Abstract
What was a workers' club? What was its purpose and vision? How did it manifest itself spatially and formally? These are some of the questions that this paper addresses through the historical and architectural analysis of the Soviet workers' clubs.It looks at the complex phenomenon of the workers' club from a number of viewpoints. Starting with the idea of club as ‘life itself’, the paper examines it as an instrument of the Proletkult and traces this radically new typology, which aimed to become both a ‘second home’ and a ‘church of a new cult’. It addresses the ideological and educational role of the workers' club as a ‘school of communism’. It analyses the architecture of the club, from its dynamic form to its agency as a multifunctional ‘social condenser’. Finally, it challenges the outcomes of the workers' club as embodied ideology—a paralysed condenser, resistant to transcending the utopian aspirations of the era that brought it to life.
Published Version
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