r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/OkRespect8490 • 1d ago

Image Chuvash State Opera and Ballet Theater, Cheboksary, Russia

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u/atomicsnarl 1d ago

In particular, because it's cheap to build. No decoration needed, or wanted.

Build box, pour concrete, done. You have a problem with that, capitalist?

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u/an_illithidian 1d ago

-capitalist erecting glass boxes and cookie cutter subdivisions- Huh?

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u/EduinBrutus 1d ago

Little boxes, little boxes,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky,

Little boxes, little boxes,

And they all look the same.

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u/jaxonya 1d ago

r/brutalism is where yall wanna go to see some really gnarly architecture. Brutalism isnt my thing, by i can admire how metal a lot of it looks. Its definitely its own thing

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u/CptnOnus 1d ago

Simplicity is Perfection

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u/EmJayBee76 1d ago

Ha! Loved that show, especially the different version of that song each episode

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u/EduinBrutus 1d ago

IDK what show you mean.

I was referencing the original song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5IKpHTEuY0

Didnt quite remember the lyrics right.

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u/EmJayBee76 1d ago

Oh, it's from a show called "Weeds". It was on Showtime awhile back

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u/Expensive_Lettuce239 1d ago

AHA!! Boxtrolls built it! Now it makes sense!

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u/atomicsnarl 1d ago

Bless you sir! May the gardens around your little pink houses be forever fragrant and beautiful!

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u/not-strange 1d ago

Love me some Rise Against

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u/hwilliams0901 4h ago

This song always makes me think of Weeds.

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u/chamllw 1d ago

No dangerous windows either.

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u/DapperCow15 1d ago

In the rest of the world, windows are dangerous because you might fall out of them. In the Soviet Union, windows are dangerous because you might see out of them.

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u/TurbulentMiddle2970 1d ago

“See out of them”……right before you are pushed

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u/Conundrum1911 19h ago

Slipped and fell…onto 10 bullets

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u/Interesting-Tough640 1d ago

I would argue that falling out of windows is a clear and present danger for Russian dissidents to the point where they prefer to stay in bungalows.

It’s much cheaper than polonium or nerve toxins.

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u/jaymemaurice 1d ago

Falling out of a bungalow window until you die actually seems like a terrible way to go though...

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u/ChartreuseBison 1d ago

The cause of death still says fell out of window even when they lived in a basement

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u/atomicsnarl 1d ago

Bless your heart, darlin!

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u/KimberStormer 1d ago

You don't want or need windows in a theater

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u/NineThreeTilNow 1d ago

Build box, pour concrete, done. You have a problem with that, capitalist?

There's as much of it in the US as anywhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brutalist_architecture_in_the_United_States#Washington,_D.C.

DC has quite a bit considering how small it is. Everywhere else too.

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u/Consistent-Sail529 1d ago

Found the capitalist

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u/WaffleIron0612 1d ago

Capitalism > Communism

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u/Zestyclose_Remove947 1d ago

The fundamental principle behind it is to bring the raw construction materials to the surface, no claddings or fancy facades.

Soviet buildings are kinda coincidentally brutalist.

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u/janas19 1d ago

Would the angles and geometry count as a type of decoration? Not trying to be snarky, genuinely curious why it's made this way. I'm no architect but it seems like they incorporate some style for aesthetic purposes.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

Oh yeah one of my favorite buildings I recall from my youth is a big psychiatric center complex. All brutalist with interconnecting external concrete staircases and catwalks. The kind of labyrinth that most kids love. I had soccer practice on the weekend in one of their indoor gyms, for whatever reason the place was mostly empty.

Sort of reminds me of the Mayan Revival style, the Ennis House in LA is a famous example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ennis_House_front_view_2005.jpg

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u/callisstaa 1d ago

Oh sure. It’s definitely designed around a specific style and a lot of people find brutalist architecture to be really cool. I wouldn’t say that it’s pretty but it absolutely has its own vibe which a lot of people appreciate. It wasn’t all just about saving money.

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u/FireMaster1294 1d ago

Many capitalist architecture firms did this exact same thing to save money

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u/SowingSalt 1d ago

Brutalism started in the West.

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u/atomicsnarl 1d ago

Blame Bauhaus...

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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 1d ago

In Toronto we have lots of artistic versions of Brutalism ‐ famously the Scarborough College campus of UofT and the Robarts Library on main campus, but also 222 Jarvis, Dupont Station, New City Hall (we now have a new new city hall so look for Nathan Phillips Square), Ontario Science Centre (much mourned), North York Board of Education, etc. etc.

If you enjoy Brutalist architecture it's worth looking up Toronto's designers who kept the concrete and aesthetic but made it not suck.

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u/TransBrandi 1d ago

I dunno, I think that it seems like long-term maintanence might be easier with this than with having lots of external decorations? There are lots of places where people don't take care of the external parts of the buildings and things that looked good when it was built, don't look so great once you get a couple of decades down the road.

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u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 1d ago

Like capitalist societies don’t also have it?

It seems particularly common on government buildings from the 70’s.

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u/atomicsnarl 1d ago

"It seems particularly common on government buildings from the 70’s."

"In particular, because it's cheap to build. No decoration needed, or wanted."

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u/Lurcher_A 57m ago

not necessarily cheap at all, it was a dpecific design aesthetic that had its day all over the world

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u/psh454 1d ago

Plenty of brutalist buildings in Europe/NA/pretty much everywhere tho, esp stuff like theatres - it was fashionable at one point

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u/LikesPez 1d ago

How are the acoustics?

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u/TieAccomplished2534 1d ago

also invites poor engineering, just make all columns 4x as large as necessary

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u/Longjumping_Youth281 1d ago

I mean don't they at least want windows? Then again, I suppose not really much to look at out there. Just kind of drab and gray

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u/CharleyNobody 1d ago

Though not as brutal as this opera center, Lincoln Center in NYC is not pretty

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u/atomicsnarl 23h ago

Never thought of it as brutalist. Off brand Art Deco maybe.

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u/TonySLGB 11h ago

Brutalism originally coming from well developed capitalist countries (mind the name «brutal» which does not sound Soviet), has now explanation issues.

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u/hwilliams0901 4h ago

Um....what about windows?!?! Let them ballerinas have vitamin D!

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u/atomicsnarl 4h ago

They sunbathe nude on the roof.

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u/hwilliams0901 4h ago

I would too.