On the banks of the Volga, in the heart of Russia, Togliatti stands out as one of the most ambitious ex-novo urban creations of the second half of the 20th century. The construction of a colossal hydroelectric dam by Gulag prisoners, followed by the AvtoVAZ automobile factory (manufacturer of the Lada brand) in cooperation with Fiat engineers, and the accelerated development of a completely prefabricated new urban center: a city that sprang up from the ground through constant improvisation, Togliatti serves as a laboratory for Soviet methods—transforming a virgin territory into a vast site of industrial production and urban development. Signed in 1967 by Boris Rubanenko, the master plan was also the USSR's response to Le Corbusier's project for Saint-Dié, as well as to Oscar Niemeyer's work in Brasilia. The impact of power on urban development, Russian construction systems, biographies of architects and engineers whose destinies were marked by either consecration or disgrace depending on changes in leadership: the exploration of archives has made it possible to reconstruct how the Soviet regime, under Stalin, Khrushchev, and Brezhnev, intended to create a new world. Between reminiscences of the innovative constructivist spirit, classicizing Stalinist triumphalism, and the mass architecture of the Brezhnev era, Togliatti sheds vivid light on little-known yet significant aspects of 20th-century architectural history.