The history of the development of architecture on the territory of modern Russia can be conditionally divided into four voluminous milestones. The first stage is wooden and stone architecture dating back to the 15th-16th centuries. The second stage is the construction traditions of the 17th-19th centuries. The third period is the 20th century, the fourth is the present.
Social housing: communal apartments
During the formation of Soviet power, the construction of residential and public facilities underwent a number of changes that cannot be called positive. The architects took over the worst aspects of the then existing way of solving housing problems, adapting it to new, even tougher realities.
In the early twenties of the XX century, the leadership of Soviet Russia did not consider the need to commission new residential facilities. The problem with the resettlement of citizens was solved by the notorious "compacting" of the most ordinary apartments, which later received the status of communal.
Barracks
About the same time, such a word as "barrack" appears in the everyday life of a Soviet person. This is another attempt by the authorities to use the achievements of their predecessors, who settled factory and factory workers in the barracks, and build a cheap house. In such shakyFamilies of steelmakers, miners, turners, grinders, and others huddled in buildings in the pre-revolutionary era.
Barrack is an elongated rectangular building, which consists of one floor. Living rooms are located on both sides of the corridor, which stretches along the entire barrack in its central part. There is a cooking area at one end of the building, and a utility block at the other.
The barrack is a temporary dwelling. That is how it was presented to the workers by the heads of enterprises. As planned by the "optimizers", a barrack-type house was supposed to serve no more than five, a maximum of ten years. In fact, many residents have spent more than three decades in the barracks.
Front building
In the fifties of the XX century, a mass resettlement took place, which allowed millions of workers to leave the barracks forever. It became a landmark event. During this period, the country saw the production of reinforced concrete structures, from which multi-storey residential areas were built.
In contrast to the chaotic barrack-type development and compaction according to the principle of communal settlement, the location of new houses was subject to a strict architectural plan.
It reflected embankments, squares, road junctions, public buildings, institutions of education, he althcare, sports, culture and leisure.
Khrushchevs
The basis of the frontal development was a typical five-story residential building. It had no elevators, nor any hint of comfort. But there were hundreds of cramped cell apartments with combined sanitarynodes. The height of the ceilings in them was the minimum possible.
Thanks to the Khrushchevs, it was possible to significantly improve the living conditions of Soviet workers who moved to new buildings from basements, communal apartments and barracks.
The standard layout of the quarters provided for a residential area of a certain number of five-story houses and a public one. The public area included comprehensive schools, kindergartens, grocery stores and other social infrastructure facilities.
