this is fugly even by Soviet standards, esp. constrasted to e.g. this one in Moscow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(Moscow)#/media/...

The Seven Sisters aren't representative of ugly mass of concrete Soviet-era architecture though. I'm not sure I'd call them beautiful but they're rather distinctive and they don't jump out as particularly ugly. Wikipedia claims they're a combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles but someone with more architectural background than I may have a better classification.

As the Wikipedia article also notes the Seven Sisters have considerable similarities to icons like the Wrigley Building in Chicago. (Not sure I buy a couple of the other comparisons.)

But Russians sometimes call the "ugly mass of concrete Soviet-era architecture" French style... And well, as a French, I can't claim they are wrong about that :-/

No, Le Corbusier and all that.

Yes, that accounts for one part, the one with ideas behind, a style, a urban and a life project. And then there is the other part, the loosely inspired, derived copies with no real plan.

Not sure which part brought the worst failures :-)

(Who was Swiss.)

Who lived and worked in Paris for most of his life.