Over the past half century, colossal social changes have occurred in our country: millions of people moved from villages to cities, and in the cities themselves - from barracks and communal apartments to separate apartments in multi-storey buildings in residential areas. How has accelerated urbanization affected Russian society? Why does mass standard development disfigure cities and their suburbs? Why is the proliferation of multi-storey residential areas dangerous? Why were mainly five- and nine-story buildings built in Soviet times? What height of a residential building is optimal for human health? Vitaly Stadnikov, associate professor at the Higher School of Urbanism at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, candidate of architecture, told Lenta.ru about this.

Russia districts and quarters

“Lenta.ru”: Is it true that the vast majority of the population of modern Russia lives in standard high-rise buildings?

Vitaly Stadnikov: Yes, that's true. Approximately three-quarters of the urban population of our country lives in multi-storey apartment buildings. Considering that cities account for about 80 percent of the total population of Russia, this type of housing is indeed the main one for Russians. In this we differ from most other countries in the world.

Why did this happen?

This developed under Khrushchev, who set a course for rapid mass construction of housing for the population. On the one hand, the program was very successful, because never before in the history of our country has such a massive relocation of people into individual housing occurred in such a short period of time (20-30 years). At the same time, this led to terrible consequences in relation to the quality of the formed urban environment and, accordingly, to severe social consequences.

We still have an outdated idea of ​​housing as a refuge, and the quality of the living environment means your own apartment with your own refrigerator and toilet, behind the doors of which you can spit and litter. But today housing should be a full-fledged element of the urban environment, on which the quality of people’s lives now largely depends.

What does the quality of the urban environment itself depend on?

From the morphology of urban development: individual residential buildings, townhouses (low-rise residential buildings with several apartments - approx. "Tapes.ru"), mid-rise dense buildings of the pre-revolutionary type, block development of the 1950s and development with multi-storey microdistricts. But it is the microdistrict morphotype of development that dominates in modern Russia: from five-story “Khrushchev” buildings to 17-24-story high-rise anthills with which the outskirts of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities are built.

Why are these areas called bedrooms?

Because massive multi-storey buildings, accommodating the bulk of the population, are intended only for housing and for nothing else. Having left the house, the inhabitant of the residential area strives to get out of there as quickly as possible - either to the center for work, or to the nearest shopping and entertainment center. Hence the notorious pendulum migration and traffic jams.

Khrushchev and Brezhnevka

Was the idea of ​​mass standard urban development under Khrushchev really borrowed from the West?

Certainly. The concept of mass flow development arose back in the 1930s in Western European countries - Germany, the Netherlands and France. True, it became widespread in the West only after the Second World War, at the turn of the 1940-1950s. For example, in France at that time many cities were built with panel houses. But already in the late 1960s and early 1970s, these areas began to be gradually demolished - the authorities of European countries quickly realized that in the long term, panel construction would create huge problems.

Most of our Khrushchev buildings still stand today. Khrushchev's buildings are a crystallized form of purely utilitarian consciousness, opposing the aesthetic understanding of architecture and the urban environment. They, of course, solved the short-term problem - millions of people moved from barracks and communal apartments to separate apartments. For this reason, Khrushchev actually banned architecture. It is known that the high-rise building of Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Gory with its stucco molding, mosaics and columns cost an amount that could be used to build a city of five-story panel houses for forty thousand inhabitants.

How long were Khrushchev buildings designed for?

The first series last for twenty-five years, later ones for fifty, but with proper care they can last for a long time. The main problem with Khrushchev buildings is that with each year of operation the cost of their maintenance will only increase. Therefore, someday the question of their demolition will inevitably arise, especially since they have long since become morally obsolete.

How long can these Khrushchev buildings stand?

Until the reinforcement in the supporting structures rusts. Then they will simply begin to add up. But this is if they are not properly monitored.

What is the safety margin of later high-rise buildings built under Brezhnev?

I do not rule out that with good maintenance it will significantly exceed the stated service life. The question is different - Brezhnevkas are also morally outdated.

Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant

Why were mostly five- and nine-story buildings built in the USSR? Saved on elevators?

