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Standardized Housing: Weapon of Communism and Capitalism

Part 1 Dissertation 2023
Kristiana Genka
Ravensbourne University London | UK
Standardisation within housing design is common across communist and capitalist states. This dissertation explores how contrasting socio-economic regimes have produced visually similar products, finding that in each case, architecture is used as a tool of regime. This comparative visual analysis of case studies in London and Moscow, relies upon socio-political discourse to lend new interpretations of the varied motivations behind standardisation in housing design. The undertaken explorations illustrate that in the communist state, standardization was symptomatic of Soviet ideology. Contrastingly, in capitalist London a direct correlation is drawn between standardized housing units and the financialization of real estate. This analysis reveals that even in contradicting socio-political regimes, the lifestyle of the middle class is impacted by a system’s ideological aspirations.


Tutor(s)
Kristin Dean
Kay Sedki
Hakan Yildiz
2023
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