Soviet-era architecture: beautiful or just plain weird?

The Awl highlights a recent interest in Soviet architecture, focusing on the outlandish buildings that seem to have been inspired by science fiction rather than the drab utilitarian blocks ordinarily attributed to the era of communism. The article features a number of "simply awesome" structures like the delicately latticed Chemnitz Stadthalle (pictured above) and the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technological Research and Development, which definitely looks like a flying saucer plopped...