TOTALITARIAN ARCHITECTURE

GENEVIEVEMIALA

TOTALITARIANISM
POLITICAL SYSTEM where state recognizes no limits to authority, and regulates every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible. State-controlled Centralized government Dictatorial control Authoritarian / autocratic Single party Mass surveillance Use of terror

TOTALITARIANISM in ARCHITECTURE
Brutalist structures are an expression of totalitarianism given that their grand, concrete-based design involves destroying gentler, more-human places such as gardens. --Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal

Ministry of Truth as an enormous, pyramidal structure of white concrete, soaring up terrace after terrace, three hundred meters into the air. --George Orwell

SENATE HOUSE and LIBRARY, University of London

Architect: Charles Holden Ministry of Truth in George Orwells novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four

 the vast bulk of London University insulting the autumnal sky. --Evelyn Waugh, Put Out More Flags

Stalinist or totalitarian due to its great scale. --Anonymous

 BE IT FROM THE THIRD REICH, THE SOVIET UNION, OR SOMEWHERE ELSE, HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IN DEPICTIONS OF DYSTOPIA. THE OPPRESSIVE REGIME DOES OF COURSE NEED TO HAVE OPPRESSIVE BUILDINGS TO SHOW ITS POWER.

Posted by: Nexus EXPLORING DYSTOPIA. A forum about futures that hopefully will never come true. www.exploringdystopia.freeforums.org

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

Architecture of : Dictatorship Over-centralized governments Political groups intolerant of opposition

As an International Style, it often drew on simplified Neo-Classicism, and sculpture based on C19 realism and Classicism for massive oversized state monuments.

For the first half of the 20th century, Fascist and Communist governments created monumental architecture, largely to intimidate their people and showcase the regimes strengths.

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

COMMUNIST CHINA FASCIST ITALY

STALINIST SOVIET UNION NAZI GERMANY

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

COMMUNIST CHINA
Concrete boxes with traditional elements, like the upturned eaves.
Referred to as swimming pool architecture, with additions that look like ill-fitting wigs. During Mao era, families were moved into concrete apartment blocks or jammed into courtyard dwelling built for a single familywith several other families. Central courtyard was filled with crude brick compounds.

Housing and factories were combined within walled encalves.

Apartment buildings were 4-6 stories tall.

MAOZEDONG

(1943 1976 )

Mao Tse-Tung

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

COMMUNIST CHINA

MAOZEDONG

(1943 1976 )

Mao Tse-Tung

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

FASCIST ITALY
Larchitettura Fascista
Mussolinis grand scheme was to transform the city with propagandistic buildings and urban stages, whose look and feel would broadcast his achievements and objectives.

Architects took their cue from the forms of classical Roman buildings, but instead of the ornate details and rounded edges, Fascist buildings are Teutonic blocks of unrelieved travertine, which makes them cold and forbidding.

BENITOMUSSOLINI
(1922-1943)

MUSSOLINI WANTED TO CREATE AN IMPACT NOT ONLY ON ITALYS HISTORY, BUT ALSO ON ITS ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno Lapula, Mario Romano

(Colloseo Quadrato) Pallazo della Civilta del Lavoro

Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno Lapula, Mario Romano

(Colloseo Quadrato) Pallazo della Civilta del Lavoro

Enrico del Debbio, Arnaldo Foschini, Vittorio Morpurgo Ballio

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Palazzo della Farnesina

Enrico del Debbio, Arnaldo Foschini, Vittorio Morpurgo Ballio

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Palazzo della Farnesina

--

Courthouse

G u i s e p p e Te r r a g n i

(Local Headquarters of the Guardia di Finanza)

Casa del Fascio

G u i s e p p e Te r r a g n i

(Local Headquarters of the Guardia di Finanza)

Casa del Fascio

G u i s e p p e Te r r a g n i

(Museum of the Guardia di Finanza)

Casa del Fascio

G u i s e p p e Te r r a g n i

Novocomum

G u i s e p p e Te r r a g n i

Novocomum

Mario Messina

Cinema Impero

Mario Messina

Cinema Impero

Giuseppe Pattazzi

(Petrol Station)

F i a t Ta g l i e r o B u i l d i n g

Giuseppe Pattazzi

(Petrol Station)

F i a t Ta g l i e r o B u i l d i n g

Giuseppe Pattazzi

(Petrol Station)

F i a t Ta g l i e r o B u i l d i n g

Enrico del Debbio, Luigi Moretti

(Foro Mussolini)

Foro Italico Sports Complex

Enrico del Debbio, Luigi Moretti

(Foro Mussolini)

Foro Italico Sports Complex

Enrico del Debbio, Luigi Moretti

(Foro Mussolini)

Foro Italico Sports Complex

STALINIST SOVIET UNION

Stalins reforms through the Five-Year Plans were to turn Russia into a leading world power.

