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.

"The Architectural Imagination" Venice Biennale participants revealed

2016-03-02T15:56:00-05:00

Twelve firms, including Greg Lynn Form, MOS Architects, Preston Scott Cohen Inc., and Zago Architecture have been selected by curators Cynthia Davidson and Mónica Ponce de León to create speculative architectural presentations for the 2016 U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The presentations will be based on four real-world Detroit sites: Dequindre Cut/Eastern Market at 1923 Division Street, Mexicantown at 6370 Vernor Highway, the US Post Office at 1401 West Fort Street, and the Packard Plant at East Grand Boulevard and Concord Avenue.

According to a press release, the idea behind the exhibition is to demonstrate "the creativity and resourcefulness of architecture to address the social and environmental issues of the 21st century" and will have applications beyond the specific sites featured. As previously mentioned at Archinect, at the exhibition twenty photographs of Detroit submitted via a contest designed to tell a larger narrative about the city will be available in postcard ...

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Brutalist collection of vintage postcards highlight iconic Eastern Bloc architecture

"The Architectural Imagination" Venice Biennale participants revealed