When buying an apartment, you should pay attention not only to its price, but also to the layout. Special attention needs to be given to the bedroom - it’s good if it is as far away from the front door as possible. With this arrangement, all extraneous sounds that come from the corridor staircase will not disturb the homeowners. Besides, good decision for the bedroom there will be a niche where you can make a dressing room (if the depth is less than 120 cm, it will be more convenient to make a wardrobe). Now we will look in detail at the typical layouts of apartments in Khrushchev-era buildings and their design options.
One of standard layouts apartments in Khrushchev
Five-story project houses, called “Khrushchev buildings,” first appeared in the mid-1960s. At that time, there was an acute problem of housing shortage in cities, but thanks to the developed method of prefabricated buildings, this issue was resolved. Just a few months - and the house of several floors is ready! It was built from ready-made blocks, which is why they were called prefabricated. With the new type of construction came changes in the designs of city blocks. At the same time, an entire infrastructure was planned. Each microdistrict immediately built its own children's institutions (schools, kindergartens, shops, etc.).
Standard 5-story Soviet era house Layout of a one-room apartment in Khrushchev
In the apartments of the 60s, of course, not everything was convenient: small kitchens - 6-7 square meters. m, adjacent rooms, combined bathroom. In addition to all this, there are also rather low ceilings, ranging from 2.45 m to 2.55 m in height. If you do become the owner of such a rarity, then there is no particular cause for concern, since today there are quite affordable ways to turn the disadvantages of this apartment into advantages.
With the help of practical ideas, you can transform your “grandmother’s inheritance” into a comfortable and cozy corner. Let's consider the simplest one-room apartment.
Standard layout studio apartment in Khrushchev In a Khrushchev-era apartment with one room, it will not be possible to arrange a separate bedroom. Unfortunately, the room will be multifunctional: a living room, an office, a bedroom, and even a nursery. It is also better to refuse beds and bedside tables. But how then can you make such a room cozy and at least more or less comfortable?
Indispensable assistants in such a home will be transformers, which were widespread in the same 60s.
The most popular is the sofa bed, which has the most various forms: “book”, “folding bed”, sofa beds with a pull-out mechanism and folding sides. But unconditional leadership must be given to the hyper-transformer sofa. Almost everything that is in it bends down - you can easily remove the backrest, armrests, pillows, etc.
Read also
Kitchen-dining room layout
Transformable sofa In addition to such multifunctional sofas, you can’t do without sliding tables, racks and light shelves different types. Sliding doors would also be a good solution. Here, perhaps, is the entire main range of furniture for apartments of a similar layout.
Simple extendable table The relatively small area causes a lack of space in one-room apartments, and even more so in our Khrushchev-era apartment buildings. You will have to make an effort to free up every centimeter of living space. You can resort to such a technique as increasing the area of the room or bathroom and kitchen by expanding the corridor.
By glazing and insulating your balcony, you can create a very comfortable place. It would be even better if this area became residential according to a pre-developed and approved project. You can place there, for example, a chair-bed.
Design example one-room Khrushchev apartment Layout of a two-room apartment in Khrushchev-era buildings
Owners of “Khrushchev” apartments with two rooms in the house were luckier. There is already a personal area there, which can be a full-fledged bedroom.
The balcony can be converted into an office, and if cash allow, then it is better to increase the area (not forgetting the need to develop an architectural project to increase the balcony and get it approved by the necessary authorities). Thanks to this method, you can get additional footage of the working area. If the balcony is left unglazed, then you can make a separate exit from the kitchen.
Two-room "Khrushchev" apartments have different types layouts: “vest” and “tram”.
Layout two-room Khrushchev apartment"vest" type The drawing shows the most convenient arrangement of furniture, although even in this form there is very little free space left. It is for this reason that a balcony can significantly alleviate the problem of lack of space. If it is insulated, then the missing meters of housing will also appear, on which, if desired, you can place something else ( dressing table, place to work, etc.).
Interior design project for a 2-room Khrushchev house With a bedroom size of 2.40 x 5.50, the “tram” type can accommodate a double bed. Only all this will cause some difficulties during cleaning and easy movement. An excellent solution with this type of layout would be a constructed podium with full drawers for storing linen and bedding. Lamps on the floor on the sides of the mattress will look good.
Standard series of residential buildings are types of houses of mass series, built in the cities of the USSR and in some Warsaw Pact countries, and are the basis of the architectural appearance of many residential areas of these cities. According to construction technology, serial houses are divided into panel, block and brick.
- Story
1.1 USSR
Story
Due to political, ideological and demographic reasons, the period of Khrushchev’s “thaw” was the first in the history of Soviet planned economy, when, along with the development of heavy industry, a significant increase in the production of consumer goods and everything related in one way or another to the needs of people was expected, rather than the military-industrial complex and resource-consuming raw materials industries.
