Lessons from the Social Condensers

Coined by Constructivist architects of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the term 'social condenser' came to signify the agency of architecture not only in shaping individual behaviours but also in reforming society at large. The buildings and projects conceived as structures for public assembly according to these ideas are some of the earliest radical architectural experiments of the modern movement. Despite their indisputable impact on the canonized history of modernism, there remains little insight into this considerable body of architectural work. The 101 case studies presented here reflect the wide reach of early Soviet social condensers, from agitation installations to workers' clubs, palaces of culture, and mass act theaters spread through the vast state territory from Ukraine to the Urals. These projects serve as precedents for how architecture can activate social function but also as cautionary tales of using architecture as an instrument of state propaganda, social engineering, and territorial control.