1970s Soviet Alien Architecture - io9 Comments

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

alaskadrub — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:49:53 PDT

FYI, it's Ukraine...not "the" Ukraine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to catch a flight to the France...

alaskadrub

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Dereks — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:11:33 PDT

well, that "Дружба" (Friendship) Holiday center in Ukraine is still functioning. You can even find prices (in USD) here: [www.planeta100.com]

But it seems to me that it's still state's property. In Ukrainian modern reality it means that it's managers are literally distroying it, working for some private company's intrest. Then when the propery really becomes worth nothing, it is sold to that company for pennies.
So I'm not sure that quolity of the services is very good there...

Dereks

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Chiper — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:12:15 PDT

Isnt that first building the one used for the external shots of the House on Haunted Hill remake?

Chiper

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Jeff-Minor — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:12:57 PDT

It looks O-So-Futuristic. It has to be a philosophic statement about the Soviet Empire's forward-thinking ideals. Ha ha! Or something like that. The first one needs more windows.

Jeff-Minor

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Silver_Back — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:47:56 PDT

In the history of mankind I think the Soviets have to have been the oddest folks on the block.

Silver_Back

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

corpore-metal — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:41:17 PDT

Okay call me a lowbrow but I find all three of these buildings beautiful! It's like someone gave some bright, naively futuristic architect straight out of a Soviet-era university a lot of money and no oversight--probably some kid who was a favorite of the local Party bosses.

I do hope Georgia, Ukraine and other countries from the Soviet Union find the money to preserve and restore some of these buildings.

I think it would be real shame if they tear them down and replace them with the same ol' boring 7-11s and Starbucks that are destroying our architectural diversity in this globalized world.

corpore-metal

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Stueymon — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:34:18 PDT

the first one doesn't look real and the third looks hideous, reminds me of the picadilly hotel in manchester, another hideous building
[www.johndavies.uk.com]

but the second one is great, each room on the outside would have an optimal view, well the ones not facing the hill.. Soviets, good design, bad thinking

Stueymon

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Evil Tortie's Mom — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:03:23 PDT

that first one is on Tatooine, I'm tellin' ya!

Evil Tortie's Mom

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Guizzy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:00:23 PDT

I wish we had some of these near here. Reminds me a bit of Habitat 67
[en.wikipedia.org]

Guizzy

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Wubbytoes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:44:30 PDT

Unbelievably cool, especially the third picture.

Wubbytoes

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Aethyr — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:24:16 PDT

These are fucking amazing. Why can't we have more cool buildings in NY? All skyscrapers and low-rise apartment buildings :|

Aethyr

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

kaosdevice — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:03:41 PDT

Anyone think the wedding palace (building 1) looks like the building from the most recent "House on Haunted Hill" movies? Looks like some movie designers were doing some cribbing.

kaosdevice

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Klebert L. Hall — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:55:53 PDT

Really nice! They'll be incredibly cool if they ever fall into disuse, too.

-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

designguybrown — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:46:09 PDT

@aspiringexpatriate:
yah - 'tis often cool what can be done with poured-concrete - check out the wikipedia 'Brutalism' page for some further great pics/thoughts. I am sure that there are some exhaustive resources elsewhere.

This style always made me think that these structures were the complex skeletal remains of some impressive leviathan (always wanted to use that word in a sentence) - as if they just needed some great skin or armor or other accoutrements to finish it off..

by-the-by: prince charles hates it - so it is ok in my books...

designguybrown

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

aspiringexpatriate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:28:13 PDT

@designguybrown: Well, building with concrete is like building with stone. It's drafty. These are basically socialist castles. And yeah, probably suck to live in, but damn they look cool.

aspiringexpatriate

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

bjarmson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:22:17 PDT

Wow, concrete chic. Not exactly organic designs, but more innovative looking than the variations on the glass box of western architecture.

bjarmson

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

BrandonSweet — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:52:35 PDT

I'm a big fan of Brutalism so these pics (especially the third one) totally made my day.

BrandonSweet

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

twreckx — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:43:10 PDT

OMG Keanu was in the Rush Rush video? I think even Paula gave a more convincing performance!

twreckx

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

twreckx — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:42:21 PDT

The first and third building are the shizzle!! Love the art deco vibe and for some odd reason it reminds me of Paula Abdul's Rush, Rush vid

twreckx

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

BadUncle — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:33:00 PDT

@designguybrown: Plus, I'd be suspicious of the longevity of Soviet concrete.

Still, awesome designs. There's also this from the twenties:

[www.nytimes.com]

BadUncle

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

designguybrown — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:25:38 PDT

the problem with a lot of this 'brutalist' 60s-70s-80s poured-concrete architecture (haha - i like that term 'formidable') is that they very seldom 'fit' into the local neighborhood; are very leaky; are very susceptible to hot/cold/humid environments; expensive/difficult to fix, and just have that darned-cold heartless-ness to them... though some certainly playful creations have come out of it (playful looking from a distance - 'lawn-chair architecture' - good from a comfortable distance (in your lawn chair) as long as you don't have to live/work in it...
Kinda like my architecture school building..
[www.arch.carleton.ca]

designguybrown

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

aspiringexpatriate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:21:52 PDT

@aspiringexpatriate: huh... dirge doesn't mean what I thought it meant. Ah well. ROI still = the death of humanity.

aspiringexpatriate

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

aspiringexpatriate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:21:04 PDT

@deckard97: ROI is the dirge of human progress.

aspiringexpatriate

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

aspiringexpatriate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:20:31 PDT

@Miranda Kali: Nice. Never thought of Ray-Gun punk before. Art-Deco... in the FUTURE.

@Balius: It's only interior dead space cause we're trying to furnish it with non-organic items. I wonder how many of those buildings have custom made furniture for it, or did in the 70s cause it probably didn't last and the new capitalists have made it all annoyingly western.

aspiringexpatriate

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

dead_red_eyes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:09:54 PDT

@bakana:

Wow, those are awesome.

dead_red_eyes

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

deckard97 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:05:54 PDT

Very cool exercises in architecture, but let's not forget that in the USSR the government paid for everything no matter how impractical. In the west those buildings would have cost too much for a good ROI.

deckard97

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

bakana — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:56:28 PDT

I saw a couple similarly insane Soviet space buildings during a visit to Great Novgorod last year:

[photos-054.ll.facebook.com]
[photos-054.ll.facebook.com]

bakana

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Tiwa — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:49:26 PDT

These are awesome.

third picture = Jenga

Tiwa

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Garrison Dean, King Awesome — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:41:14 PDT

@Balius: Who gives a crap?! I would take a future house with nothing but dead space over some mcMansion anyday.

Thanks for this. These pics are really great.

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Darkedge — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:30:56 PDT

Very cool - tried to look at his site but it's passworded.. weird.

Darkedge

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

ManchuCandidate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:28:24 PDT

The last two look like buildings from Battle Red star Galactica or Buck-eschev Rogersov from the 25th Soviet Century.

ManchuCandidate

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

RAHfanboy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:27:13 PDT

In Soviet Russia, the buildings erect you!

RAHfanboy

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Lizzie24601 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:11:56 PDT

Ten points for the first good "In Soviet Russia" joke.

Lizzie24601

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Asari — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:09:03 PDT

@Balius: I hear what you're saying about the dead weight, but these buildings look relatively practical to me.

Go-go remote viewing! haha

Asari

1970s Soviet Alien Architecture

Balius — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:05:45 PDT

I wonder what the interiors are like...an architect I know says that the problem with innovative, organic looking spaces is that they tend to cause a lot of interior dead-space.

Balius