Archinect - News

Soviet architecture is the star of a new immersive indie video game called It's Winter

2019-03-14T21:15:00-04:00

It’s nighttime and you find yourself in a small, dark flat in a nondescript suburb in Russia. You look out of the window and see the courtyard covered in snow, illuminated by street lamps and the cold neon glare of storefronts. You turn on the light switch and look around your apartment. This is the melancholy start of a new immersive game made by developer Alexander Ignatov and poet Ilia Mazo.

The setting and landscapes of video game worlds add to the overall gaming experience, particularly free roaming games. Called a "sandbox" in the gaming community, the mission-less free to roam game allows the player to wander throughout the virtual world. Without a plot or mission to accomplish, gamers are allowed to do everything and nothing in the game It's Winter. Left with very little to dictate gameplay, the immersive gaming experience created by developer Alexander Ignatov and poet Ilia Mazo immerses players into a mundane suburban Russian tower block.

It's Winter game play still, Image © Alexander Ignatov and Ilia Mazo

According to the developer the "post-Soviet and sad 3D game" has nothing awaiting the player. "There is no chance to get out, no room for adventures, nor a breathtaking plot.” All you have to do is experience the precisely detailed, pixelated mundanity of the world around you." The only thing players are left with, however, are the detailed building interiors a...

Displaying relics of Soviet architecture on your desk has never been easier

2019-01-24T15:59:00-05:00

Authored and published by Zupagrafika, and now featured in our Downtown LA retail store and online at Archinect Outpost, these miniature versions of brutalist structures from former Eastern Bloc countries can now rest easily on your desk or bookshelf.

House of Soviets (Kaliningrad, Russia). Authored and Published by Zupagrafika.

The Brutal East cutouts are authored and published by Zupagrafika, an independent design studio established in 2012 by a Hispano-Polish duo David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka in Poznań, Poland. The studio has a special affinity with Polish Poster School, post-war modernist architecture and paper.

Representing structures from Belgrade, Chisinau, Kaliningrad, Prague, St. Petersburg, Vilnius and Wrocław, these cutouts are faithfully illustrated with the ravages of time and hints of graffiti. The Brutal East kit comes with seven cutouts, each of which requires a ruler, and box cutter and white glue to construct.

Novosmolenskaya Housing Complex (St. Petersburg, ...

How emerging designers find inspiration in socialist-era brutalist architecture

2018-09-19T09:00:00-04:00

Bold and unforgiving, the Brutalist landmarks and modernist housing estates which sprang up across Europe in the wake of the Second World War still dominate cities in the former Eastern bloc. [...] The Calvert Journal talked to designers and creatives across the New East who are now reclaiming socialist-era Brutalism as a driving force behind their work, changing mindsets, updating old designs for the modern age and making their own statements on gentrification, nostalgia and innovation.

The Brutalism-inspired design products by (mostly Eastern) European creatives Calvert Journal talked to range from stylish Russian flower vases to nostalgic Slovak pre-fab panelák furniture, German post-war housing cuckoo clocks, a Modernist Belgrade Map, and Polish miniature tower block building kits and Polaroid photo projects.

"Cuckoo Block" series by Guido Zimmermann, Germany.

"Brutal East" by Zupagrafika, Poland.

Find more design creations here.

Brutalist collection of vintage postcards highlight iconic Eastern Bloc architecture

2018-09-18T15:45:00-04:00

With flawless blue skies and the latest landmarks of cutting edge design, postcards from across the Soviet Union were miniature propaganda posters for the success of the communist system. Showcasing brutalist hotels, futurist TV towers, and bold concrete tower blocks, each image is a snapshot of the transformative decades between 1960 and 1990: from the endless optimism of Khrushchev's Thaw, to the closing years of the Cold War.

These Soviet Union postcards have been collected as part of a book project, Brutal Bloc Postcards, featuring some of the most iconic brutalist landmarks within the Eastern Bloc. Many of these structures are now abandoned, derelict, or completely gone. Take a look at this unique glimpse into the past:

Eastern Gate of Belgrade or Rudo Buildings, late 1970s. Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia. Image: FUEL.

Memorial to the Marines, 1978. Zhdanov, Ukrainian SSR. Image: FUEL.

Recreation home of the Ministry of the Interior, 1970s. Budapest, Hungarian PR. Image: FUEL.

Residential housing, late 1970s. Chișinău, Moldavian SSR. Image: FUEL.

You can check out more of these brutalist postcards here.

Between a 16th century church and a wooden barn: the Chimney House by dekleva gregorič architects

2017-05-12T16:03:00-04:00

Nestled between a 16th century church and a wooden barn, the Slovenia-based firm dekleva gregorič architects have designed the Chimney House to both follow the rules of local architecture while marking a typological transformation based on the users' specificity. The architects have used vernacular materials—oiled larch board cladding the outside and oiled oak for the the interior—while innovating on the shape of the home, playing off the prevailing gabled roof typology common to the region. The distinguishing shape further references the neighboring church.

The house draws its name—the Chimney House—partially from the architects choice to use the form of this traditional fixture. The exterior incorporates this typology into the shape of the house. The element rises up between the two gables bringing in light from above and creating a continuous skylight , or perhaps a "chimney of light," into the house. This design solution also allows the architects to opt for fewer windows and ope...

The New East is where western starchitect dreams come true (or turn into nightmares)

2016-01-07T14:00:00-05:00

The rise of international architecture competitions has given western architects an opportunity to make their mark on eastern Europe and Central Asia [...] Regardless of record-high fees, some of their projects are being cancelled half-way through or take a good decade to build. But the ones that are brought to life often become some of the most recognised works of its authors. For starchitects the miles between eastern Europe and Central Asia is the place where dreams and ambitions come true.