JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository

Abstract

In my explorative diploma thesis “Socialist Facades Parametrized” I study and try to understand the facades of buildings from 27 countries of the Eastern Bloc built between the years 1954 and 1991.Through analyzing, understanding and parameterizing these facades my aim is to present a logical continuation of the development of architectural language which ceased to exist by the start of the 1990s. This thesis is not meant to propagate any kind of post-communist nostalgia or support any political movement, its goal is to recognize interesting approaches to façade ornamentality and possible uses in the contemporary context. The thesis consists of two equally important parts: the analytical part and the creative part.

The first, analytical part of the thesis is based on the collection, selection, and further sorting of those facades into categories based on geometric similarity. This geometric similarity is then used for exploring parametric possibilities of such facades. The first goal of this thesis is to both learn more about Eastern Bloc’s so-called Socialist Modernism facades (1954–1991) and to change the perception of socialist architecture as just a group of grey boxes by presenting interesting examples. Also, there is my wish to learn more about the visual and general identity and cultural space of the Eastern Bloc.

The second, creative part of the thesis is about the exploration of parametric modeling to create facades inspired by Socialist Modernism facades using parametric tools and their flexibility. An important task in this part is to learn and understand parametric modeling tools and the creation of a parametric generator of facades inspired by Socialist Modernism. Another goal is to explore the facade generator in the everyday practice of building design to experiment quicker. This step goes together with a general understanding of this emerging phenomenon and its use in architecture.

In addition to enriching and developing my current architectural language with historical elements, I hope that my diploma thesis will be a source of inspiration to colleagues too.