Creation
Lithuania had been under the soviet regime for half of the 20th century, within that time the Lithuanian people were put through countless forms of oppression from the Soviet Union, from collectivization to in-migration (Lieven 2005). During this period of time, along with the rest of Europe, Lithuania was facing a mass housing crisis, one of the concerning issues that was a result of the Second World War. Lithuania had already been occupied by the Soviet Union, they followed the Soviets implemented solution to the crisis: housing blocks, which in theory worked for many reasons as the regime could put numerous families under one roof into apartments, minimise the spatial elements to a literal minimum and use cheaper methods for construction. The idea of these housing blocks dates back to when Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Soviet Union (1920’s), he devised this idea of communal living, where four to five families would share a kitchen, outside area and would have a private living space that was for sleeping. Lenin also planned to ‘expropriate and resettle private apartments’ take away anything privately owned by the general public, and to put the control to the ‘new’ government. Under this proposal, nobody under the regime was allowed to privately own any land or property (Boym 2009). The first form of communal living was tested on existing properties that were previously privately owned, by the richer citizens were taken away from them and turned into said communal living accommodations. Up until Lenin’s death (1924), this idealised new proposal for communal living
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