Elite recreational complexes built for the communist elite in post-war Eastern Bloc through the lens of the past and present.
The project analyses the origin and ambiguity of recreational architecture built for the ruling class in the communist period of Eastern European states as part of the Eastern Bloc. The problematic comes from the ambiguous concept that in a system that promotes a classless society where every citizen has equal access to goods and opportunities actually has a privileged class called the ‘nomenklatura’ who lived in better conditions than the majority of the population. This manifested also in the way of recreating as sanatoriums which in communism was the preferred system to get the working society healthy and rested, were divided in examples for the masses and examples for the elite. These facilities built for the ruling class are modernist icons that were inaccessible to the public and were built in remote locations that have special natural sources such as mineral water, clean air and healing mud.
The typology is based on the principles of the rehabilitation facility – sanatorium. The research follows their development as a tool for hygiene and health during the outbreak of tuberculosis in the beginning of the 20th century. Later, during the Cold War, the same typology became the facility for the programmed recreation in the Eastern bloc for the proletariat and the elite alike. Through an overview of the development of each case in the collection a reactivation strategy based on the adaptation of their originally intended function to serve the public is investigated.
How can we re-narrate the traumatic past through fixing the deteriorating present condition with a future use?
