Why was the West so un-aesthetic during the Cold War?

IMO old NYC was aesthetic in its own, gritty way.

Moscow Metro opened 10 years before the Cold War began, that's when all those pretty stations were built. Most of post-Stalin Moscow Metro stations look like picrelated.

Besides, communists completely raped esthetics by plastering brutalist shit and commieblocks everywhere. In almost every major Eastern European city (Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Riga etc), the cool architecture was built BEFORE communism.

>"One entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat."

>Moscow Subway
>1935
>Cold War
>1945

Commies was the absolute madman.

Soviet architecture wasn't just brutalist. Despite all his violence, Stalin had a serious eye for aesthetics.

Kruschev embraced modernist architecture out of fear that the USSR seemed too old-fashioned, when compared to their capitalist rivals who had gone full modernist by the 1950s.

It wasn't a communist thing, it was the global trend against traditional aesthetics.

Modernist architecture is cheap, immediately identifiable, and sometimes easier to envision than other styles. This caused it to sweep the world by storm from the 40s and onward.

Yeah. From 1955 to 1970 was a worst time. They got slightly better after when decided to spent some more money.

Yes, Stalinist architecture is pretty fine. What followed during Khrushev, Brezhnev etc was just pure shit and a downright eyesore compared to the west.

Public housing in the US houses only a tiny fraction of society however, whereas commieblock apartments is where a huge chunk of East Europeans lived. And by huge chunk I mean over 50%.

I don't even know if it is shit or cool.

>Berlin

I'm sorry to break it to you user but that part of Berlin was controlled by communists.

And Berlin is actually good example of what I'm talking about, you can directly see the contract between nice looking West Berlin and the commieblock ghetto that is East Berlin.

I would like to go out like this.

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>1960s soviet couple.jpg
thats a helmut newton photoshoot, i.e. WESTERN FASHION

gj retard

You have to understand. Due to the nationalism and war trauma in the Balkans which preceded the SFRJ, these monuments could not be natural symbols, but abstract ones, to the point where they are just too abstract. They do have a nice aesthetic value i would say.

>nice looking West Berlin

Have you ever actually been there? Alexanderplatz is a fucking trainwreck of modernism and most of the rest is relatively unnotable apart from what was restored from the imperial days. Not saying the East is better, but Berlin is not a good example.

Fuck you, gommie :--DDD

No, fuck you. is right; Berlin is absolute shit.

Still more aesthetic than a suburban hive, desu. Comfy as fuck, as well.

Eat shit, fag. Berlin was arrested and reformed into an absolute cultural and ethnic abomination by the wars and occupation, bot by the east and west foreigners. If you want aesthetics, go to Vienna. Even the dirt poor of the Butthurt Belt is cozier and more aesthetic than Berlin.

I think we can all agree that there are instances where Brutalism looks pretty ok, but for the most part soviet architecture is absolute shit.

To be fair, the 60's and 70's were hideous all-around.

desu that moscow subway is tacky as f u c k

Because they were

You're right for the most part, but I don't know why but I fucking love the feel of 60's and 70's interior design (granted some can be completely ass ugly)

love this one as well, was done by Verner Panton

>Alexanderplatz
East Berlin pham

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and an example of the 60's and 70's turning to liquid shit in design form.

>cherrypicking the picture

Time to cherrypick

Man, half the Germans in those pictures seem to be crypto-Jews.

Propaganda in a nutshell.

>implying Germans didn't do the same

Indeed
Why are Eastern bloc couples so dowdy?
>ynw have young Stamp aesthetics

The Russian avant garde experiments in architecture all died out by the 20s and constructivist architecture wasn't rediscovered until the 70s/80s and reappropriated by the likes of Hadid etc

what the fuck is that thing

That is quite clearly a Commonwealth pattern peaked cap. An Anglo officer and this stylin woman who just watched a Bardot movie.

>implying this look wouldn't land you in front of a moral court in the USSR

Commieblocks are probably one of the most depressing housing units that can exist

I grew up in one

rip

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My God that's what they tore down? We had a metro station that looked like St. Peter's and they tore it down?

I always knew a lot of great stuff was torn down in the 70s but I had no idea that's what the Old Penn station looked like...can someone explain the mindset of that era to demolish stuff like this?

>un-aesthetic

American military in Vietnam was the most stylish in history....

Because oppressive stooges never look cool.

NYC made a heritage protection act right after they demolished this landmark.

People protested, but guys with money paid a ton to the lawmakers and they decided to build the Madison Square Garden stadium over it.