The thrown slogan “Catch up and overtake America (in production...)” indirectly testified to the recognition by the Soviet leadership that the level of economic development lagged behind the most developed countries (although in official propaganda they continued to be considered “decaying” and doomed economic formation). The lag concerned the quality of food (per capita consumption essential products, primarily meat), living conditions, the ability to purchase certain durable goods (household appliances, etc.), transport mobility (level of motorization, development of rail and air transportation), etc.
USSR
Since the early 1960s. housing construction in the USSR was based on industrial housing construction - the construction of microdistricts from 5- and 9-story serial panel houses. This reduced the cost of construction and made it possible to increase the supply of housing, and also made it much more comfortable than communal apartments, already because from now on each apartment was designed based on the occupancy of one family, and not several. Simultaneously with the construction of large-panel houses, mass-produced houses made of “blocks” began to appear - the same panels, but not the entire wall.
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In the USSR, cinder block “Stalin” buildings became the harbingers of the coming mass construction based on industrial blocks and panels. The architecture of these buildings is utilitarian, there is no decoration, unplastered sand-lime brick for the external walls, almost flat facades with standard stucco decoration. The first four-story frame building in the USSR panel house built in 1948 in Moscow on 5th street. Falcon Mountain (G. Kuznetsov, B. Smirnov). Currently, his address is Budyonny Avenue, 43. At this time, the country's leadership set the builders the task of creating the cheapest possible residential building project with the possibility of family occupancy (that is, with separate rather than communal apartments). The first stage of accomplishing this task was the introduction of the idea of industrial panel housing construction with a load-bearing frame. In 1948-1951, M.V. Posokhin, A.A. Mndoyants and V.P. Lagutenko built a block in Moscow (Kuusinen and Sorge streets) with 10-story frame-panel houses. In the same year, a project for a frameless panel house was developed (built since 1950 in Magnitogorsk). In 1954 in Moscow on 6th street. October Field a 7-story frameless panel house was built (G. Kuznetsov, B. Smirnov, L. Wrangel, Z. Nesterova, N. A. Osterman). Khrushchev buildings, the design of which had been carried out since the late 1940s, went into production after the historical decree of 1955 “On the elimination of excesses in design and construction” (“the externally ostentatious side of architecture, replete with large excesses”, characteristic of the Stalin era, now “does not correspond line of the Party and the Government in architectural and construction matters. ... Soviet architecture should be characterized by simplicity, rigor of forms and economical solutions"). The ideological and scientific justification for the new course boiled down to the following points:
The turning point was the resolution “On measures for further industrialization, improving quality and reducing the cost of construction” of 1956 and “On the Development housing construction in the USSR" 1957. The party's task to builders was to develop projects by the fall of 1956 that would dramatically reduce the cost of housing construction and make it affordable for workers. This is how the famous “Khrushchev buildings” appeared. The goal of the project was that in 1980 every Soviet family would meet communism in a separate apartment. However, by the mid-1980s, only 85% of families had separate apartments: in 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev pushed back the deadline by 15 years, putting forward the slogan “Every Soviet family - a separate apartment by the year 2000.” In 1959, the 21st Congress noted the existence of the housing problem and called the development of housing construction “one of the most important tasks.” It was envisaged that in 1959-1965. 2.3 times more apartments will be delivered than in the last seven-year period. Moreover, the emphasis was on individual rather than communal apartments. The prototype for the first “Khrushchev” buildings was the block buildings (Plattenbau), built in Berlin and Dresden since the 1920s. The construction of Khrushchev-era residential buildings lasted from 1959 to 1985. In 1956-1965, more than 13 thousand [source not specified 1303 days] residential buildings were built in the USSR, and almost all of them were five-story buildings. This made it possible to introduce 110 million annually square meters housing. An appropriate production base and infrastructure was created: house-building factories, reinforced concrete factories, etc. The first house-building factories were created in 1959 in the Glavleningradstroy system, and in 1962 they were organized in Moscow and other cities. In particular, during the period 1966-1970 in Leningrad, 942 thousand people received living space, with 809 thousand moving into new houses and 133 thousand receiving space in old houses. Since 1960, the construction of residential 9-story panel houses has been underway, and since 1963 - 12-story ones. |
Block buildings under construction
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Technology
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Panel house components, which are large reinforced concrete slabs that are manufactured in factories. In factory conditions, reinforced concrete products are manufactured according to existing GOSTs, so it is assumed that their quality should differ depending on positive side from products produced directly on the construction site. But in reality, at some factories the proper technology is not followed. The construction of a panel house is reminiscent of assembling a children's construction set. Ready-made parts of the structure are delivered to the construction site, which the builders can only install. As a result, labor productivity in such a building is very high. The construction site area is much smaller than what is needed during construction brick house. Such lengthy and labor-intensive processes as installing reinforcement or concreting, which are typical for monolithic house construction, are completely excluded. This is precisely where experts see the main advantage of panel housing construction over other types of construction. The disadvantages of this type are poor-quality assembly of the structure. The sore spot is the interpanel seams, through which, if done incorrectly, wind and water penetrate. Also, panel houses are characterized by poor sound insulation, in contrast to houses with wooden floors and some types of monolithic houses. |
