Communist architectural wonders.

[1GiantLeapForMankind]

Im begining to think the moon is concrete.

[Sarmatian]

The communist "brutalist" architecture is at core Bahaus architecture from mid-1920 with some ethnic or local elements added. All brutalist architecture having the same "functionality" and "mass-produced materials & serving the purpose" kind of concept. Nothing more, nothing less.
The weird part from a western perspective is the memorial monuments and mausoleums build like the Pyramids of Egypt, to last "forever", challenge the time itself...

You'll be surprised but that "communist" architectural style is as Western as it gets. It was developed by French architect Le Corbusier. In his approach to living and working spaces he literally considered humans as cattle to be locked in cubicles. All psychological and mental effects of this style were intentional from very beginning of it.

[cyrus]

You'll be surprised but that "communist" architectural style is as Western as it gets. It was developed by French architect Le Corbusier. In his approach to living and working spaces he literally considered humans as cattle to be locked in cubicles. All psychological and mental effects of this style were intentional from very beginning of it.

I'm not surprised at all, I agree 100%. The urban idea of stacking homes one on top of one another is very old: The Romans thought of it; so did the Egyptians, however, the Scandinavians did it first at large scale looking for cost-efficient heating system, instead of burning more wood and coal, eventually gas at individual homes level. Ceausescu - born a poor peasant from an obscure village in southern Romania, thought that 8, 9 or10 floors concrete apartment buildings are the "paramount of urbanization" and the "peak of lifestyle"... I saw them in Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Warshaw, Dresden, Vilnius, Varna, etc but between them, they let relatively large spaces, shopping centers, schools, kindergartens, parks, you name it, in Bucharest (2.5-3 million people) Ceausescu jammed 8 floors apartment buildings on two-thirds of Bucharest... There is a long debate if he did it right or wrong considering cold war times with the thermonuclear bomb fear in mind, all the communist leaders saw the outcome at Hiroshima or Nagasaki, (Enver Hoxha filled Albania with concrete spheres as "defense" line against the potential western aggressors), besides the devastating earthquakes from the '40s and '70s, etc. I kinda tend to give Ceausescu the benefit of the doubt. Ironically, after the fall of Ceausescu and communism, from the late '90s until today the wannabe "real estate moguls" aka "cardboard capitalists" start building (please don't laugh) jam-packed 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 floors concrete buildings (some penthouses too) because is profitable...

[The Lawspeaker]

How about this Western example ? De Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam. Originally planned as a new area for the middle class, it failed hard when that same middle class could find better and cheaper homes in Purmerend or Almere - leaving Amsterdam altogether. The municipality that filled it up with new arrivals from Suriname and later Africa. I think we all know what became of it:





















Large parts of it have since been demolished.

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Georgi Dimitrov's mausoleum in Sofia

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Brutalism should be banned by law.
https://twitter.com/Arch_Revival_?s=09

Do you think that Frankfurt should be nuked and its inhabitants exterminated until the last one?

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[Salty Ears]

Huge part of my childhood was spent here: Center for young people's creativity built in 1986 is a good example of soviet modernist architecture

Spoiler!

[The Lawspeaker]

And GDR interiors:

[cyrus]

I might be wrong, but the former Soviet Union was known for large boulevards and generous living spaces (sorry, I'm obsessed with tiny and claustrophobic dwellings), implying the supremacy, power, and superiority of communist society. I'm not aware of "failed architecture experiments" in Russia.