That's why I always cheer when the Knicks lose the game even if I'm a New Yorker.

Good news is that there is going to be a new Penn Station built starting in 2022 because the lease for MSG is going to be over in a few years. I wish they made an exact replica, but designers are going for a new look. This is one concept out of many.

>"soviet aesthetic"
>Helmut Newton photo taken for French Vogue

kek good job you piece of shit

From the 50's and on the government had a race against communism and anything that resembles it, so is logical they tried to stop any thinking that luxury can be a thing of the masses, only the reward of "individuality".

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Everything you said made my teeth rattle

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apparently the architecture was only meant as a kind of set piece to impress foreigners and inhabitants in general. the inside of these type of buildings were absolute shit

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Remnants of the station was dumped in a landfill across the Hudson

>Hippy era
>Definitive period of Western culture and style

The sooner the 60's and 70's fade from living memory the better all of mankind will be.

disgusting...looks like hairy pussies

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

How about this one? Remember, there are dozens of redesign proposals; just Google it.

The problem right now is budgeting, and Democrats want a smaller more practical station while Republicans want a grander station that will be a landmark of NYC like the old station (but it will be tremendously expensive).

Pick your poison.

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i'm a sucker for monumentalism so i'd go with the republicans on this one kek

Not a big fan of the ceiling. That's why the SHOP design was scrapped.

Personally, I wish they just remade the old design. It cannot be surpassed and that's what the people here wants. But politicians made it clear that it has to be "new"

Yeah, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Go big or go home.

Why is everyone here so fascinated by classical architecture? It is impractical, cost-inefficient, pompous and usually lacking in creativity. Do you need fixed cultural symbols (columns, arches, classical statues etc) to understand something as beautiful? Is this all due to nostalgia for a period where Western cultural supremacy was undisputed? If yes, then you should really just get over it, modern architecture is much more liberating and practical than what came before it.

>communist aesthetics

>never been through the NYC subway
some stations are fine as fuck

Grand Central being the obvious one.

1. It's Veeky Forums

2. Your sound like a Cultural revolution shill. "why do we need tradition? Progress is beautiful! Let's destroy half of China's palaces, temples, artwork, and send all artisans to death camps! Yay! China will never regret this!"

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All Chinese citizens were rounded up by Red Guards and forced to burn old books, artwork, and in pic related, crash all family heirlooms such as ceramics.

Also, they'll burn the local temple as a bonus. Cultural revolution was THE worst thing to happen to China in terms of loss in history and architecture.

Red guards were going to burn the Forbidden city and build a huge Mao statue on top of it but the government sent troops to stop them.

Nah, not really, China has turned into a monstrosity the way it has handled capitalism. I'm obviously against ruining monuments of historical importance. That aside, the way everyone here worships classical architecture doesn't take into account how boring it ends up being. Vienna or Munich is great for a week or two, but after that there's not much left to see. On the other hand, Berlin, for example, albeit chaotic at times, has always something new to offer.

Looting and desecrating tombs of old kings

Fair point. I guess it's about taste (not a big fan of anything modern to be honest) and differing priorities (practicality vs muh history).

Classical architecture isn't a monolith; they all have periods and different style. To me, everything modern looks the same, while toy you, everything "classical" looks the same. It's taste.

I'm not 100% sure about the cap, but that's clearly a British army officer's overcoat.

The Red Guard did literally nothing wrong. Moved China from a backwards superstitious shithole to a fairly modernized nation - would have been even better had they gone further.

Power to the people,

It's a photoshoot for Vogue entitled explicitly referred to as "Soviet".

Both the people in the pic are models.

see

>ignoring 60s-80s aesthetic

Smh

No one had better style than the west.

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>Literally the worst incarnation of the US military in every measurable regard
>"""The best"""
WW2 US military is top tier

That looks fucking retarded, everything about it is generic.

Note how he said "style", not "actual effectiveness, discipline, or morale".
>WW2
>not 1990's
baka desu

Is it just me or did China have the worst revolution of any nation?

I was trying to say style by extension there but I guess that didn't really come through. I can see how the military in the 90s was more effective than it was in WW2 I guess.

>never been through the NYC subway

He's obviously a Russian, probably never even left his city and still lives with mamasha in a decaying apartment.

I'm not a fan of all the wasted space in the center. It would feel like the raised the roof on the current station but you're still confined to small walkways. It should be more spacious. If they want to put some lamps, chairs, or some other such divider on the floor to improve traffic flow, that would be fine.