Yakov Osipovich Rubanchik was part of the Asnova ("Association of New Architects"). It was an Avant-Garde architectural association in the Soviet Union, which was active in the 1920s and early 1930s, commonly called the Rationalists. The group received a boost when El Lissitzky became a proponent in the mid-20s, designing the one issue of the journal ASNOVA News in 1926. In addition Konstantin Melnikov, then as now the most famous Soviet Modernist architect, was a member of the group. Yakov Rubanchik studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and got his diploma in 1928. His most important building is the Vyborgskaia Factory Kitchen from 1928-33 in St. Petersburg (together with I. A. Gilter, I. A. Meerzon, A. K. Barutchev).