No. 62-63 (2022): Rural modern. Themes and context
Articles

The Rural Social Condenser. The collective farm of Nākotne as an asset and a challenge

Yuliia Batkova
Politecnico di Milano
Bio
Laine Nameda Lazda
Politecnico di Milano
Bio
Nakotne

Published 2023-03-29

Keywords

  • Collective farm,
  • Rural architecture,
  • Complex buildings

How to Cite

Batkova, Y., & Nameda Lazda, L. (2023). The Rural Social Condenser. The collective farm of Nākotne as an asset and a challenge. FAMagazine. Research and Projects on Architecture and the City, (62-63), 157–165. https://doi.org/10.12838/fam/issn2039-0491/n62-63-2022/947

Abstract

Currently, the Soviet regime and the collective lifestyle can be seen only through the retrospective. The strong physical facts of these practices lost their meaning and utility, however, continue to dominate the present materiality of the Post-Soviet context. The article questions the successful example of Soviet collectivist architecture in the context of the relevant discourse over the complex built form. Nākotne (Latvia) is an exceptional case of the Soviet collective farm, where the contribution of the chairman and chief architect broke the neutrality between the Soviet ideology and the formal design through the innovative vision. Specifically, the Sports and Culture Centre of Nākotne is analyzed as a social condenser, which can be considered both a challenge and an asset for the issues of contemporary architectural discourse.

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