HE WAS A BRILLIANT CHOREOGRAPHER OF MASS CEREMONIES BUT HE BADLY NEEDED CEREMONIAL LOCATIONS, BROAD SQUARES, STRAIGHT AVENUES AND LAVISHLY DECORATED PALACES.
Moscow was to become the supreme world capital, the sacred city of communist ideology, the lifetime monument to Joseph Stalin, the father and the son of the nation. Link his empire with the respectable past of Russia Russian classical churches and estates nearby served as brilliant inspirationadorned with pompous baroque features, classicism had convincing potential to tell stories in brick and stucco, giving advice, promise and warning.

JOSEPHSTALIN

(1941-1953)

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

STALINIST SOVIET UNION

1930s Soviet press: fusion of artistic methods so that architectural ensembles include sculptures, murals, mosaics, stain glass, and putting a strong emphasis on Egyptian art.
No other epoch could boast of the use of so many symbolic decorative elements borrowed from different cultures, religions and historical periods. Ancient symbols were used out of context and have been perceived as Soviet emblems since then. All cities were built to a general development plan.

Projects would be designed for whole districts, visibly transforming a citys architectural image.

JOSEPHSTALIN

(1941-1953)

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

1935 Moscow Master Plan

Broadened main streets Houses demolished or moved away New ring of squares around Kremlin Moskva and Yauza Rivers were decked in granite embankments Crossed 11 bridges Moscow was connected with the Volga River by a canal, with ports, locks and embankments all lavishly decorated of sculptures of Lenin and Stalin First Metro line was opened

1935 Moscow Master Plan

40 underground palaces (stations) were created along the 50-km long line

New city design was comprehensive,

Construction of new factories, schools and universities, hospitals, department stores, offices, apartment buildings and parks Churches, monasteries, romantic wooden houses disappeared, but a new capital was erected

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters Group of skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style. Elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles and the technology used in building American skyscrapers.

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Arkady Mordvinov Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky

(Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow)

Hotel Ukraina

1 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Arkady Mordvinov Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky

(Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow)

Hotel Ukraina

1 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Dmitry Chechulin Andrei Rostkovsky

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

2 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Dmitry Chechulin Andrei Rostkovsky

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

2 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Dmitry Chechulin Andrei Rostkovsky

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

2 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Mikhail Posokhin, Sr. Ashot Mndoyants

Kudrinskaya Square Building

3 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Leonid Polyakov

(Hilton Moscow Hotel)

Hotel Leningradskaya

4 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

5 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

5 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Alexey Dushkin

Red Gates Administrative Building

6 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Alexey Dushkin

Red Gates Administrative Building

6 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Matvei Kazakov Domenico Giliardi

(Main Building)

Moscow State University

7 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Matvei Kazakov Domenico Giliardi

(Main Building)

Moscow State University

7 of 7

S t a l i n s k i e Vy s o t k i ( S t a l i n s H i g h - R i s e s )
English nickname: Seven Sisters

Matvei Kazakov Domenico Giliardi

(Main Building)

Moscow State University

7 of 7

NAZI GERMANY
Hitlers government sponsored architecture on an immense scale.
In 1936, he opened Summer Olympic games in Berlin. Made contributions to the design of the Volkswagen Beetle and charged Ferdinand Porsche with its design and construction. Hitlers social and economic policies were modernization that had anti-modern goals (historians: David Schoenbaum and Henry Ashby Turner). Hitler had the deliberate strategy of pursuing a revolutionary modernization of German society (Rainer Zitelmann).

