Commission for the book, The Architecture of Communism

The Architecture of International Communism' is the world’s first illustrated study of architecture, public monuments and infrastructure projects developed in response to Marxist-Leninist ideology. Through first-hand research, archival sources, and photography commissioned for the book, it will preserve for posterity a previously overlooked phase of recent architectural history.

Among the 70 case studies, the book will feature three physical developments built in Estonia between the Soviet annex of the Baltic States (1945), and the collapse of communism (1991). They include Sillamäe, a 'closed' new town, built to develop the Soviet atom bomb - even Estonians were not aware of its existence until 1990. In stark contrast to the late-Stalinist classicism of Sillamäe is the Song Festival Complex in Tallinn (1957). Regarded as one of the landmarks of the 'Soviet Thaw', led by Kruschev, the Song Festival Complex featured feats of engineering unknown in the West. The final case study is the 1980 Olympic Regatta Centre in Tallinn, whose determinedly distinctive composition reflects the growing uncertainty of the Soviet regime, and the Estonian's parallel urge for independence.

The book will be published by the Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, in 2008.
A touring exhibition will coincide with publication.