Cold War Luxury: The Mantling of Concrete Bunkers

Abstract

Camouflaged by nature during the Cold War then abandoned and earmarked by the military for public and private use, concrete bunkers are cultural heritage spaces, which became luxurious follies. By unearthing the front lines in opposing directions, this article will speculate what “classless luxury” was in the Cold War era in the context of mantling of concrete bunkers. Through a brief discussion of Cold War-era bunkers constructed in Albania, the rescued structures and their regeneration of misaligned parts are converted into magnetic-sites for illicit use, multi-media zones or absurd attractors as ruin porn for tourists. Resembling Italy’s vernacular trulli houses strewn across Alberobello, Albania’s bunker surfaces are considered herein as tangible circuitous frontlines that instrumentally camouflage the immediate surroundings to maintain their own structure as renewed mantled landscapes. To understand how the mantling of the concrete bunkers is essential for their conversion into other conservatories/ observatories, perhaps to create new luxury codes for outer space. This inquiry focuses on the origin of how space exploration served as a dramatic arena for Cold War competition to rethink how concrete bunkers have become cultural heritage spaces. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into earth orbit whereby artificial satellites serve as heritage. At that time, the Space Race commenced, and whichever way were trying to conceal and yet express their space superiority. American and Soviet space race were vying for supremacy in the air and to drill the deepest hole in the earth. What struck me first about the Cold War was that Italy’s involvement nearby, especially Albania, was at the centre and since then, there has been the intermittent migration of refugees into southern Italy. I first present a brief overview of the significance of the bunker space and show how this design evolved from other nations and the way luxury evolved differently during the Cold War through various camouflage tactics