this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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As someone who has lived in commie blocks as well as in modern buildings, I can only agree.
Commie blocks are usually built with utility in mind, so things such as public transportation are of utmost importance. Not only that, but since they are usually a part of bigger urban projects, you have pretty much everything you need around: kindergartens, schools, grocery stores, communal spaces, greenery, and sometimes even cooler facilities like sports facilities. The interior design of the space, as basic as it might seem, is usually maximized to offer a multitude of utilities. You almost always get a balcony, a long hallway that connects all rooms, the rooms are usually quite well separated (no kitchen in the living room to stink up your couch), etc.
Over the last 30 years we stopped building them (for obvious reasons), and now it's mostly modern buildings popping up. I lived in some and it has always been a nightmare. The only modern buildings worth moving into are the ones you need to be a millionaire to get. They usually get built in the middle of nowhere, there's no urban planning, so no kindergarten, school, parks or grocery stores in sight. You almost always have to take the car to go anywhere. Greenery is lacking, since adding greenery is considered pointless (doesn't bring profits - uses up space that could be sold), so all buildings are surrounded by a sea of asphalt and parking lots. It's always amazing in the summer when you start sweltering. The interior design of the space is weird and uncomfortable since the companies that build these things almost always try to cram as many units as possible in a building. So you end up with apartments in weird corners and weirdly spaced rooms. Not only that, but many of these buildings are not even built to last, since the builders usually just sell them and get out of there as soon as things start breaking down. Fighting them is always a pain in the ass, since they're so lawyered up you need a fortune to sue them. Or sometimes the company just disappears so you can't sue them and they go and make a new one under a different name. And now imagine that this happens on every lot, these buildings sometimes get built right next to each other, you can literally look into your neighbours apartments and everything feels clustered and suffocating.
I get that I'm a minority in this case as well but; to me they're also legitimately beautiful. They were my introduction to Brutalism and it has since become my favorite architectural style... actually took me a while to realize what made them so aesthetically great to me. It's that you can see the planning that went into them. It's not just the one building but a whole 'landscape' of practical design.
I wish I had the opportunity to live in one but to the best of my knowledge they were never built in the country I live in.