Frederic Chaubin: CCCP, Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed - 40th Ed.
Brutalist Beauties
Architectural remnants of the USSR
Elected the architectural book of the year by the International Artbook and Film Festival in Perpignan, France, Frederic ChaubinÕsÊCosmic Communist Constructions PhotographedÊexploresÊ90 buildings in 14 former Soviet Republics. Each of these structures expresses what Chaubin considers theÊfourth age of Soviet architecture, an unknown burgeoning that took placeÊfrom 1970 until 1990.
Contrary to the 1920s and 1950s, no ÒschoolÓ or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent aÊchaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Taking advantage of the collapsing monolithic structure,Êarchitects went far beyond modernism, going back to the roots or freely innovating. Some of the daring ones completed projects that theÊConstructivistsÊwould have dreamt of (Druzhba Sanatorium, Yalta), others expressed their imagination in anÊexpressionistÊway (Palace of Weddings, Tbilisi). A summer camp, inspired by sketches of a prototype lunar base, lays claim to Suprematist influence (Prometheus youth camp, Bogatyr). Then comes theÊÒspeaking architectureÓÊwidespread in the last years of the USSR: a crematorium adorned with concrete flames (Crematorium, Kiev), a technological institute with a flying saucer crashed on the roof (Institute of Scientific Research, Kiev), a political center watching you like Big Brother (House of Soviets, Kaliningrad).
In their puzzle of styles, their outlandish strategies, these buildings areÊextraordinary remnants of a collapsing system.In their diversity and local exoticism, they testify both to theÊvast geography of the USSRÊand its encroaching end of the Soviet Union, the holes in a widening net. At the same time, they immortalize many of theÊideological dreams of the country and its time, from an obsession with the cosmos to the rebirth of identity.
Contrary to the 1920s and 1950s, no ÒschoolÓ or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent aÊchaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Taking advantage of the collapsing monolithic structure,Êarchitects went far beyond modernism, going back to the roots or freely innovating. Some of the daring ones completed projects that theÊConstructivistsÊwould have dreamt of (Druzhba Sanatorium, Yalta), others expressed their imagination in anÊexpressionistÊway (Palace of Weddings, Tbilisi). A summer camp, inspired by sketches of a prototype lunar base, lays claim to Suprematist influence (Prometheus youth camp, Bogatyr). Then comes theÊÒspeaking architectureÓÊwidespread in the last years of the USSR: a crematorium adorned with concrete flames (Crematorium, Kiev), a technological institute with a flying saucer crashed on the roof (Institute of Scientific Research, Kiev), a political center watching you like Big Brother (House of Soviets, Kaliningrad).
In their puzzle of styles, their outlandish strategies, these buildings areÊextraordinary remnants of a collapsing system.In their diversity and local exoticism, they testify both to theÊvast geography of the USSRÊand its encroaching end of the Soviet Union, the holes in a widening net. At the same time, they immortalize many of theÊideological dreams of the country and its time, from an obsession with the cosmos to the rebirth of identity.
The author
FrŽdŽric ChaubinÊhas been, for twenty years, editor-in-chief of the French lifestyle magazineÊCitizen K. Since 2000 he has regularly featured works combining text and photography. HisÊCCCPÊcollection research was carried out from 2003 to 2010 and published in 2011. During the last five years, he has been dedicating himself to theÊStone AgeÊproject.
- Hardcover,Ê15.6ÊxÊ21.7Êcm,Ê1.08 kg,Ê440Êpages
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