Graffiti on one of the houses |
Seismic stability issues
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Under the same conditions, panel and monolithic apartment buildings and a lot of storey houses in a seismic zone it is preferable due to design features these houses, in which almost all the walls are “load-bearing” and the ceilings are rigidly connected to each other. In such houses, individual elements are less flexible than in frame houses, and they work as a single structure. Houses with reinforced concrete frames and brick walls must also withstand seismic loads, but in such houses there must be reinforced concrete transverse walls (stiffening diaphragms) to give the house stability, or reinforced concrete “stiffening cores”, the role of which is played by elevator shafts and stairs. |
Creating Components |
Typical series of houses
1940s
Since 1947, the USSR Academy of Architecture has been developing a fully prefabricated large-panel dwelling. Frame-panel and frameless houses are being built:
4-5 storeys (Moscow, Leningrad, Magnitogorsk)
8-storey with panels on two floors (Moscow)
1950s
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The height of 5 floors was chosen because, according to the standards of that time, this was the highest number of storeys at which it was allowed to build houses without an elevator (however, sometimes houses with 6 floors were built - with a store on the ground floor). Stalinka:
Since 1957, the construction of panel houses - the so-called “Khrushchev” - began. People began to call them “Khrushchev” for a number of certain inconveniences:
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Brick Khrushchev series 1-447
Brick Khrushchev with a store |
1960s
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Kashtak
Panel Khrushchev series 1-515/5 in Tomsk |
1970s
In 1970, the Unified Catalog of Construction Parts was adopted, on the basis of which further developments were made. standard projects.
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Chertanovo. View from an airplane  House series P-46 in Zelenograd. Number of storeys: 14 |
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Houses in Ziepniekkalns: serial  Ships on the odd side of the street. Ushinsky in St. Petersburg (houses 17/1 and 25/1) |
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1980s
In the early 1980s in Moscow, a series of KOPE (composite space-planning elements) developed under the leadership of architect A. G. Rochegov was proposed, intended for the construction of “buffer zones” between new buildings and protected areas of architectural monuments and areas of mass development, as well as for “revitalization” of established areas. The first houses of this series were erected in 1982 near Vorontsovsky Park. The project provided for the possibility of building houses up to 22 floors. At the same time, standard panel houses continued to be built in many areas of Moscow and other cities of the USSR.
1990s
Ruins of a demolished Khrushchev building in Moscow
The territories of demolished 5-story panel buildings are built up with 17-25-story buildings residential buildings, mainly new series of panel houses. Also continuing to build panel houses of the 88-91 series, from 1995-2002 they began to build brick panel houses with beige polygonal clapboard triangles
2000s
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Heating point (CHS) and
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Construction of a panel house. Series of monolithic houses
Most often, monolithic buildings are erected according to individual projects, but there are also several series of monolithic houses:
- Ear
- Unicon
- Series: III/17
Types of apartments and their characteristics
There are several classifications of apartments. Common abbreviations and their definitions:
- Pg or “Stalin” - Full-sized apartments are houses built before Khrushchev’s housing experiments (Stalinist). They have high ceilings up to 3.5 m, large comfortable kitchens up to 15 sq.m., total area of the apartments: from 110 sq.m. three-room apartments and up to 40 sq.m. one-room apartments The rooms in these apartments are isolated, separate bathrooms, large staircases. The houses are 3- and 5-story, usually brick.
- Khr - Khrushchevkas are 4- or 5-story residential buildings built during the period of Khrushchev’s housing program, when in the post-war period the country needed mass and inexpensive housing construction. Therefore, apartments of a small area were built, quite compact, usually with adjacent rooms, with low ceilings, with a total area of 60 sq.m. three-room, 43 sq.m. two-room and 30 sq.m. one-room apartments, with small kitchens (5-6 sq.m.), combined bathrooms and balconies in some apartments.
- Type. or Art. - Typical or Standard layout of apartments - these are apartments of the next (after Khrushchev's time) generation: ceiling heights from 2.6 m to 2.75 m, total area of apartments from 63 sq.m. three-room apartments up to 33 sq.m. one-room apartments, kitchens 6-7 sq.m., rooms in two-room apartments are isolated, rooms in three-room apartments are adjacent and isolated, bathrooms are usually isolated, there are balconies and loggias. These are 5- and 9-story buildings with a garbage chute and elevators. The bulk of these houses are built from reinforced concrete panels.
- U/P - Apartments with improved layout. As a rule, these are 9-story panel buildings with an increased area of apartments: 69 sq.m. three-room, 53 sq.m. two-room and 39 sq.m. one-room apartments, the kitchen area has also been increased to 9 sq.m., all rooms are isolated, separate bathrooms, there are balconies and loggias. The houses are equipped with elevators and garbage chutes.
- Email - “Elite” apartments, or new generation apartments. They have no restrictions on area and are varied in their layout. Most often, the future owner plans his own home. Stocked big amount services - these are underground garages, a garbage chute, elevators both passenger and freight, pantries and vegetable storage, large staircases, convenient access roads, possible GYM's, saunas, etc.
