Christina E. Crawford | Speed, Scale, and Standardization: Thoughts on State Intervention in Architecture

Using examples from two early twentieth century contexts — the Soviet first Five-Year Plan and the American New Deal — this lecture considers the implications of strong state intervention into the built environment. In both cases, the national government served as landowner, client, and contractor, which enabled early Soviet and Depression-era architects and urban designers to design projects of massive scale at lightning speed. In the USSR, the enormous Kharkiv Tractor Factory (KhTZ) and New Kharkiv, the so-called socialist city to house its workers, was built between 1930 and 1931. In the US, Roosevelt’s PWA Housing Division built the racially segregated Techwood Homes and University Homes. Like their Soviet cousins, these building sites served as models for subsequent public housing projects built throughout the US. Focusing on the measures of scale, speed, and standardization, this lecture prods at the benefits and pitfalls of a heavy governmental hand in architectural production.

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies, Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (OWNER)

Contact the organizers