In the OMA book Content, a social condenser is described as a "Programmatic layering upon vacant terrain to encourage dynamic coexistence of activities and to generate through their interference, unprecedented events.

The Constructivist theory that was dictating much of the discourse in Soviet Russia helped to propel this agenda of ideological reform and reinvention, ultimately consolidating the Social Condenser’s position as an architectural allegory for socialist ideals.

For example, Moisei Ginzburg's Narkomfin building incorporated "a communal canteen, gymnasium, crèche and library"[4] in the place of individualised architectural features and services which perpetuate the notion of private life.

However, these characteristics of the Social Condenser presented themselves retrospectively, that is, their constructivist designers did not actively endeavour to incorporate certain structural and stylistic features but rather allowed architectural morphology[5] and a commitment to socialist objectives to guide them.

Despite this ideological promulgation of indeterminate architecture, the Social Condenser did demonstrate some codified spatial features including interplay between centripetal and centrifugal density dynamics, emphatic synergy between private and public space, a reliance on orthogonal forms[6] and finally an utter lack of adornment or decoration to avoid capitalist conceptualisations of needless excess.

Architecture of this persuasion valorised open spaces by opting against dividing walls and private amenities such as personal kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms with a view to minimising individualised existence within a building.

In contrast, an accidental Social Condenser refers to one that was constructed without a guiding modus operandi of spatial and interpersonal theory but rather seemed to have an effect on human behaviour after people were allowed to flow freely through the space.

Pioneered by Moisei Ginzburg and the OSA Group, this architectural concept was shaped by the ideologies and actions of Vladimir Lenin as he sought to enact an agenda of collective upheaval in the decade after the October Revolution.

[9] Ginzburg took Lenin’s view of electrification and wed it to the notions of human movement dynamics and circuitry thus creating the concept of the Social Condenser which it was hoped would “transform Soviet citizens into revolutionary communards”[6] through didactic architecture.

Under a radical socialist agenda to dismantle old hierarchies of class and gender through design, women also gained greater liberty due to the Social Condenser’s eradication of private amenities associated with early 20th-century female domesticity.

Essentially, the Social Condenser sought to develop and codify the emergent Soviet way of life by gearing the human experience at the time towards collective engagement within a world of cultural upheaval in the post-revolutionary period.

By imposing shared existence through the Social Condenser form, the Constructivists hoped to pioneer Lenin’s vision for an advanced society within which human attitudes and beliefs were defined by collective thought.

A pioneer of the Social Condenser, Moisei Ginzburg played a key role in advancing the architectural ideals of Constructivism by founding the Organisation of Contemporary Architects (OSA).

For example, the LocHal Public Library located in the Dutch city of Tilburg was designed by a collective of architects who sought to repurpose a redundant steel locomotive shed with a view to activating multifaceted interactions between people in a physical space.