workersunit 2
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workersunit 2 *
Soviet-era architecture has seen a surge in popularity on social media, with brutalist aesthetics and their decaying remnants trending in picturesque depictions and renderings shared around the world.
The skybridge became the second mesmerising encounter I had with old Soviet-era workers' housing during our Caucasus road trip. Stumbling upon this building in a district north of Tbilisi was captivating—not just because of the sheer coincidence, but because I realised that the popular retro-/Sovietwave aesthetics actually cannot be found in reality, but only in dreams and fantasy.
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Constructed in 1976, these buildings are situated on challenging terrain of the Nutsubidze Plateau in the north of Tbilisi, Georgia. The skybridge serves as vital infrastructure for the surrounding neighbourhood, connecting the upper road on the hillside with the down town university area via an elevator in one of the buildings. This elevator operating between ground floor and skybridge costs 20 Tetri per ride.
The residents themselves have separat elevators again, which cost them 10 Tetri per ride. The buildings accommodate one-, two-, and three-room apartments, but each building was in varying states of repair. The first tower exhibits severe dilapidation, with non-functional elevators, missing doors, a crumbling staircase, and conspicuous holes in the walls. It appears to have been scavenged for valuable materials, maybe also resembling a spare parts repository for the other buildings.
