Some are happily bidding farewell to aging
apartments, known for their low ceilings, thin walls and faulty plumbing.
But khrushchevki were a major step forward for
urban planning, said Kuba Snopek, a Polish architect who did research in Russia
and wrote a book called “Belyayevo Forever” about the importance of
self-contained, midcentury Soviet housing developments called “mikrorayony,” or
microdistricts, which regulated urban expansion by ensuring access to green
spaces, public transportation and municipal buildings.
“It’s very easy to communicate the flaws of this architecture,” said
Snopek, who sought to have Belyayevo, a region of Moscow, put on the UNESCO
World Heritage List. “It’s vulnerable because it is ugly and doesn’t look
precious. But it’s hard to communicate its values because they’re invisible.”
When they first appeared, the apartment
buildings were hailed as a revelation. In the 1962 musical film “Cheryomushki,”
Dmitri Shostakovich, a young couple literally sings the praises of the new apartments.
“The whole apartment is ours, ours. The kitchen is also ours, ours. The windows
are ours, the doors are ours. I can’t believe my eyes,” they sing.
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