Yes, it's true. According to urban planning standards, for a residential building over five floors, an elevator was required, and over nine floors, a freight elevator was also required. These rules, by the way, are still in effect. Savings on elevators could only be justified in a planned economy, when the impact of such development on the urban environment and other factors was not taken into account.

Why then began to build high-rise buildings with 17 and 24 floors?

Because technologies have emerged that have made it possible to build cheap high-rise buildings en masse.

They say that residents of high-rise buildings have an increased risk of cardiovascular and nervous diseases and even a significantly higher tendency to commit suicide.

High-rise buildings really put psychological pressure on a person. It is known that for heart patients, living on the upper floors, starting from the eighth floor, is fraught with aggravation of health problems. And for healthy people, living high is also not very comfortable from a medical point of view.

What is the optimal number of floors?

Approximately the height of a tree - five to seven floors. But this is not the only problem. Residential areas built from high-rise buildings cause enormous harm to the city.

Society of strangers

What is this harm?

They form a dull, depressive habitat that breeds its own marginalized people and attracts strangers. But any marginal population gives nothing to the city, but only consumes its resources.

That is, areas of mass standard development are forming ghettos in our cities?

The faceless, depressive and largely anti-human environment of multi-storey microdistricts really contributes to the formation of a criminal situation in them. In the West, they encountered this a long time ago: for example, in the USA in 1972, in the city of St. Louis, the Pruitt-Igoe residential complex, which was considered a masterpiece of modernism, was demolished, but gradually turned into a real ghetto. The American authorities then realized that this kind of social housing brings more problems than benefits. We now have a similar situation, but it is complicated by the fact that it can no longer be corrected in such a radical way as in the United States.

Photo: By Michael J. Baldridge / s68 / Zuma / Globallookpress.com

Because a significant part of the housing stock in our country has been privatized. Try to evict the legal owner of the property from his apartment in order to demolish the house. In this sense, we have an almost deadlock situation.

Can we say that Soviet urbanization, when millions of yesterday's peasants moved to cities, largely shaped modern Russian society?

Of course, the aggressive, faceless environment of panel anthills, in which Russians still live today, has a certain impact on their behavioral attitudes. It forms in them total alienation and individualism in the worst sense. This environment is not conducive to communication between people - residents of multi-storey buildings often do not even know their neighbors in the stairwell. The courtyards in such houses do not fulfill their main function as a space for socialization, but serve only as an intermediate zone between the apartment and the street.

Is this why our society is so divided and it is so difficult to build stable horizontal connections?

This is also why. Try to at least unite two hundred apartment owners in an HOA in order to independently maintain your house and the surrounding area. Twenty people in the entrance of a five-story building can somehow organize themselves, but two hundred people in a high-rise building are unlikely.

Housing ghetto

Is it possible to solve this problem at all?

There is an urgent need to change the current vector of construction in Russian cities from mass standard economy-class housing to a more balanced type of development, focused on improving the quality of the urban environment. The development should be varied: individual houses, townhouses, low-rise buildings. The construction of multi-storey buildings can also continue, but should not dominate.

However, now, as in Soviet times, everyone is looking back at plans for housing commissioning. A huge number of apartments in new buildings are now empty, since they are often bought not for living, but for investing money. In Moscow, for example, approximately ten percent of the housing stock is empty.

Everyone must understand that construction and development are not the same thing. The last five years of improvement of the center of Moscow have brought it much more benefit than the previous twenty years of thoughtless housing construction. We need to focus on the problems of housing and communal services and improving the quality of the urban environment, but we are still chasing square meters and creating new residential areas.

The same problem exists in other cities. It looks like apples with rotten cores. The outskirts are being built up with multi-storey buildings, and the historical center is deteriorating, since the entire budget is spent on new buildings and nothing is left to maintain the existing housing stock in acceptable condition. Cities are spreading, but not in the form of American suburbs (from the Latin suburbia - “suburb” - approx. "Tapes.ru") with its habitat comfortable for humans, but in the form of monstrous faceless multi-story anthills.

