We have seen architects and engineers come p with strange and bizarre ideas from time to time and have seen oddly shaped houses in different parts of the world. One similar story happened back in Russia in the 70s. Russian architect Evgeny Stamo and engineer Alexander Markelov devised plans leading to the construction of a apartment complex not seen before in the Russian capital, Moscow.
The apartment was shaped like a ring or a circle about 150 meters across and housed a large inner courtyard, complete with playgrounds and green spaces at the center of the ring. This building was to have over 900 apartments as well as all the necessary services and facilities. The building had its own shops, a pharmacy, a laundry room, a studio, a post office and any other day to day necessities. This circular shape of the house gave rise to the name “bagel house.” This was completed in 1972, and the authorities in the capital were so impressed that they drew up more plans to replicate the house at multiple locations in the city.
The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were to be held by the Societ Union. The authorities decided to build five similar bagel houses to honor the Olympic rings and to symbolize the event. The construction was underway, and by the time the second house was built in 1979, the Soviet Union was near economic collapse, and the project was shut down. These houses, although conveniently having all the necessities, were expensive to maintain and construct.
Another factor was that the bagel houses were spaced too far apart to symbolize the five Olympic rings. Maybe, it would have been visible if traveling above it in a plane, but from the ground, they would have just seemed like oddly shaped houses at some intervals
Both of the buildings built almost have a century ago are still used as apartments. Each building has nine floors and over twenty entrances. People complain that finding the right entrance and the right apartment for someone visiting it for the first time is nothing short of a miracle.
