The Ideas of Comfort in the Soviet Architectural Discourses of the 1920s-1930s

Research Article

Abstract

The article examines the problem of improving housing conditions for Soviet citizens in the 1920s-1930s. The authors note that after the Bolsheviks came to power, immediate attempts were made to improve the living conditions of the working people. Initially, however, the authorities were forced to limit themselves to relocating workers into the apartments of the bourgeoisie. The emergence of communal apartments (kommunalki) led not so much to the improvement in the lives of the masses, but rather to the establishment of social justice in its Bolshevik understanding. The new government was only able to begin creating new housing stock after the end of the Civil War and the rollout of the New Economic Policy. The article examines plans for building garden-cities. Relocating workers from the overpopulated center to green cottage settlements could have improved the quality of life, but the implementation of this idea was a financially unfeasible task. The article presents designs for house-communes, through which it was intended to reshape the daily life of Soviet people, but which had little in common with the traditional idea of comfortable housing. The article addresses the influence of politics, economic priorities, and ideology on the development and implementation of housing projects for the working population. The authors conclude that in discussions about improving the living conditions of the masses, the issue of comfort was at best secondary. Architects were primarily concerned with how to economically address the housing shortage and design new types of dwellings that would contribute to Soviet ideals of social transformation based on collectivist principles. Central to architectural debates were questions of rationalizing the use of living space, hygiene, restructuring everyday life, and aligning housing with modern standards, including references to Western achievements in architecture. The article emphasizes that with the onset of industrialization, resources were directed toward the creation of heavy industry, while funding for housing construction was reduced to a minimum. The majority of Soviet citizens lived in cramped conditions in barracks, dormitories, and communal apartments, where the notion of comfort was not considered at all. Truly comfortable living conditions were reserved for the Soviet elites. The article demonstrates that in the case of “houses for officials” and foreign specialists, architects largely abandoned innovative ideas and designed projects that reflected notions of bourgeois prosperity. Housing for the elite was to be spacious, of reasonable layout, bright, well-ventilated, and finished with natural materials. It is indicative that Soviet architects included quarters where servants would live. Examples of Soviet comfortable housing include the Narkomfin Building, the House on the Embankment, and cottage developments in socialist cities and settlements.