What future awaits the current residential areas? Will they ever have to be torn down like they did in St. Louis?

I don't know what can be done with them. Nowadays, residential areas do not yet resemble ghettos, since our society still remains mixed. But already in recent years, processes of territorial demarcation between the poor and the rich have been noticeable in Moscow. It is known that the west and southwest of the capital have a more prosperous population, the eastern regions have a poor population, and the southeast has long been considered unprestigious and disadvantaged. Such social segregation with the transformation of certain areas of Moscow into real ghettos will only intensify in the future if the vicious Soviet urban planning policy of constructing jungles of multi-apartment standard buildings in cities continues.

Perhaps this is why current Russian society reproduces many stereotypes of Soviet behavior?

Soviet society is a collection of powerless people, and residential areas are their habitat. In a city consisting of such areas, the entire life of its inhabitants is boring, dull and monotonous: on weekdays, the road to work and back through traffic jams, on weekends, trips to hypermarkets for shopping, and the rest of the time - in front of the TV or at the computer. If it is beneficial for our authorities to continue to produce a disenfranchised and embittered population, then multi-storey microdistricts are just what we need.

Illustration copyright DBOX for Foster + Partners Image caption According to the plan, the height of the Tulip (Tulip) building will be 305.3 m

London may soon get a new skyscraper more than 300 m highetrov, and it is expected that he willNotthe only onesimilar new building. INHundreds more such buildings are planned.

But what restrictions on the construction of such giants exist in the British capital?

There are already several clearly visible high-rise buildings here - "Shard" (Shard), "Walkie-Talkie", "Cheesegrater" (Cheese Grater) and "Gerkin" (Cucumber). The London panorama is periodically replenished with skyscrapers, which are given bright, memorable names.

• Test: How well do you know the world's skyscrapers?

Now the authorities have received for consideration a project for a new high-rise building authored by the architect Lord Norman Foster.

According to the plan, the height of the Tulip (Tulip) building will be 305.3 m. At its base there will be a “stem”, and in the upper part there will be an observation deck, a restaurant, a small park and an educational area. You can get a bird's eye view of London by taking a ride in a transparent capsule.

Illustration copyright Dan Mullan/Getty Images Image caption How Tulip might look next to other skyscrapers

The building will be just a meter lower than the Shard and will become the second tallest skyscraper in London and throughout Britain.

The City of London authorities will now have to consider the application of the high-rise designer Foster and Partners. The firm hopes to build the skyscraper by 2025.

When and if Tulip is built, its visitors will likely be greeted with a view of many new skyscrapers.

According to the New London Architecture discussion group, in 2017 there were 510 buildings of 20 storeys or more in the planning stages in London.

Image caption Many London skyscrapers have very bizarre shapes

Other British cities, including Manchester, Bristol and Norwich, will also soon acquire their own high-rise buildings.

There is no clear definition of the concept of “high-rise building”. In a city with low buildings, this could be a ten-story building. In a city with a large number of high-rise buildings, a building with 40 floors will be considered high-rise.

Permission to build high-rise buildings, and indeed any buildings in England, is issued by local government councils.

“Application for permission for major construction is a big responsibility,” says an employee of the consulting agency Planning Insight. “After all, the results will be seen for several generations.”

When considering development applications, local government councils consider how new developments will impact existing infrastructure and traffic loads, and whether they will block daylight for those living in neighboring properties.

Illustration copyright St Michael's Image caption The authorities did not interfere with plans to build a new high-rise building in Manchester, despite protests

Local government councils can, although are not required to, draw up a development plan for their area, which will determine the style of new buildings.

In London, the mayor's office provides additional building guidance that applies to the entire city. For example, the construction of high-rise buildings should be considered only in those areas in which they will fit well and will not spoil the existing ensemble.

They should also blend well with neighboring buildings, have an impact on the modernization of the urban environment, provide everyone with access to the upper floors if possible, and use the ground floor for public benefit activities.

The location of buildings should not contribute to increased wind, noise or excessive glare. They should also not interfere with aviation, navigation and telecommunications systems.

