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► Sources (cited)
Owen Heatherly, The Architectural Review, Housing in the Eastern Bloc (2015)
Edmunds V Bunkse, The Role of a Humane Environment in Soviet Urban Planning (1979)
Jack C. Fisher, Planning the city of socialist man (1963)
Henry W. Morton, Housing in the Soviet Union (1984)
Jiri Musil, Urbanization in Socialist Countries (1980)
Peter Lizon, East Central Europe: The Unhappy Heritage of Communist Mass Housing (1996)
Gyorgy Enyedi, Urbanisation in East Central Europe: Social Processes and Societal Responses in the State Socialist Systems (1992)
Owen Heatherly - Housing in the eastern block. The architectural review (2015)
► Sources (for further reading)
Herny W. Morton, Who Gets What, When and How? Housing in the Soviet Union (1980)
Alexander Block, Soviet Housing. The Historical Aspect (1954)
M. F. Parkins, City planning in Soviet Russia, Harvard University, Russian Research Center, (1949)
Anna Schpuntova, Soviet mass housing. Making a modernist dream a reality, Architectural Association School of Architecture, 2021
William Richardson, Architecture, Urban Planning and Housing During the First Five Year Plans: Hannes Meyer in the USSR, 1930-1936
► Music:
HeavenlyAir/FineTune Music - Commiserate
Rannar Sillard/Epidemic Sound - From here we can see
ChillOut/FineTune Music - Ambient nostalgic atmosphere (Too cold)
Mit-Rich/Jamendo - Piano ambient atmosphere
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Wt_Pl0jFBHk
Having lived in a couple and now living in a multiple flat house built in the early 19th century I have a couple of thoughts.
Ceiling height. I am a large dude and with ceilings I can touch with my arm outstretched I constantly feel slightly claustrophobic (not in a pathological sense) like I’m in a cellar or something. I now have a ceiling that’s going on 4 meters and the rooms feel so much bigger and brighter. I know it’s harder to heat but I keep a cold flat anyway.
Size. Most of these flats are between 40 and 70 square meters. If you want something larger you’re shit out of luck. The largest I’ve seen was like bordering 80 square meters. If you have more than two kids for example that might be a bit too small.
Noise insulation. You hear everything your neighbours do. I could follow TV programs without problems and the neighbours weren’t exactly deaf. I’ve lived in blocks built in the 50s and late 80s, both modernised multiple times.
I am not a fan. There’s middle ground. Multi family houses with two to three flats per story and and four to six stories are a nice compromise between space efficiency and comfort I believe.
Exactly! We moved out of commie blocks in early 2000s and recently went back to renovate and sell the apartment, and there were 10 centimeter gaps between the ceiling and the wall, where the block seemed to not properly stick together. It was terrible
My apartment (and the only place I can really afford in my city) is a 24m2 apartment. I would kill for something in the 40-70m2 range.