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''Raising the Curtain'' centres on two modernist opera theatres built on the western periphery of the Soviet Union, now located in the capitals of Lithuania and Belarus: the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania, inaugurated in 1974, and the Comic Opera in Minsk, Belarus, which opened in 1981. Both were designed, by a lucky coincidence, by architectural(...)
Raising the curtain: Operatic modernism in the Soviet Republics
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''Raising the Curtain'' centres on two modernist opera theatres built on the western periphery of the Soviet Union, now located in the capitals of Lithuania and Belarus: the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania, inaugurated in 1974, and the Comic Opera in Minsk, Belarus, which opened in 1981. Both were designed, by a lucky coincidence, by architectural collectives led by women, Nijole Buciute (1930-2010) and Oxana Tkachuk (b. 1933) respectively. Drawing upon the close relation of operatic environments to national imaginaries, the book expands the stories of the theatres’ creation into an interrogation of the national condition in the Soviet non-Russian republics. Lithuania and Belarus exemplify the broad range of Soviet national scenarios, presenting two polar extremes of the paths taken: Lithuania was the first republic to leave the Soviet Union in 1990, while Belarus retained its reputation as the “last Soviet republic” well into the 21st century. ''Raising the Curtain'' puts centre stage the involvement of architecture of Soviet modernism with the geopolitical transformations of the era, offering an intimate look at the tectonic shifts which still reverberate across the globe.
Modernism
Modernist travel guide
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The "Modernist Travel Guide" is a pocket-sized reference book written and photographed by design historian Adam Štech (@okolo_architecture), featuring nearly 400 of his favourite examples of modernist architecture across 30 major cities worldwide. Drawing from Štech’s extensive archive of 150,000 photographs - documenting more than 6,000 buildings and interiors in 40(...)
Modernist travel guide
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The "Modernist Travel Guide" is a pocket-sized reference book written and photographed by design historian Adam Štech (@okolo_architecture), featuring nearly 400 of his favourite examples of modernist architecture across 30 major cities worldwide. Drawing from Štech’s extensive archive of 150,000 photographs - documenting more than 6,000 buildings and interiors in 40 countries - the guide is an essential travel companion for design enthusiasts. It provides background stories, addresses, and accessibility details for both iconic landmarks and hidden gems.
Modernism
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Much more than a resort destination, Palm Springs has served as a laboratory of the Modern; here so much architectural innovation and design took form. From the steel-and-glass boxes of Richard Neutra to the earthy organic homes of John Lautner, and everything in between, the solutions of architects and designers—including notably William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams, and(...)
The Palm Springs School: Desert Modernism 1934-1975
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Much more than a resort destination, Palm Springs has served as a laboratory of the Modern; here so much architectural innovation and design took form. From the steel-and-glass boxes of Richard Neutra to the earthy organic homes of John Lautner, and everything in between, the solutions of architects and designers—including notably William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams, and Albert Frey—were diverse and are ever more relevant in the face of contemporary challenges. Their answers addressed questions that still hold urgency: How to design sustainably in harsh climates? How to use technology efficiently and creatively to meet those challenges? How to build affordable and high-quality mass-produced housing? How to reflect a region’s culture, economy, and distinctive atmosphere? Architects here responded to nature’s climatological demands, and Palm Springs became a center for innovations that were rooted in practice more than theory. Benefitting from the architectural freedoms offered by the remoteness of the California desert, designers explored new approaches that we can now identify as central to the Palm Springs School, shown here in rich archival and contemporary photography.
Modernism
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Mass-produced from the 1970s to the 1990s, modular kiosks like the seminal K67, designed by the Slovenian architect Saša J. Mächtig, and similar systems – including the Polish Kami, the Macedonian KC190, and the Soviet ‘Bathyscaphe’ – could be found anywhere throughout the former Eastern Bloc and ex-Yugoslav countries, from bustling city squares to socialist-era housing(...)
