Palace of Culture of the Railroad Workers - Chisinau

Gear forms, wrench-shaped columns, and double bands of brickwork encircling the upper levels of the main block carry an industrial vocabulary throughout the Railway Workers' Palace of Culture at the junction of Decebal and Gagarin Boulevards. Semyon Shoikhet, Adam Yegishin, and Tatiana Lamova completed the building in 1980, with the complex sitting at a formal boundary between the constructivist tradition and the postmodern tendencies beginning to appear in Moldavian architecture at the time. A curved footbridge elevated on gear-shaped columns connects the main concert hall block to a secondary structure, and the ventilation shaft grids on the main building continue the industrial motif across the facade. The stair tower is accented by a row of columns whose detailing suggests the form of a wrench. The main hall has a capacity of 380 people and is used for concerts, cinema screenings, and public conferences. The secondary structure contains a dozen rooms for workshops and clubs, two libraries, and two gyms. Between the two buildings, a network of footpaths surrounds a circular fountain at the centre of the landscaped area, featuring an abstract sculpture by Victor Kobzar known as the "stylised flower." The complex was developed by the Moldgiprostroy Institute and replaced an earlier Palace of Culture that had been operating on the site since 1973.