Utopian Soviet Buildings

The «Moscow Through the Engineer’s Eyes» presents the brand new "RETRO FUTURO" project — guided tours with the help of the VR technologies provided by the Arvizio company. These tours will be the first ones to offer you the opportunity to look at the city through the VR glasses. The most prominent utopian projects of the XX century will emerge in front of you on the streets and squares. With our best guides you will discover the Russian capital as it would look like if some of the audacious architectural dreams had come true.

• The Palace of the Soviets instead of the Cathedral of the Christ the Saviour. It could have become one of the highest buildings in the world with a 100 m Lenin statue on the top.
• The eighth Stalinist skyscraper instead of the Zaryadye Park. It was supposed to be the tallest of all the Sisters.
• The Narkomtiazhprom (the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry) building instead of the GUM. How would the Red Square look like with three skyscrapers or gigantic staircases going all the way up to the 16th floor?
• The Palace of Labour instead of the Moskva Hotel. What was it, kind of a fantastic beast lying on the square or an ultimate Constructivist manifesto?
• The alternative Lenin’s Mausoleum, the “Leningradskaya Pravda” buildings and many others.

What you will learn:

• what were the origins of the Avant-Garde and what impact it had on the modern architecture;
• who designed the first rotating house and how this technology is used today;
• why the eighth Sister was never built;
• how Moscow could have changed according to the most radical urban development plans.

Please bring your passport or ID. You’ll have to leave 2000 roubles as a deposit.
We plan many walks, dress warmer.