There are more photos at the tweet.

Igor Vasilevsky’s classic Druzhba Sanatorium (1978) in Crimea, designed so each room had a balcony view of the sea but privacy from the other balconies.

The building was intended for discreet treatment of Soviet elites, not, as with some Soviet mental health facilities, forced treatment of people considered Undesirable.

Like George Chakhava’s transportation ministry building in Tblisi, Georgia, the Druzhba came from a period where Soviet architects were enchanted with the idea of building on steep land using massive columns to lift the whole structure. Creates a great hovering effect.

it me, in the parallel life where i became an architectural historian but somehow still ended up in Peoria

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  • AcidSmiley [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    3 years ago

    round floorplans for sanatoriums where actually a popular idea at the time. some architects in the 1960s had dabbled with taking a look at sanatoriums while on LSD to better understand what it’s like to inhabit such a structure in altered states of consciousness. they found that circular floor plans meant that a) you could avoid the frightening sight of endlessly stretching corridors where you’re feeling constantly exposed and that b) confused patients wandering around where given the opportunity to “get lost” in a way that was comforting to them while making it easy for staff to find them if need be. so this was put in pracitce and soon caught on internationally.

    ofc what they did with the balconies is a really nice twist on the idea.