ADOLFHITLER

(1934 1945 )

Adolf Schicklgruber

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

NAZI GERMANY
Used architecture to some degree to achieve control over government, to firmly establish its authority leaving no doubt as to who was in charge.
NAZI ARCHITECTURE aims to reflect the beliefs of National Socialism, celebrate the German national identity and glorify the idea of the master Aryan race, as perceived by Hitler and his associates. Hitler planned to transform Berlin into Welhauptstadt (World Capital) Germania.

ADOLFHITLER

(1934 1945 )

Adolf Schicklgruber

BERLIN AS THE WORLD CAPITAL WILL ONLY BE COMPARABLE WITH ANCIENT EGYPT, BABYLON AND ROME! WHAT ARE LONDON AND PARIS COMPARED TO THAT!

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

NAZI GERMANY
Spent tens of billions of dollars on halls, palaces, chancelleries and stadiumsbut were dissipated in war.
BIG IS ENOUGHhis designs are like his speeches: huge, hammeringly repetitious, banal, but filled with inescapable, machine-like force. No sense of proportion, interval, space or even ornament.

VERY BIG BUILDINGS TEND TO MAKE VERY BIG IMPRESSIONS ON PEOPLEAND THAT WAS ENOUGH.
Form Follows Functionthe function had nothing to do with human needs. It was simply to intimidate the people, and to assert the statevisual symbols. (1934 1945 )

ADOLFHITLER

Adolf Schicklgruber

He hoped: No Berliner could look anywhere in his city without seeing that overpowering dome, those relentless colonnades. www.time.com

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

NAZI GERMANY
BUILDINGS:
Pure metaphor. Outside form: as sharp and infantile as play blocks; sphere piled on cube piled on rectangle.

Inside space: designs are illegible.

What rooms stare from those endlessly repeated window bays? Where do those interminable corridors go?

Does anyone ever walk up that colossal staircase?

ADOLFHITLER

(1934 1945 )

Adolf Schicklgruber

ALL PARTS REFLECT THE PROCESSES OF TOTALITARIAN POLITICSEXPLICIT IN THEIR DEMANDS, OBSCURE IN THEIR WORKINGS.
www.time.com

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

NAZI GERMANY

HOW I WISH I HAD BEEN AN ARCHITECT!

He often exclaimed to his Nazi master builder,

Albert Speer.

ADOLFHITLER

(1934 1945 )
www.time.com

Adolf Schicklgruber

T O TA L I TA R I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E

B E R T H O L D K O N R A D H E R M A N N A L B E R T S P E E R (1905-1981)

A German Architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931. His architectural skills made him increasingly prominent within the Party. The organizers of the 1933 Nrnberg Nazi Party rally asked him to submit designs for the rally, which won him his first national post as Nazi Party Commissioner for the Artistic and Technical Presentation of Party Rallies and Demonstrations. Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich

B E R T H O L D K O N R A D H E R M A N N A L B E R T S P E E R (1905-1981)

He became Hitlers chief architectthe first architect of the Third Reich (1934-1939). Commissioned by Hitler to design and construct a number of structures, including the Reich Chancellery and the Zeppelinfeld stadium in Nuremberg. He also made plans to reconstruct Berlin on a grand scale, with huge buildings, wide boulevards, and recognized transportation system.

B E R T H O L D K O N R A D H E R M A N N A L B E R T S P E E R (1905-1981)

(scale model)

Groer Platz

(Great Hall)

, T h e Vo l k s h a l l e

 1000 ft. high dome (16 times the volume of Michelangelos cupola on St. Peters). May look like a cross between a white elephant and a cookie cutter. Designed to hold 150,000 human ants. Would have been, not only the largest building in the world, but also the most crushing and politically expressive.

(scale model)

Groer Platz

(Great Hall)

, T h e Vo l k s h a l l e

(scale model)

Groer Platz

(Great Hall)

, T h e Vo l k s h a l l e

(scale model)

T h e Vo l k s h a l l e

(scale model)

T h e Vo l k s h a l l e

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(1933 Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Ground)

Zeppelinfeld Stadium

(outside)

N e w R e i c h C h a n c e l l e r y i n Vo s s - S t r a s s e

(Adolf Hitlers Office)

New Reich Chancellery

The Ehrenhof

(Ho n o r Ya rd )

, New Reich Chancellery

(after the Battle of Berlin)

New Reich Chancellery

(after the Battle of Berlin)

New Reich Chancellery

Berlin Victory Column

THANKS!