Kiosk: The last modernist booths across Central and Eastern Europe
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Mass-produced from the 1970s to the 1990s, modular kiosks like the seminal K67, designed by the Slovenian architect Saša J. Mächtig, and similar systems – including the Polish Kami, the Macedonian KC190, and the Soviet ‘Bathyscaphe’ – could be found anywhere throughout the former Eastern Bloc and ex-Yugoslav countries, from bustling city squares to socialist-era housing estates. They served as hot dog and Polish zapiekanka joints, farm egg and rotisserie chicken vendors, funeral flower shops, newsstands, car park booths, currency exchange offices, and more. Featuring over 150 kiosks – from Ljubljana to Warsaw, and from Belgrade to Berlin – this photobook provides previously unseen documentation of the remaining modernist booths that witnessed the socio-political transformation of Central and Eastern Europe at the end of the 20th century. While some remain active or have undergone refurbishment, others have been abandoned or have slowly faded from the urban landscape. The photographs in this unique collection were taken over the last decade by Zupagrafika’s founders, David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka. The book includes a foreword by urban explorer Maciej Czarnecki and an introduction by architectural historian Anna Cymer, offering invaluable insights into the history of these mobile structures.
Modernism
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Mass housing in post-war socialist countries was a quick and effective way to provide homes for the expanding city populations after WWII, but after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc the fate of these constructions became uncertain. While modernist estates are being renovated or prematurely demolished, their tenants remain undaunted. They have lived through the buildings’(...)
The tenants: Concrete portraits of the former Eastern Bloc
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Mass housing in post-war socialist countries was a quick and effective way to provide homes for the expanding city populations after WWII, but after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc the fate of these constructions became uncertain. While modernist estates are being renovated or prematurely demolished, their tenants remain undaunted. They have lived through the buildings’ golden years and darker times. For the last decade, Zupagrafika has documented the housing estates erected in Central and Eastern Europe, still perceived by many as ‘eyesores,’ through photographs and illustrated paper models. The Tenants features over 40 housing projects in 37 different cities of the former Eastern Bloc and ex-Yugoslavia. From Berlin to Norilsk, and all the way through Kyiv to Tallinn, the album portrays the inhabitants of those complexes holding models of their homes, while sharing the stories of lives lived in the prefab panel blocks. Includes a foreword by the sociologist and urban researcher Maciej Frackowiak and an index of the featured housing estates, providing an insight into their history. The portraits were taken by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka, with contributions by local photographers.
Modernism
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A photographic survey of Soviet-era playgrounds found in former members of the USSR, such as Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Through five chapters containing more than 150 photographs, the book documents the mass-produced, yet diverse play equipment installed in the communal spaces of socialist-era housing(...)
Soviet playgrounds: Playful landscapes of the former USSR
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A photographic survey of Soviet-era playgrounds found in former members of the USSR, such as Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Through five chapters containing more than 150 photographs, the book documents the mass-produced, yet diverse play equipment installed in the communal spaces of socialist-era housing estates, such as rocket slides and earth-shaped climbers, spaceships and animal-themed ladders, cosmic roundabouts and bizarre objects that would probably raise safety concerns nowadays. From Riga to Dushanbe and all the way from Kyiv to Vladivostok, children dreamt of becoming cosmonauts, and enjoyed the many space-themed playscapes which had proliferated since the onset of the Cold War era. While some are still in use, others are slowly disappearing to make way for modern equipment, or, more recently, being destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, becoming only a faint memory of a Soviet childhood. Includes a foreword by the Ukrainian urban planner Mykola Gorokhov and informative maps of the playgrounds featured in every chapter. Pictures were taken by Zupagrafika, with contributions by local photographers.
Modernism
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A photographic exploration of the Soviet monotowns - urban settlements erected around single industries in the hinterlands of the former USSR -; some thriving, others struggling to survive, still others partially abandoned. Through nine chapters with over 130 photographs taken by Russian photographer Alexander Veryovkin, Monotowns by Zupagrafika captures the(...)
Monotowns: Soviet landscapes of post-industrial Russia
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A photographic exploration of the Soviet monotowns - urban settlements erected around single industries in the hinterlands of the former USSR -; some thriving, others struggling to survive, still others partially abandoned. Through nine chapters with over 130 photographs taken by Russian photographer Alexander Veryovkin, Monotowns by Zupagrafika captures the post-industrial landscapes and Soviet-era architecture of the monogorods extending from the Arctic Circle to the Russian Far East, such as Vorkuta, Norilsk, Mirny, Kirovsk, Tolyatti, Cherepovets, Magnitogorsk, Monchegorsk and Nikel, and the daily lives of their inhabitants. Includes informative texts providing a valuable insight into the urban development of the featured cities and a foreword by the architectural critic Konstantin Budarin.
