Book: Vertiginous Moscow

Gabriele Basilico has turned his architectural eye to the Moscow skyline, documenting the seven Stalinist towers that dominated the city throughout the communist era.

take a look inside Vertiginous Moscow

The so-called 'Seven Sisters' are monumental examples of architectural compromise, their architects cowed by Stalin's murderous whimsy, resulting in a stacked 'wedding cake' aesthetic that, for the most part, totally ignores the aesthetic vitality of Russia's modernist period. 21st century Moscow isn't at all precious about architectural heritage, and although the Seven Sisters are safe from redevelopment, their iconic status has since been undermined by the rash of tower building that characterised the last Russian boom.

Basilico's visual essay offers a rare birds-eye view of a city scourged by heavy traffic and senseless development.

25 February 2009 | Architecture