DRUZHBA SANATORIUM - A HUGE STOOL THAT RESTS ON THREE LEGS.

In 1980 Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia decided to jointly build a sanatorium in Crimea for the workers of the two countries. Sanatoriums were facilities where Soviet workers could spend their two-week vacation a year. The Czechs wanted their facility to be located somewhere on the Crimean coast. However, in those places there was very little space available as the mountains drop sheer to the sea, leaving only a thin strip of free coast. In addition, the chosen beach was also in an earthquake zone.

In short, building there would have created many problems: the project needed someone who thought in a different, unconventional way. Thus it was that the architect Igor Vasilevsky and the engineer Nodar Kancheli had the amazing idea of creating a structure capable of resting on the ground as little as possible: a huge stool that rests on three legs. From this idea arose what is now known as the Druzhba Sanatorium.

Druzhba Sanatorium - counted in the Brutalist

The building is counted among that group of structures defined as "brutalist". The architectural current of Brutalism had spread rapidly in Britain in the early 1950s in opposition to the style adopted by the British welfare state. It is a style characterized by the attraction for the way of life of the proletariat, the sincere use of materials, especially bèton brut, in the manner of Le Corbusier in the city of Chandigarh in India, and the interest in an expressive articulation of the mechanical structural elements.

These buildings do not simply perform the functions for which they were built: their "image" conveys an important message of prominence and indestructibility: they are "fortified" buildings. As in the case of the Kuparty sanatorium, the concrete mass has a free form and does not consider columns and load-bearing elements as main architectural elements. We are talking about buildings that break the traditional patterns of the past to leap towards a new dimension that aims to enhance the purely artistic side.

The Breathtaking View

We must seek the originality of the sanatorium not only in the shape of its structural elements in the shape of a gear, but also in its ways of access. In fact, it is possible to enter the building only from above, through the roof. On the other hand, those who look at it from below have the impression of observing the mechanism of a gigantic clock.

The breathtaking view of the sea and the characteristic quiet atmosphere created by the naturalistic park that extends all around complete the evocative picture in which the structure is inserted. The sanatorium is still today a health resort that can accommodate more than 500 people who intend to relax and enjoy state-of-the-art comforts and services together with the beauty of the surrounding natural landscape.

All images by Konstantin Antipin ©

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