There’s something about this bleak weather that makes the idea of looking at late Eastern Bloc architecture extremely appealing — kind of like listening to weepy music when it’s rainy out. French photographer Frédéric Chaubin’s forthcoming book, Cosmic Communist Constructions, documents the last two decades of the Soviet era; many of the government-commissioned buildings featured in his photographs — scattered throughout Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia — have since been destroyed. Click through to view a gallery of images.

The architecture faculty at the Polytechnic Institute of Minsk, Belarus, and its succession of overhanging lecture theatres, by V Anikin and I Yesman, 1983. Photo credit: Frédéric Chaubin from Cosmic Communist Constructions
11 Shows That Wouldn't Exist Without 'Arrested Development'
Surprising Early, Alternate Versions of Iconic Movie Posters
The 20 Most Beautiful Libraries on Film and TV
The 50 Albums Everyone Needs to Own, 1963-2013


