Modern, yet Nationally Distinctive? Discussion on the Baltic Postwar Architectural Regionalism

• In Event: Urban and Architectural Identity in the Baltics

Abstract

Interpretation and use of vernacular heritage was rather common to many national movements and revivals, culminating in national styles for many nation states formed after the First World War. The three new European Baltic States Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were no exception, building their national style based on the ethnic “tradition” merged with the Neo-Classical, and later in the 1930s on the functionalism/modernism, yet searching for national distinctiveness. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, the Socialist Baltic Republics were the first to develop a cultural relationship with the West in the late 1950s (after the Khrushchev Thaw) and gained a reputation of leading modernist architecture. This movement was closely connected to the search for a (modern) national identity within the Soviet Union. The 1970s, however, saw a growing number of attempts to preserve regional identity in architecture based on the vernacular. The paper is focused on the postwar modernisation and analyses the strategies of Baltic architects in search for a (modern) national identity within the Soviet Union. The question is discussed whether it was a continuation of the search for national styles started yet in the pre-war National States, or a formation of specific Soviet Baltic regionalism that can be compared to Critical Regionalism in the West. The research is based on historiographical review, material held by the Lithuanian National State Archives (LCVA), interviews with architects in Lithuania, and an overview of the contemporary Soviet press.

Short Bio

Marija Drėmaitė is an Associate Professor at Vilnius University, Department of Theory of History and Cultural History. She holds a PhD in History of Architecture (2006). Her scientific interest is focused on 20th century architecture, Modernism, and heritage of modern architecture and industry. She is involved in Nordic-Baltic cooperation, where she investigates political planning and architecture in the Post-War Soviet Baltic States. She has published a book on industrial architecture in Lithuania in 1918-1940 (Vilnius, Lapas, 2016) and a book 'Baltic Modernism: Architecture and Housing in Soviet Lithuania' (Berlin, Dom publishers, 2017). She has given presentations at various international conferences and published papers on industrialization and modern Baltic architecture.

Author

• Marija Dremaite, Vilnius University