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Cosmic Communist Constructions

Author and photographer Frederic Chaubin undertook a decade-long mission to visit and document examples of grand – but often forgotten – Soviet architecture dating from the 1970s and 1980s.

"Powerful and dreamlike," the buildings defy the idea of "the post-Soviet world seen in terms of decay," he says.

Chaubin assembled his work into a book called CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed (Taschen). He spoke to RFE/RL about his quest to document these architectural treasures.

(Originally published in June 2011 and updated to coincide with the book's recent reissue)
The Georgian Ministry of Highways in Tbilisi by architects Georgi Chakhava, Zurab Dzhalaganiya, Temur Tkhilava, and V. Klinberg, built in 1974 "The interest of these buildings is that they are expressing in some way some kind of anthropological phenomenon that was taking place during that period," Chaubin told RFE/RL when his book was first published in 2011.  
1 The Georgian Ministry of Highways in Tbilisi by architects Georgi Chakhava, Zurab Dzhalaganiya, Temur Tkhilava, and V. Klinberg, built in 1974

"The interest of these buildings is that they are expressing in some way some kind of anthropological phenomenon that was taking place during that period," Chaubin told RFE/RL when his book was first published in 2011.
 
The architecture faculty at the Polytechnic Institute of Minsk and its succession of overhanging lecture theaters by architects Viktor Anikin and Igor Yesman, built in 1983 "I like this idea of facing a building that is an enigma in some way -- that has no clear paternity, that is just 'out of time' in some way," Chaubin said. "I have no personal fascination for the former Soviet Union. There is no nostalgia in this work."
2 The architecture faculty at the Polytechnic Institute of Minsk and its succession of overhanging lecture theaters by architects Viktor Anikin and Igor Yesman, built in 1983

"I like this idea of facing a building that is an enigma in some way -- that has no clear paternity, that is just 'out of time' in some way," Chaubin said. "I have no personal fascination for the former Soviet Union. There is no nostalgia in this work."
The Druzhba sanatorium in Yalta, Ukraine, designed by Igor Vasilevsky and Yuriy Stefanchuk and dating from 1985. "What is fascinating is to realize that basically the trends -- the intellectual main trends -- that were going through East and West were the same," Chaubin said. "East and West at the same time were worshipping the future. This is the very end of modernism in some way. "Right now, we're totally frightened by the future. But at that time, there was still a very optimistic perspective. And you can feel it with the architecture. There was this idea that the future would bring something better."
3 The Druzhba sanatorium in Yalta, Ukraine, designed by Igor Vasilevsky and Yuriy Stefanchuk and dating from 1985.

"What is fascinating is to realize that basically the trends -- the intellectual main trends -- that were going through East and West were the same," Chaubin said. "East and West at the same time were worshipping the future. This is the very end of modernism in some way.

"Right now, we're totally frightened by the future. But at that time, there was still a very optimistic perspective. And you can feel it with the architecture. There was this idea that the future would bring something better."
The Palace of Ceremonies in Tbilisi, Georgia, by architects Viktor Dzhorbenadze and Vazha Orbeladze, dating from 1985. "The shapes are crazy. They are just, at least for some of the buildings, they look like science-fiction sets," Chaubin told RFE/RL in 2011. "This is what I felt the first time I was facing the wedding palace in Tbilisi. I thought it was coming out of Star Wars or something like this. And it was very, very unexpected. It didn't fit with the idea that I had about the Soviet Union. "You know, to realize that suddenly things were much more complicated made it very, very exciting. Much more complicated than what I had thought."
4 The Palace of Ceremonies in Tbilisi, Georgia, by architects Viktor Dzhorbenadze and Vazha Orbeladze, dating from 1985.

"The shapes are crazy. They are just, at least for some of the buildings, they look like science-fiction sets," Chaubin told RFE/RL in 2011. "This is what I felt the first time I was facing the wedding palace in Tbilisi. I thought it was coming out of Star Wars or something like this. And it was very, very unexpected. It didn't fit with the idea that I had about the Soviet Union.

"You know, to realize that suddenly things were much more complicated made it very, very exciting. Much more complicated than what I had thought."
Kyiv Crematorium by architect Abraham Miletsky, built in 1985
5 Kyiv Crematorium by architect Abraham Miletsky, built in 1985
The Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technological Research and Development in Kyiv by architects L. Novikov and F. Turiev, built in 1971
6 The Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technological Research and Development in Kyiv by architects L. Novikov and F. Turiev, built in 1971
The Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics in St. Petersburg, Russia, by architects S. V. Savin and B. I. Artiushin, built in 1987
7 The Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics in St. Petersburg, Russia, by architects S. V. Savin and B. I. Artiushin, built in 1987
Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli designed the colored ceramic pool of the children's health resort in Adler, Sochi, Russia, dating from 1973
8 Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli designed the colored ceramic pool of the children's health resort in Adler, Sochi, Russia, dating from 1973
The monument to the Battle of Bash-Aparan in Aparan, Armenia, designed by Rafael Israelyan and built in 1979
9 The monument to the Battle of Bash-Aparan in Aparan, Armenia, designed by Rafael Israelyan and built in 1979
The Soviet Embassy in Havana, Cuba, designed by Aleksandr Rochegov and built in 1985
10 The Soviet Embassy in Havana, Cuba, designed by Aleksandr Rochegov and built in 1985
Built in the 19th century, the Ninth Fort at Kaunas, Lithuania, was used by the Soviet NKVD secret police as a detention center and then by German occupying forces. The 32-meter-high memorial stands on the site of mass executions carried out during the Holocaust. This spectacular evocation of suffering and death was designed by the sculptor Alfonsas Ambraziunas in 1983.
11 Built in the 19th century, the Ninth Fort at Kaunas, Lithuania, was used by the Soviet NKVD secret police as a detention center and then by German occupying forces. The 32-meter-high memorial stands on the site of mass executions carried out during the Holocaust. This spectacular evocation of suffering and death was designed by the sculptor Alfonsas Ambraziunas in 1983.
The anthropomorphic House of Soviets in Kaliningrad stands on the site of the Saxon castle of Königsberg. Begun in 1974, its construction was never completed because of its structural flaws and the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
12 The anthropomorphic House of Soviets in Kaliningrad stands on the site of the Saxon castle of Königsberg. Begun in 1974, its construction was never completed because of its structural flaws and the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
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Grant Podelco

Grant Podelco is the editor in chief of RFE/RL's English-language website. He first joined RFE/RL in Prague in 1995 as a senior correspondent after working for many years as a writer and editor for daily newspapers in New York, Oregon, and Texas. He reported from Afghanistan in November 2002 to mark the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Taliban.

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