, the left to the entry on the street, in a prototypical door-entry system. (The left isn’t working, apparently, but will do again one day.) These holes simply snake up through the walls to the studio, and down under the ground, out to the street. They are simply metal tubes, carrying the voice.
It’s like the old idea of two tin cans joined by string, yet replacing the string with a tin can extruded to become the entire length of the system.
At the top of the house, the other end. A large metal tube rises up out of the floor in the corner of the studio, with a ‘speaker’ on it…