- Episode 103 - One of the very first, built in all republics of the USSR. The houses in this series are built of red brick and white concrete, the house is 5-storey, usually does not have an elevator, but some houses have a garbage chute and 2 entrances, on each floor there are 3 apartments (on the ground floor there are 2 apartments), on the sides there are 2 3 rooms and in the middle 1-1.5 rooms, a total of 14 apartments for each entrance. There is a loggia (except for those who have a 1-1.5 room apartment)
- Episode 104 - A high-story building, distributed throughout the USSR, but there are not many of them. The house is 16-storey, there is a passenger and freight elevator, and a garbage chute. This series differs in that each apartment has a large loggia along the room and kitchen (similar to the “Small Family”), and a regular window.
- Episode 119 - One of the first 9-story buildings. One of the later projects, along with the 602 series there is an elevator and a garbage chute. In an apartment with 2 or more rooms, there are 2 loggias - one larger, the other smaller.
- 467 series - a 9-story building, there is an elevator and a garbage chute. The entrance design is interesting: there are 4 apartments on each floor, there is a small room separated from the staircase by a wall, the entrance to the floor is through a door (probably to distance the apartment doors from the smell of the garbage chute), an elevator is installed in the room itself. The total number of apartments in each entrance is 36. There is a loggia.
- Series 602 is one of the latest series of low-rise residential building projects (standard - 9 floors). There are 4 apartments on the floor. The project is interesting because the elevator and garbage chute are located between the floors of the staircase. All apartment doors are nearby, which in some cases creates problems for neighbors who want to enter/exit at the same time. In some old buildings, the elevator is located on the very first floor, at the level of the entrance to the entrance; in newer buildings, the elevator is located half a floor above. There is a loggia.
- Small family - the houses are built like dormitories. There are 5, 9, 12 storey buildings. In such apartments there is a very long loggia, stretching to the kitchen and room; most of the apartments on the floor are 1-room; there are only two 2-room apartments on the floor. There is only one entrance to the house. There are a lot of apartments on the floor and they are located like a dormitory. 9- and 12-story buildings are equipped with an elevator and a garbage chute; a 5-story building has only a garbage chute.
- Lithuanian project - (abbr. Litovka) houses, according to the name, were invented in the Lithuanian SSR, distributed mainly in the Baltic states. There are only 5.9-storey buildings, a garbage chute and an elevator are only in high-rise buildings; there are 3.4 comparatively per floor. large apartments(the kitchen, bathroom and corridor in total occupy approximately 14 sq.m.), there is a loggia, the kitchen in all apartments is the same - 6.5 sq.m.
There is probably no person who has never seen a classic Khrushchev building. These houses, consisting of 4 or 5 floors, have a rather awkward layout and a small kitchen and bathroom. However, we should not forget at what time the construction of these houses began. In the 60s it was a real blessing to have such a separate apartment.
Life time
There are two types of Khrushchev buildings - panel and brick. They were mainly erected as temporary structures and had a service life of 25 years. However, many of them still stand to this day, since the service life of these houses is constantly being increased.
Brick structures are stronger and more reliable; according to design data, such a house can last at least 50 years. At the same time, many Khrushchev buildings made of brick had their service life extended to 150 years. Therefore, in small towns across the country, such houses will remain standing for decades to come; there is no plan to demolish these structures.
Short story
It is worth noting that such houses began to be built under Stalin, but in much smaller numbers. The massive construction of these structures began with Nikita Sergeevich coming to power, and it is in his honor that these houses are called Khrushchevka.
The author of such inexpensive and small-sized houses was not the Chief Secretary of the Party or people close to him. The USSR government borrowed the idea from inexpensive houses from the Frenchman Le Corbusier, it was this man who proposed to begin the construction of such small houses in France. After all, this country was almost completely destroyed after the Second World War, and there was no money to build quality houses.
This idea of the French architect was made even more rational in the USSR, so the construction of Khrushchev-era buildings began throughout the country. Moreover, sometimes not only entire districts, but also entire cities were built with such houses. 
Series of brick Khrushchev buildings
There was enough a large number of varieties of these houses. They all had some differences between themselves. In total there are more than 20 series of Khrushchev buildings built of brick. They were built depending on the specific region; the most popular series in the USSR are the following:
- 1-447;
- 1-464 (this house is the most popular in the territory of the former USSR);
- II-07-19;
- 1-511.
House series 1-511
Today, Khrushchev buildings can be seen quite often in Moscow; this series is the most common in the capital, so it is advisable to talk about it.
These five-story buildings are present in almost every district of Moscow; they have been built over the course of 10 years. There are two modification options: early and late, but they differ only in minor differences in ceiling height and brick quality.
It is worth noting that, if we compare other brick Khrushchev buildings with 1-511, then in this series higher quality brick was used. After all, the houses were erected in the capital of a great state. As for the layout, everything here is the same as in other houses: walk-through rooms, a small kitchen and a bathroom. 
