ABSTRACT
Under Khrushchev, modern architecture once again rose to prominence in the USSR. Earlier, the Soviet avant-garde of the 1920s had been among the most innovative in the world, but its favored forms were proscribed during the long period of Stalinist repression. Khrushchev inaugurated a campaign in 1954 against architectural “excesses,” which led architects to embrace simplified and standardized designs. Over the next fifteen years, the largest-scale effort at mass housing construction anywhere in history commenced. Despite the staggering quantity of new units produced, however, their quality tended to be quite low. Moreover, none of the unique structures built during this time were on par with the great constructivist works of old. Though there was little institutional continuity with their precursors, Soviet architects began to quietly rehabilitate constructivism even as it remained officially condemned. At the same time, they kept themselves abreast of architectural developments in the West. Generally speaking, it is a mistake to view modern architecture in the USSR in isolation from the rest of the world. Its fate there, as elsewhere, is linked with the history of the twentieth century as a whole.