Modernism
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A photographic insight into the Soviet-era architecture of one of the most extreme, little-known and vast territories on Earth. From the Ural Mountains to the Arctic Circle, the book features the extensive microrayons of Siberia’s urban centres, the brutal landscapes of industrial monotowns, cosmic circuses, concrete theatres and opera houses, as well as prefabricated(...)
Concrete Siberia: Soviet landscapes of the far North
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A photographic insight into the Soviet-era architecture of one of the most extreme, little-known and vast territories on Earth. From the Ural Mountains to the Arctic Circle, the book features the extensive microrayons of Siberia’s urban centres, the brutal landscapes of industrial monotowns, cosmic circuses, concrete theatres and opera houses, as well as prefabricated panel blocks, or panelki, erected on permafrost. Divided into 6 chapters, Concrete Siberia by Zupagrafika contains over 100 photographs capturing the stark splendour of post-war modernist architecture scattered around the cities of Novosibirsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Irkutsk and Yakutsk and the quotidian lives of their inhabitants.
Modernism
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This book delves into the architectural heritage of public housing developed in Hong Kong between the 1950s and the 1980s. Embracing the modernist architectural approach, the city initiated mass housing projects that redefined urban living. Towering structures emerged to meet the housing needs of nearly three million residents, resulting in one of the world’s most(...)
Concrete Hong Kong: Build your own Modernist metropolis
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This book delves into the architectural heritage of public housing developed in Hong Kong between the 1950s and the 1980s. Embracing the modernist architectural approach, the city initiated mass housing projects that redefined urban living. Towering structures emerged to meet the housing needs of nearly three million residents, resulting in one of the world’s most futuristic and densely populated urban landscapes. Through captivating photographs and engaging narratives, the first half of Concrete Hong Kong offers a glimpse into the housing estates constructed during the second half of the 20th century, showcasing a variety of structures, including the cruciform Shun On Estate, the vibrant Choi Hung Estate, and the brutalist Po Lai Court. The second half of the book immerses readers in a hands-on experience, featuring six pre-cut and pre-folded models ready to be pressed out and assembled, making this book a must-have for anyone seeking to uncover the hidden stories behind Hong Kong’s concrete jungles. All you need is glue! Includes a foreword by Charles Lai, architect and architectural historian based in Hong Kong.
Modernism
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In 1919 the Social Democrat city council of Vienna initiated a radical program of reforms designed to reshape the city's infrastructure along socialist lines. The centrepiece and most enduring achievement of "Red" Vienna was the construction of the Wiener (...)
The architecture of red Vienna 1919-1934
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In 1919 the Social Democrat city council of Vienna initiated a radical program of reforms designed to reshape the city's infrastructure along socialist lines. The centrepiece and most enduring achievement of "Red" Vienna was the construction of the Wiener Gemeindebauten, 400 communal housing blocks, distributed throughout the city, in which workers' dwellings were incorporated with kindergartens, libraries, medical clinics, theaters, cooperative stores, and other public facilities. The 64,000 units housed one tenth of the city's population. Throughout this socialist building campaign, however, Austria was ruled by a conservative, clerical, and antisocialist political majority. Thus the architecture of Red Vienna took shape in the midst of highly charged, and often violent, political conflict between left and right. In this book, Eve Blau looks at how that ideological conflict shaped the buildings of Red Vienna--in terms of their programme, spatial conception, language, and use--as well as how political meaning itself is manifested in architecture. She shows how the architecture of Red Vienna constructed meaning in relation to the ideological conflicts that defined Austrian politics in the interwar period--how it was shaped by the conditions of its making, and how it engaged its own codes, practices, and history to stake out a political position in relation to those conditions. Her investigation sheds light both on the complex relationship among political program, architectural practice, and urban history in interwar Vienna, and on the process by which architecture can generate a collective discourse that includes all members of society.
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December 1998, Cambridge, Mass.
Modernism