Frédéric Chaubin: CCCP. Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed (Multilingual Edition)

Beautiful book with high quality pictures.

Wow, what happens when civilizations rise and fall ? Read all about it in this amazingly well written book with huge photographs of the lost empire. It will haunt you and make you wonder: will someone write a book like this for the United States of America some day ? The images are perfect, the stories detailed and well researched, and very emotional. The most touching story was of a cutting edge science center built right before the fall of the USSR. A huge campus with dreams of conducting advanced research: but now abandoned and empty. I would hope investors would buy this book and scout out these areas of empty real estate. There is a fortune to be earned by purchasing these lost properties and rennovating them for modern use. Investors shoild try to save the history, but some areas are so large - they may need split up into businesses, apartment buildings, and shopping centers. If you love architecture, or love history, or just enjoy photography and grwat story telling - Buy This Book !

I like to collect books about architecture - and especially those on Brutalist architecture. Many building of that design were built in the Soviet Union. Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture that was popular from the 1950s to the 70s - usually constructed out of huge amounts of concrete and steel. The J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington is an example of the style - a bit conservative compared to the designs of the buildings in this book. This book is one that I've lusted for over the years and wanted for my collection. I finally broke down and purchased it last year. And it is worth every penny I spent. The book is filled with incredible photographs of beautiful buildings. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this style of architecture. As the old saying goes - they don't make them [buildings] like that anymore. This is a huge book,10.5"x13.5"x1.25" thick. Hardback but with no dust jacket, instead the cover is colored printed. It was published by Taschen. The book is broken down into five chapters: 1. Entertainment and Culture - Variations on Monumental Lyricism 2. Science and Technology - Power and the Dramatization of the Future 3. Sports and Youth - The Architect's cosmic Dream 4. Health and Resorts - From Seaside Phalansteries to Hidden Villas 5. Rites and Symbols - Theatricality as a Vector of Emotion Plus, there is a forward by Paul Smith, and an introduction by Frédéric Chaubin.

This is the most unique book - great gift for artists in your life, or anyone fascinated with Soviet era history. The combination of fabulous architecture and the air of decay of many of the buildings captures the time period better than any other medium I've seen. Peek behind the Iron Curtain - you won't regret it.

I think the use of "cosmic" in the book's title is used just to havea word beginning with "c" to fit in to "CCCP", even if that Russian "C" is the equivalent of an English "S". The books covers buildings in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries--more than buildings in Russia. There are some extreme bits of design on display here and the trick is to try to figure out if it's representive of a Russian/Soviet sense of what's beautiful, or if it's just bad taste by any standard. And not all of the buildings are outrageious, many seem like fairly plain bureaucratically-designed structures. On the other hand there are some decent understated but nice buildings in the Baltic states. Butgenerally there are plenty of architectural fantasies made real. I particularly like the building that appears to have taken its cue from some of El Lissitzky's visions.

I really like the aesthetics of the architecture displayed in the book. The book is full color with large detailed pictures. The photos showed off the great buildings in the Soviet Union. I'm no expert but it was worth the $40 bucks I paid. The photos in the preview don't do the book justice as the photos in the preview were not near the best in my opinion. The book is thick and the pages glossy. The whole book is a work of art that encapsulates the soviet era.

On each page, you receive what you pay for: large photographs that are well composed with a decent amount of supporting text. (Every page is almost completely covered in images) As an architecture student, I often referred to this book for some base point ideas for designs or circulation or program elements during studio and it really did aid my design style to see so many different pieces of architecture (the book is far from one note regarding architecture, even though it does have a brutalist-modernist focus). I believe this book to be a good volume for any architect's private collection.

Great illustration on Soviet Architecture in former soviet republics and Russian Federation. The book has a very good foreward explaining the soviet style of construction and a little history. The pages superbly glossy and very captivating photography.