World domination and town planning in Moscow and Warsaw

(Warning:  this post may contain some educational content and a few mixed metaphors)

May I introduce the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science.  It is the tallest - and the most hated - building in Warsaw.  

Palace of Culture and Science - a gift to Warsaw from Stalin

It is a grand folly of Russian baroque and gothic architecture, and dominates the urban landscape.

As the city's most visible landmark, this building was controversial from the start.  Many Poles loathed the building because it was a symbol of Soviet domination, and that feeling persists today.  

Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955.  It was a gift from the Soviet Union to the people of Poland - whether they wanted it or not. 

But then - keep in mind: Stalin had the upper hand at that time.  He had won the war and for this reason, town planning was a pushover. He had a vision of world domination, and his buildings were to be its embodiment.

As a result, his development applications, no matter how outrageous, were automatically approved.  

There was no need for any environmental impact statements, or studies into its effect on neighbouring buildings, or provision for parking.  

Furthermore, cheap labour for its construction, being the surviving population of a defeated nation, was plentiful.  And as these people were grateful to be alive, OH&S was not really an issue.  

This Warsaw building was one of a set, being the love child of Stalin's skyscrapers in Moscow. 

These were known as Stalin's Seven Sisters, and were a matched set of seven skyscrapers built around Moscow from 1947 to 1953 in an attempt to rival the height - if not the grace - of American skyscrapers.  

Moscow State University's main building stands on a 7m thick concrete slab foundation

However, Russian technology could not achieve the height of American skyscrapers, so they upstaged them with sheer muscle and stodge.

The Seven Sisters were massively over-engineered with steel frames, concrete ceilings and masonry infill, and based on concrete slab foundations.  In the case of one such building, Moscow State University's main building, the concrete slab foundation is seven metres thick. 

Nowadays, these buildings sit fat and graceless in the urban dining room with their elbows on the table and outstaying their welcome.

But like wisdom teeth, they are way too hard to extract.  So the prevailing attitude is: might as well chew on them.

Today, they make themselves useful, being occupied by hotels, government offices or universities.

 

In time, Stalin's name was removed from Warsaw's Palace and Culture and Science, but it was not possible to erase the stain of its past and its testament to Stalin's repression.  

Note:  Hitler also had a town planning vision for Berlin. Among other things, he had drawn up plans - and even cleared the land - for a monumental domed building 16 times larger than the dome of St Peter's.  It would have been the largest enclosed space in the world. 

But Hitler lost the war, so his DA is still pending.