Will Khrushchev buildings be demolished in Moscow?
Almost all Khrushchev buildings in the capital are of the 1-511 series and will not be demolished, since they are still in fairly good condition and can last for decades. There are only a few buildings of this model that are subject to demolition, but they are already in an emergency situation.
Regarding the question of whether the brick Khrushchev buildings will be demolished or not, it is quite difficult to answer unequivocally. In April 2017, the mayor of the Russian capital said that they would not be strong. Only those five-story buildings that are in unsatisfactory condition are subject to demolition.
Some buildings will remain as they are at the moment, and local authorities plan to reconstruct some of the houses and add more floors. The strongest structures will become taller, and it is planned to build elevator units in them. Therefore, some of the brick buildings will become modern houses, with new and better quality apartments. Residents of the lower floors will be able to redevelop brick Khrushchev buildings.
Redevelopment of a two-room apartment
Almost all brick Khrushchev buildings have adjacent rooms. One room is still not bad, but the second is very narrow, where a large bed does not always fit. In the vast majority of cases, such houses are suitable for redevelopment, since the apartment has practically no load-bearing walls. However, before this procedure, it is imperative to consult which walls can be destroyed and which cannot. Otherwise, there may be very big problems with the structure.
Usually in Khrushchev-era apartments there is a sit-down bathtub, since an ordinary one simply does not fit. Therefore, the owner of such an apartment is faced with the task of increasing the space so that it is comfortable to live here. The following photo shows a standard redevelopment of a brick Khrushchev building. 
As you can see, the wall between the kitchen and living room was demolished, creating extra space kitchen area, while the living room also became larger and more modern. Living room with sliding doors was separated to create a small work area. You can put a corner bath in the bathroom, which will take up a little less space, but at the same time it will be full-fledged, and not sedentary. As for the washing machine, it is often placed under the washbasin in brick Khrushchev-era buildings. Or you can purchase a built-in model and install it in the kitchen.
In the room where the bedroom is located there is a small storage room. After the redevelopment, this space was enlarged to create a dressing room. The bedroom itself has lost some area, but now there is no need to place a closet, and the room has become more square, rather than long and narrow. 
Conclusion
Khrushchev-era brick houses in the Russian capital are being demolished, but only those that are in disrepair or unsatisfactory condition. Therefore, if you are going to purchase an apartment in such a building, you should understand that most of the five-story buildings are not planned for demolition in the near future.
According to the policy of the city authorities, Khrushchev buildings, built from panels that have already served their time, are currently undergoing massive demolition.
Khrushchev buildings are five-story buildings that were built during the reign of N.S. Khrushchev. Not without brick Khrushchev - series that determine the characteristics of each house.
Such high-rise buildings are notable for the fact that they absolutely lack utility parts such as an attic, a garbage chute and an elevator. Such houses were often built in areas with developed infrastructure and near transport links, and the price of apartments in them is very low.
Construction period
The main construction of such houses was carried out in the period from 1959 to 1985. In Leningrad, the last brick Khrushchev building was completed in the 1970s. Then they were replaced by houses, popularly called “ship houses”.
In general, about 290 million square meters were built in Russia. m of total area, which is approximately 10% of the total housing stock available in the country. Such widespread construction became a stronghold of urban trends, and also significantly improved the living conditions of many people.
Basic parameters of houses
Main parameters of Khrushchev buildings:
- Such high-rise buildings mainly contain one- and two-room apartments;
- The ceiling in each apartment has a height of 2.48 m;
Note!
Apartments in brick houses, starting from the second floor.
After all, their height is reduced by 0.2 m.
- It also contains apartments with a combined or separate bathroom, very unreliable soundproofing of the walls and the absence of an elevator.
Tolerable and unbearable
Unbearable Series
The buildings belonging to the first series were a temporary solution to the problem of the shortage of housing stock. Their operation should not have lasted more than 25 years.
Note!
As practice shows, many of them are still inhabited by guests.
Houses of non-demolishable series have a design life of 50 years. However, studies of such structures conducted a little later showed that their service life can increase to 150 years if major repairs are carried out in the house in a timely manner.
Series and types
There are several series of houses from the time of Khrushchev, according to which a brick five-story building was built: series I-528, II-28, I-513, I-511, II-34, II-14, II-20, Mm1-3.
| Series | Number of storeys | Years of construction |
| 1-528 | 3-5 | 1957-1970s |
| 1-511 | 5 | 1950-1960 |
| II-14 | 4-6 | 1957-1960s |
| II-34 | 5 | 1958-1973 |
| 1-513 | 5 | 1957-1960s |
| II-20 | 9 | 1960-1965 |
| Mm1-3 | 4-5 | 1956-1959 |
Table of series of brick Khrushchev buildings and the years of their construction
Houses series I-528
The I-528 series houses are considered to be of the highest quality:
- such ;
- during their construction, high-quality parquet, paneled doors and precisely fitted window frames were also used;
- after all, the houses have ceilings higher than usual, a height of -2.7 meters;
- however, due to their small living space and characteristic layout, their origin can still be easily determined.
