American apartments now:
Ok, so the luxury ones have a view. Now do poor people.
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Newly built American apartments aren’t much better than commie blocks
Having seen the interiors, Khrushchevkas are way nicer than any 5-over-1 I’ve been in in the US. By a comical degree, really.
What do they look like on the inside?
About this way:
I’ve personally been to some of them.
Kitchen separating from the living room : 1p Big windows in all the living area : 1p Bathtub : 1p Entry and passage way : 1p Balcony : 1p Only windows on one side : -1p No window in the bathroom : -1p No separated toilet : -1p
Quite decent but the real question is heat isolation.
Is there space from a laundry machine in the kitchen and will there be enough space for a dishwasher as well?
The wall thickness and heat isolation vary between the places, but it would probably suffice to say they serve their purpose well in the northernmost regions.
Kitchens are fairly small, washing machines are commonly installed in the bathroom, and dishwashers are normally not used in them.
(Full disclosure that this response is transcribed from my retired civil engineer father, who is the primary source of any information I have on this subject)
Obviously most of the true Khrushchevkas are pretty old, but they were solidly constructed. Not huge, but the layout is pretty reasonable (square plan with living room / kitchen / bath / bed), you can look floor plans up online to get a better idea. The major points where they win over the modern hell that is a 5-over-1 are sound isolation (yeah famously they had no sound proofing, but it’s still a great deal better than what you find in any US stick n’ brick), access (you could pretty easily move a couch up the stairwell), fixtures (this one is both my own subjective opinion and not uniform across all designs, but the ones I have seen were quite nice - decently modern gas appliances (water heater and stove) and branch control radiators (I think this is the wrong term, apologies, I am very tired) as well as in-ceiling lighting fixtures instead of switched outlets - none of the apartments around [where I live in the US] have lighting fixtures outside of the kitchenette and bathroom), and just space (They were, despite being tiny, quite a bit bigger than the rooms I live in now)
What? All the new American apartments I’ve seen are luxury and full of nice amenities. Which I think is a problem because none of it is affordable. Even older apartments get renovated and the rent shoots up. I would love to see some practical and efficient apartments.
This is Denver so your region my differ. From what I gather new bare bones apartments only exist in extreme cost of living areas like Sanfran or NYC.
Those “luxury” apartments are just plywood and sheetrock byult as fast and cheap as possible. They look good at first glance but start to come apart after just a couple years.
And the tenants get to hear each other’s every word and movement the entire time.
At least the commie blocks are built with concrete thick enough for the KGB torture someone without it bothering the neighbors.
Oh, and the commie blocks are in walkable neighborhoods
Those “luxury” apartments are glorified shoeboxes with shared patio and pool access.
I agree to some extent. They’re grossly overpriced. But I don’t see many shoebox options. All the layouts feel oversized and not efficient. Including the few studios. Hell a lot places have 2 parking spots for most units because of zoning laws.
I think American developers don’t like to go small unless they’re absolutely forced to.
Has anyone here read/played Metro 2033 and beyond?
Yeah that shit is crazy. The guy describes the metro stations like Tolkien the trees and bushes. I really felt the beauty of the stations when reading the Metro 2033 saga.
Which is funny because I only saw cramped death traps in the parts I played
i doubt commie blocks have been maintained well since the late 80s
I live in one currently. One of the early ones from the late 60s.
Location is great, city provides hot tap water and heating. Cheap utilities.
Huge amounts of these were insulated all over the country starting from the late 90s. EU also provided funds for that after my country got in.
I honestly don’t remember seeing typical commie block not maintained well from the outside in cities nowadays.
On the negative side - walls are crooked and not soundproof, this is usual, flat sizes are a bit too small for families. 50m^2 is most common for ones built before 80s I think.
I did talk lately with retired construction engineer that knows these, he said that although these were built cheaply and were supposed to be temporary - as long as steel reinforcements don’t rust, probably will outlast all of us.
interesting! thanks for the insight.
Actually in some places they are, they even look quite beautiful with new colourful isolation and stuff.
Of course not always, I have seen some where the walls act as doors.
Nice coat of paint
But nothing can isolate those things, you can hear your neighbors breathing
I see you’ve never lived in an apartment. Sure, these aren’t soundproof. However, they were made of concrete. It’s better than the US apartment made out of drywall and prayers. Still, I prefer one of these in a livable area than an isolated house you have to drive to get anywhere.
Commie blocks aren’t perfect, but they solve a lot of issues, and they were cheap. They were made for communities, being built in areas with access to everything else you needed to live. There’s never going to be a perfect solution, and anything like this is going to have an issue with hearing your neighbors. That’s just a compromise that has to be made to get the many advantages.
First, not a coat of paint that is solid 20cm of styrofoam on the outside and that increases the energy efficiency of heating greatly;
Second, yes, they are loud and usually smell of sauerkraut but keep in mind these things we not made to be the perfect living space with all comforts, these things are a solution to homelessness and they are WILDLY successful in that. They are dirt cheap to make, making them dirt cheap to buy(at least in the beginning) and very space effective for housing large quantities of people.
So the question in essence is not would you prefer a commie block to a modern luxury apartment, but weather you will prefer it to being homeless.
American build apartments are less spacious. Soviet blocks also have nice balconys nowadays.
Much easier to fall off a balcony than through a window. Convenient feature in Russian culture.
I’m not even American and I know there are nice train/metros in existence. Grand Central looks pretty nice.
The stations themselves look amazing, the platforms on the other hand are still beyond deplorable.
I really like the DC metro stations. Sure, most aren’t opulant, but they’re usually clean and well lit, and I think the style looks really cool.
I will not stand for this slander of the NYCT
- sincerely, a New Yorker
Congrats, you have one of the only functional public transit systems in the US
Must be nice to be able to go somewhere without needing a car, or 3 busses and 3 hours.
Sucks they had to walk everywhere
