As seen in The Guardian House & Garden and designboom Dachas ¿ countryside houses built from
wood ¿ are largely unknown outside the post-Soviet states. Photographer Fyodor Savintsev has
documented these important architectural forms creating a unique record of a vanishing world.
A `dachä is a country house made of wood used by Soviet citizens to escape the rigors of the
city for rural idyll. Widespread in the countries of the former USSR this important cultural
and architectural form has been largely ignored academically. In Dacha Fyodor Savintsev
documents this particularly Russian phenomenon his photographs constitute a unique record of a
rapidly vanishing fairytale wooden world. The word `dachä has been used to describe
constructions ranging from grand imperial villas to small sheds. Originally bestowed by the
Tsar to reward courtiers this custom continued following the revolution with Soviet
cooperatives building dachas for their members. Supposedly for the benefit of labourers in
reality they were destined for those favoured by the State including famous writers
architects and artists ¿ from Pasternak to Prokofiev. The fall of the Soviet Union accelerated
their use as economic uncertainty forced city dwellers towards self-sufficiency. The dacha
tradition has survived Revolution war and the collapse of Communism becoming an integral part
of life in the process. Using contemporary photographs to showcase these uniquely individual
buildings for the first time alongside an introduction explaining their historical and
cultural context Dacha is the only publication of its kind.