Liquid housing
Often, many series of 5-story brick houses were built as entire microdistricts. Often such houses were built several at a time on the street.
Since then, the courtyards with such houses have been greatly transformed: tall trees and various bush plants have grown in them.
Interior
In Khrushchev's apartments of a small area it is very interesting to carry out even the most original design ideas, the main idea of which is to give as much functionality as possible to a limited area:
- some people remodel the kitchen, combining it with the next room;
- someone demolishes a closet, thereby making the bedroom a little larger;
- someone demolishes absolutely all the partitions inside the apartment with their own hands, turning it into a studio apartment;
- Also, sometimes two apartments are bought at once on two floors of one riser and a single two-level apartment is made.
Thus, according to many residents, Khrushchev apartments are comfortable housing.
Project Features
The first designs of houses from the time of Khrushchev contained references to tiled or slate roofs, but were already distinguished by a characteristic layout. However, at that time there was a widespread campaign against architectural excesses.
The unspoken instructions that party workers followed contained a statement to reduce the cost of building such a house as much as possible. Therefore, all subsequent projects of such five-story buildings already featured significantly cheaper flat bitumen roofs.
For the same reason, any stucco elements or other options decorative finishing, characteristic of Stalin's high-rise buildings, were rejected by Khrushchev's projects.
Khrushchev refrigerator
When you enter the kitchen in an apartment in a brick Khrushchev house, you can see a built-in closet under the window. It is intended for storing food.
Due to the fact that the thickness outer wall in such a cabinet there is only half a brick, and sometimes this wall also contains an eternally open hole; in winter such a cabinet can be used as a refrigerator.
The apartments themselves in Khrushchev-era buildings in winter are characterized by rather low temperatures due to poor thermal insulation of the walls. Therefore, such houses are also popularly called “Khrushchev refrigerators.”
Conclusion
We talked about Khrushchev buildings built of brick. We hope that our information and recommendations will be useful to you and you will be able to choose suitable option apartments. In the video presented in this article you will find Additional information on this topic.
In 1985, only about thirty-five years ago, the construction of 4-, 5-story panel, sometimes brick houses, popularly nicknamed “Khrushchevka”, was stopped. The construction of these houses began during the reign of N.S. Khrushchev with a decree adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, “On the development of housing construction in the USSR.”
Masha Kirikova. Khrushchevka
Prerequisites for construction
In the first decades of Soviet power, practically no new houses were built, cities were overpopulated, and population growth was disproportionate to the growth of new housing. Due to the mass exodus of peasants to the cities and recruitment according to the limit began fast growth urban population, which outpaced the increase in new housing for more than 30 years: in 1956, 48.4% lived in cities. According to the 1939 census, the urban population reached 56.1 million people, and by April 1956 it reached 87 million people. The number of Moscow residents jumped from 2 to 3.6 million; in Leningrad it grew almost as sharply. As a result, the average actual standard of living space per person decreased from year to year. In Moscow in 1930, the average standard of living space was 5.5 square meters, and in 1940 it dropped to almost 4. The housing issue was resolved by relocating and crowding people into confiscated apartments, building “lightweight” housing, i.e. barracks or dugouts. The spread of communal apartments solved the issue of saving: one bathroom, stove, water tap for ten to fifteen families.
Specialists and nomenklatura workers received comfortable apartments with all amenities. Such housing was built on the site of dilapidated houses, the residents of which, if they could not get a room in new houses, were moved outside the city to barracks.
People live in barracks like these
As a rule, such housing was built as temporary. Although many barracks have been preserved, houses without basic amenities, in which people live to this day.
Too few permanent houses were built due to their high cost, and the construction of barracks was limited by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in 1934 “On the improvement of housing construction,” which led to a decrease in the overall volume of construction. In addition, about 70 million square meters of housing were destroyed by the war. Thus, there was a housing crisis that needed to be addressed. The issue of cheap and affordable housing for Soviet people became acute. In this sense, the construction of five-story buildings became a way out of the current situation.
The beginning of the Khrushchev era
N.S. Khrushchev took up the solution to the housing issue. From his trips abroad, he brought back the idea of building low-cost social housing. The Americans began construction back in the 18th century frame houses for migrants. Such houses were easy and quick to assemble. In Europe, the practice of building prefabricated houses began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It became more widespread in Germany in 1925 when the Plattenbau system of prefabricated houses was developed.
Khrushchev combines the idea of the German Plattenbau with the American assembly line construction. The five-story panel buildings developed by Soviet architects reduced the cost of building new housing by 30% by eliminating architectural excesses.
Suburb of Gothenburg
It was after the First World War that the ideas of architectural minimalism and functionality appeared. In 1924, according to Corbusier’s design, a town was built near Bordeaux, consisting of two to three-story houses. This was the first experience of serial panel construction. After World War II, entire residential complexes began to be built in Europe from monotonous standard houses.
