Richard Patrick Anderson

This project analyzes the concepts and paradigms that motivated the architectural cultures of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, thereby enriching our understanding of modernity’s material and spatial forms. Whereas many studies have focused on the ways in which the Communist Party instrumentalized architecture for its own ends, this project demonstrates that the dynamics of architectural culture are better understood as a radical renegotiation of history and modernity. "Toward a Socialist Architecture" presents architects’ attempts to make historical knowledge the basis for design practice throughout the Stalin Era.