To celebrate the First Five-Year Plan, a competition was launched for a gigantic building to be located in front of the Kremlin. Melnikov's project was relevant to the architecture parlante concept. It was a heavily symbolic - if not literal- building. [see cartoon] As an example, two V intersecting to celebrate the First Five-Year Plan’s completion forms the plan. A simpler scheme would have achieved the goal in a more dignified way.

Nonetheless, the building is interesting in the way it is conceived to interact with the public. The two large staircases permit to reach higher levels while slowly modifying one’s interaction with the façade’s sculptural elements. The public can also use these staircases and the excavated plaza in front for cultural events or celebrations.

A parallel can be drawn between Melnikov’s project and Time Square. In both cases many items “talk” to the audience and overwhelm it by a gigantic scale. However, Time Square is more successful because it acknowledges itself as a surface treatment. This can be interpreted as the contrast between organized communism and free enterprise capitalism.