At the direction of Khrushchev, a mechanized panel production line was purchased in France; studied the American experience of standard construction. It turned out that houses can be assembled from blocks brought directly from the factory in record time, while carrying out finishing work at the same time. After some time, the first five-story buildings were erected from ready-made blocks around the village of Cheryomushki near Moscow. Then the Cheryomushkin construction experience quickly spread throughout the country. No wonder that a Soviet citizen, arriving in any city of his native country, and even in foreign countries(who, of course, had such an opportunity), felt quite at home (see photo below)
Typical "Khrushchev" buildings in the USSR
The construction of "Khrushchev" buildings continued from 1956 to 1985. Although in Leningrad it was completed in the 1970s, they switched to the construction of “ship houses”. For the period from 1959 to 1985. More than 290 million square meters were built in the country, which amounted to approximately 10% of the current housing stock.
Around the same time, such a unit of urban structure as a microdistrict appeared. This is a collection of residential buildings, a clinic, schools, kindergartens, located within walking distance. This idea has become quite productive and remains relevant today in the construction of residential complexes.
When constructing houses and neighborhoods, certain hygienic standards had to be observed: at least 9 sq.m. per person, proximity (200-400 m) to schools, gardens, social and consumer services, illumination of apartments due to compliance with the maximum permissible distance between houses.
"Khrushchev" with their advantages and disadvantages
At one time, the construction of new panel houses was considered a breakthrough, as it was able to provide housing for many families and resettle communal apartments and barracks. Despite the fact that these houses are disliked for being dull and ugly, they provoked a leap in the development of industry. Factories and plants for the production of panels and floors were built. Neighborhoods grew like mushrooms after rain, thanks to construction technology. The structures were transported directly from the factory, assembled and finished at the construction site. Houses were assembled like whatnot, teams worked in three shifts, labor productivity increased. A typical five-story building was assembled in 12 days, finishing took 30 days. Construction of the house lasted no less than about 50 days.
The “Cultural Capital” always tried to go its own way, and after a few months, in May 1955, in the Nevsky district of Leningrad, on Polyarnikov Street, No. 10, its frameless 30-apartment panel house appeared (the authors of the project were architect Alexander Vasiliev and engineer Zinovy Kaplunov). Assembly of the building took 79 days, taking into account finishing works- 102 days. The layout of the apartments of this house is not similar to the well-known “Khrushchev” buildings - they are more reminiscent of “Stalinist” houses. Most of the spacious rooms are isolated; huge windows - two in each, very high ceilings (3.5 m), a large kitchen even by today's standards (12-14 sq.m), a toilet and a bathroom separated, and even entrance doors in each apartment are made of oak. The technology was proven and ready for mass construction, but Khrushchev considered the project too expensive. The Leningrad authorities at one time considered the experiment successful, and in the Nevsky district the construction of the first large-panel standard building blocks in the USSR was already in full swing.
Different series of Khrushchev buildings were designed, which had many similar features, differing only slightly.
General characteristics are laid down in SNiPs of 1957. According to these standards, an apartment must have a pantry or built-in wardrobe (quite spacious), a bedroom (6 sq.m. for one person, 8 sq.m. for two), a common room (at least 14 sq.m.), which could be a passageway and lead, including to the kitchen.
The living area of a one-room apartment was supposed to be 16 sq.m., a two-room apartment - 22 sq.m., a three-room apartment - 30 sq.m., a four-room apartment - 40 sq.m.
In order to reduce the cost of construction, it was decided to “cut down” everything that was possible. The houses were built on five floors, which made it possible to reduce the thickness of the load-bearing walls. By eliminating the use of an elevator, a person can easily climb to the fifth floor without harming his health; The attic and garbage chute were removed, the stairwells were narrowed, and the ceiling heights were reduced. People joked that Khrushchev connected the toilet with the bathroom, but did not have time to connect the ceiling with the floor. Some projects did not have balconies. The kitchens were designed to be miniature from 5 to 7 sq.m., residents had to take turns to dine - such apartments were occupied on the basis of “the number of people in the family minus one”; small hallways, a toilet combined with a bathtub (often a sit-down bathtub), walk-through rooms. There is an opinion that such rooms were created in order to prevent the settlement of several families and the creation of new communal apartments.
Quite unusual was the construction in the kitchen of so-called refrigerator cabinets for storing food during the winter season. The outside wall of such a cabinet was half a brick thick, and in winter frost often formed near it (see photo below).
The material (expanded clay concrete, aerated concrete) used in construction could not provide either good sound insulation or sufficient heat in the apartments. In addition, the building materials from which the GI series houses were assembled contained a significant content of asbestos, which is unsafe for human health. The partitions in the rooms were so thin that it was impossible to hang heavy bookshelves or kitchen cabinets.
The crampedness of the Khrushchev-era apartments was more than compensated for by fairly spacious courtyards, often densely planted with greenery.
For Soviet people, tired of the cramped barracks and dugouts, these meters became happiness and an opportunity to arrange a personal life without prying eyes.
