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“Khrushchevki” – an attempt to solve the housing problem in the USSR

Khrushchevki, an urban housing initiative of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, was designed to solve the housing problems the USSR was facing at the time. The initiative saw the construction of millions of flats, most of them multi-storied and made from brick and concrete. The flats had distinct advantages, such as providing better living conditions for citizens, reducing transit times and offering a modern living environment. The initiative was a success at the time, greatly improving living conditions and even coming to symbolise a period of change and movement forward for the country.

“Capital of Culture” has 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 appears (the authors of the project are architect Alexander Vasiliev and engineer Zinovy Kaplunov). Assembling the building took 79 days, including finishing works – 102 days. The layouts of the apartments in this building are not like the well-known “Khrushchevs” – they rather resemble “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 are separated, and even the entrance doors to each apartment are made of oak. The technology was worked out and ready for mass construction, but Khrushchev considered the project too expensive. The Leningrad bosses at one time considered the experiment successful, and in the Nevsky District, the construction of the first large-panel blocks of standard development in the USSR was already in full swing..

Different series of Khrushchevs were designed, which had many similar features, only slightly differing.

General characteristics are laid down in SNiPs of 1957. According to these standards, the 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 checkpoint and lead, including to the kitchen.

The living area of ​​a one-room apartment was 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” everything that could be. The houses were built on five floors, which made it possible to reduce the thickness of the bearing walls. Refused the elevator, a person can go up to the fifth floor without harm to health; removed the attic and the garbage chute, narrowed the flights of stairs, reduced the height of the ceilings. The people joked that Khrushchev connected the toilet to the bathroom, but did not have time to connect the ceiling to the floor. Some projects lacked balconies. Kitchens were designed miniature from 5 to 7 sq.m., tenants had to dine in turns – such apartments were settled on the basis of “the number of people in the family minus one”; small hallways, a toilet combined with a bath (often a sit-down bath was used), walk-through rooms. There is an opinion that such rooms were created in order to prevent the settlement of several families and the recreation of new communal apartments..

Quite unusual was the construction in the kitchen of the so-called refrigerator cabinets for storing food in the winter season. The wall of such a cabinet on the outside was half a brick thick, and in winter frost often formed near it (see photo below).

Khrushchev

The material (expanded clay concrete, aerated concrete) used in the construction could not provide either good sound insulation or sufficient heat in the apartments. In addition, the building materials from which the houses of the GI series were assembled showed a significant content of asbestos, which is unsafe for human health. The partitions in the rooms are so thin that it was impossible to hang heavy bookshelves or kitchen cabinets.

The tightness of apartments – “Khrushchev”, was more than compensated by rather spacious courtyards, often densely planted with greenery.

For a Soviet person, 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 in the USSR, more than 13 thousand residential buildings were built, and almost all of them were five-story buildings; Housewarming in “Khrushchev” was celebrated by about 54 million of our compatriots. Today they house 5.8 million apartments. In Leningrad in the “Khrushchev decade” about 10 million square meters were built. housing. In St. Petersburg there are about 2,400 houses of the “old panel”, as realtors usually call five-story buildings of the early series. More than 600 thousand Petersburgers live in these houses today..

The future of Khrushchev. Renovation

Even Khrushchev began to worry about the fate of houses under construction. Housing, although it was erected in the shortest possible time, but all this was done in a Stakhanov’s haste, which was quite detrimental to the quality, and the overrun of the city budget was 20%.

Khrushchev proposed to build on the houses with four or five floors, to mount an elevator.

Initially, “Khrushchevs” were built on the basis of a service life of 25 years, as temporary housing, which will gradually be replaced by more convenient and comfortable ones. But, as they say, there is nothing more permanent than temporary. Current research suggests that with proper overhaul and maintenance, such houses can last another hundred years..

Gradually, the requirements for the quality of design 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 – I half of the 70s), the industry switched to new standards: the number of storeys in residential buildings increased, the comfort of apartments improved, standard designs of large-panel buildings with a height of 9, 12 and 16 floors were developed. They were distinguished by more convenient planning solutions, a floor height of up to 2.8 m, new engineering and technical life support systems.

But, unfortunately, the base remained the same – the panels let in a lot of heat, since they were single-layer. Quite a primitive layout of apartments and common areas. From the street you got straight into the stairwell, there was no lobby. The roof gave a lot of leaks and freezing. Today, all these 9- and 12-storey buildings are subject to major repairs..

But today “Khrushchevs” are very outdated both morally and physically, often becoming simply dangerous for residents. The deterioration of these buildings requires reconstruction. To solve this problem, houses are being resettled and demolished, in the place of which new ones will be built. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, whole programs for the renovation of Khrushchev buildings have already been put into operation. In St. Petersburg, the company “SPb Renovation” signed an agreement with the city until March 2019 for the construction of at least 7.2 million square meters. housing, of which 35% will be provided for the resettlement of “Khrushchev”.

The company “SPb-Renovation” said that the experience of Moscow was used in the preparation of the project. They also studied the experience of Europe, where in the post-war period, due to the rapid growth of population in cities, there was an intensive construction of houses of mass series. In France and Germany, renovation began over 30 years ago. At the present stage, low-rise panel construction is the 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 primarily due to their economy, and in addition to the low volume of waste that pollutes the environment. Therefore, outstanding architectural bureaus from Sweden, France, and Great Britain worked on the concepts of territorial development. After all, we are talking exclusively about the integrated development of territories and you need 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.

Renovated five-story building
Germany. Renovated five-story building, the prototype of our “Khrushchev”

In Germany, for example, panel houses are dismantled, panels are crushed and used for road construction. With a compacted development, two out of five houses are demolished, and the territory is landscaped.

In Moscow, the process of resettlement began earlier than in St. Petersburg, has been going on for more than 15 years and is much more intensive, since, according to experts, a series of K-7 was adopted in the capital, the houses of which were distinguished 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 rehabilitation of the old “Khrushchev” house costs 25 million rubles, which is more expensive than the construction of new housing. Therefore, we decided that this was not an option for a massive renovation..

According to renovation projects, the reconstruction is carried out in a rolling way: new housing is built, residents move from old houses to new ones, old housing is demolished, and a new one is being built in its place. Now in St. Petersburg it is planned to demolish “Khrushchevs” with a total area of ​​500 thousand square meters, where it is also planned to erect, in addition to new buildings, covered parking lots and open parking lots.

In the regions, modernization is taking place more slowly than in the capitals, the demand for “Khrushchevs” remains, and residents are trying to independently solve the problem of reconstruction and improvement of living conditions, by demolishing partitions, visual expansion of space.

“Khrushchevs” once helped thousands of families to leave communal apartments and barracks.

They are quite cheap and affordable housing, serve as a launching pad 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 of almost business class, the footage will be larger, but the price is also higher. That is, the visitors, and the townspeople, will not have a launching pad. In today’s economic situation, cheap housing is essential. We have 10% of low-level housing. In the process of renovation, it will not become, which in turn will affect property prices.

Most likely, prices will rise. How hard it’s hard to speak now.

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Comments: 2
  1. Rhiannon

    Were the “Khrushchevki” successful in solving the housing problem in the USSR, or did they create new issues?

    Reply
  2. Nova Reed

    How successful were the “Khrushchevki” in addressing the housing crisis in the USSR? Did the attempt to provide affordable housing for the population have any long-term positive impact on their quality of life?

    Reply
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