Possibly one of the strongest arguments against
communism, most
architects in
communist countries seem to be afflicted with a bad case of
mind block, and as a result their works are all blocky
nightmares straight out of
1984,
grey,
boring, and downright
ugly.
A possible reason for this is that all the old architects were sent to the gulag or the laogai and replaced with peasants and uneducated factory workers who probably have the creativity of rotten logs. Since they were all taught architecture by the Soviet bolshevik preachers, every single building looks hideously Russian, large, hollow, and badly proportioned. Examples include China's Great Hall of the People, a monstrous eyesore smack in the middle of Beijing.
Residential districts are even worse off than commerical districts, because the communists argue against the "cult of individualism" and propose that the population act like a hive, united in mind and purpose. The housing projects of all communist nations consist of grey, unpainted concrete laid out with more rigidity than your average suburban neighborhood. Each compound has its hive leader, a communist party member stationed on the first floor to monitor the drones. Not a good sign.
Why do you think all the cities in China and Vietnam are so grey and uninviting? There is no color in the citiscape, just a sea of unpainted concrete.
Communist Architecture: We sacrifice form for a sense of pseudo-socialist homogenous unity. Enjoy our nightmarish dystopia.