During the years of Nikita Khrushchev's leadership, over 13 thousand residential buildings were built in the USSR, and almost all of them were five-story buildings; About 54 million of our compatriots celebrated housewarming in “Khrushchev” buildings. Today they contain 5.8 million apartments. In Leningrad, about 10 million square meters were built in the “Khrushchev decade”. housing. In St. Petersburg there are about 2,400 “old panel” houses, as realtors usually call five-story buildings of the early series. More than 600 thousand St. Petersburg residents live in these houses today.
The future of Khrushchev. Renovation
Khrushchev also began to worry about the fate of the houses under construction. Although the housing was built in the shortest possible time, all this was done in Stakhanov’s haste, which greatly harmed the quality, and the overexpenditure of the city budget was 20%.
Khrushchev proposed building houses with four to five floors and installing an elevator.
Initially, “Khrushchev” buildings were built with a service life of 25 years, as temporary housing, which will be gradually replaced by more convenient and comfortable ones. But, as they say, there is nothing more permanent than temporary. The present research suggests that with appropriate major renovation and such houses can last for another hundred years.
Gradually, the requirements for design quality increased. The first Khrushchev series were replaced in the late 1960s. new series of nine-story buildings. During the second period of industrial housing construction (II half of the 60s - 1st half of the 70s), the industry switched to new standards: the number of floors in residential buildings increased, the comfort of apartments improved, and standard designs for large-panel buildings with a height of 9, 12 and 16 floors were developed. They were more comfortable planning solutions, floor height up to 2.8 m, new engineering and technical life support systems.
But, unfortunately, the base remained the same - the panels let in a large amount of heat, since they were single-layer. Quite a primitive layout of apartments and common areas. You walked from the street directly into the stairwell; there was no lobby. The roof had a lot of leaks and freezing. Today, all these 9- and 12-story buildings are subject to major renovation.
But today, “Khrushchev” apartments are very outdated both morally and physically, often becoming simply dangerous for residents. The deterioration of these buildings requires their reconstruction. To solve this problem, houses are being resettled and demolished, in place of which new ones will be built. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, entire programs for the renovation of Khrushchev buildings have already been put into operation. In St. Petersburg, the company “SPb Renovation” entered into an agreement with the city until March 2019 for the construction of at least 7.2 million sq.m. housing, of which 35% will be provided for the resettlement of “Khrushchevkas”.
The SPb-Renovatsiya company said that the experience of Moscow was used in preparing the project. They also studied the experience of Europe, where in the post-war period, due to rapid population growth in cities, there was intensive construction of mass-produced houses. In France and Germany, renovation began more than 30 years ago. At the present stage, low-rise panel construction is most common in Western Europe. The share of panel houses in the housing stock of Great Britain, Finland, and the USA is about 20-40%. Their popularity is explained primarily by their cost-effectiveness, and also by the low volume of polluting waste. environment. Therefore, outstanding people worked on the concepts of territorial development architectural bureaus from Sweden, France, Great Britain. After all, we are talking exclusively about the integrated development of territories and it is necessary to take into account all the nuances: from replacing all engineering communications to creating a harmonious and comfortable living environment in the neighborhoods for hundreds of thousands of citizens.
Germany. A sanitized five-story building, a prototype of our “Khrushchev” buildings
In Germany, for example, panel houses are dismantled, the panels are crushed and used for road construction. In a dense development, two out of five houses are demolished and the area is landscaped.
In Moscow, the resettlement process began earlier than in St. Petersburg, it has been going on for more than 15 years and much more intensively, since, according to experts, the K-7 series was adopted in the capital, the houses of which were characterized by low strength; The service life of these houses is 20-25 years.
In St. Petersburg, an attempt was also made to rehabilitate old housing: the buildings were insulated, modern risers and double-glazed windows were installed. But according to experts’ estimates, the renovation of the old “Khrushchev” building costs 25 million rubles, which more expensive than construction new housing. Therefore, they decided that this was not an option for mass renovation.
According to renovation projects, reconstruction takes place in a circular fashion: new housing is built, residents move from old houses to new ones, old housing is demolished, and new housing is built in its place. Now in St. Petersburg it is planned to demolish “Khrushchev” buildings with a total area of 500 thousand sq.m., where it is also planned to build, in addition to new buildings, covered parking lots and open parking lots.
In the regions, modernization is proceeding more slowly than in the capitals, the demand for “Khrushchev” buildings continues, and residents are trying to independently solve the problem of reconstruction and improvement of living conditions by demolishing partitions, visual expansion space.
“Khrushchevka” once helped thousands of families leave communal apartments and barracks.
They are housing that is quite cheap and affordable and serve as a starting point for many families, as well as visitors, for the further acquisition of more comfortable and convenient housing. According to some experts, renovation projects will provide new housing that is almost business class; the square footage will be larger, but the price will be higher. That is, visitors, and even city residents, will have no starting point. In today's economic climate, cheap housing is a must. We have 10% of lower level housing. During the renovation process, it will disappear, which in turn will affect real estate prices.
Most likely, prices will rise. It’s hard to say how much now.