Dacha. The Soviet Country Cottage

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 ‘dacha' 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 ‘dacha' 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.