Illustration copyright City of London Corporation Image caption

There are also rules for the protection of monuments and architectural monuments. For example, the design of the Leadenhall Building, nicknamed the Cheese Grater, had to be changed at the design stage so that visitors to the historic Cheshire Pub on Fleet Street could see St. Paul's Cathedral.

The High-Rise Building Guide explains why London, unlike New York and Chicago, does not have such a variety of rectangular high-rise buildings, and why skyscrapers are built in concentrations rather than over a wider area.

Foster and Partners said Tulip will be shaped like a bud and the building footprint will be minimal, making the building a cultural and social landmark, complementing the neighboring Gerkin building.

The City of London approved 99% of construction projects in 2017-18, so the chances of the new skyscraper going ahead are good.

However, not everyone likes the Tulipa project. The city's architecture committee received a letter in which a disgruntled resident suggested that a competition was being held for the ugliest skyscraper.

Image caption In some places, the construction of high-rise buildings is prohibited so as not to block views of St. Paul's Cathedral

Can someone overturn a local government council's decision?

If the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, feels that the building's layout conflicts with his vision, he can request the design and independently approve or reject it.

Last year he gave planning permission for two high-rise developments in Tottenham and Wealdstone. Initially, local government councils rejected these projects.

Throughout England, at any stage - from concept to implementation - construction projects can be requested by local communities and the Minister for Home Government. But this happens extremely rarely.

When Manchester City Council approved plans for a new £200m development that includes a 39-storey hotel, campaigners called on the government to look into why the decision was being made. But the government refused to intervene.

Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest skyscraper in the world

When you consider the small amount of building space available in London, the housing shortage and sky-high land costs, it's safe to say that there will be more and more new high-rise buildings in the coming years.

However, even the tallest British skyscrapers are noticeably inferior in height to high-rise buildings in the US and China, says the head of New London Architecture, Peter Murray.

"More recently, we would have made comparisons with American cities. Today the emphasis has shifted to the Middle and Far East," he said.

According to the Skyscraper Center, London, together with Seattle, rank 56th in the world in terms of the number of buildings constructed above 150 m. The British capital has 18 of them. Hong Kong is in first place with 353 high-rise buildings. The second is New York, which has 269 similar high-rise buildings. Moscow is in 32nd place with 37 high-rise buildings.

Paris has only two buildings higher than 150 m, Madrid has five, and Berlin has none at all.

Illustration copyright AFP Image caption Moscow ranks 32nd in the world in terms of the number of buildings taller than 150 m

Only three buildings in the world are classified as supertall buildings (above 600 m) according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an international organization dedicated to high-rise construction.

The 300-meter "Tulip" will seem miniature in comparison.

The decision on whether to allow or prohibit the construction of a London skyscraper will be made in the coming month.

Users of the portal tell what materials and technologies are used to build modern cottages in Western Europe.

There are many rumors and conjectures among domestic developers about how and from what they build houses in European countries. Someone says that framers hold the palm “there”. Others argue that Europeans, practical and able to count money, prefer to live in stone houses. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. In this material we will tell:

• Why are houses well insulated in Europe?
• What materials are houses built from in Germany?
• Why are frame houses popular in Scandinavian countries?
• What is the Western principle of cottage construction?

Rising prices for hydrocarbon fuels are a good reason to think about energy efficiency

At first glance it seems: how is energy efficiency related to the question “How are houses built in Europe”? However, by answering it, the design of the “German cottage” will be clear. It is no secret that abroad, unlike our country, the pace of construction of energy-efficient houses is increasing every year. In Russia, such cottages are still treated as an irrational investment of funds, as well as an expensive and useless “toy”.

Our country has a harsh climate. The heating season, on average, depending on the region of residence, can last 6-8 months. But most domestic developers believe that by “throwing” 10-15 cm of insulation on the walls and roof, the house is well insulated. Although they actually heat the street and throw money down the drain.

The thickness of the insulation is calculated on the basis of thermal engineering calculations, and not “by eye”.

While abroad, in European countries with a much milder climate, 30 cm of insulation is often laid in the walls, and 40 cm on the roof.

In the EU, starting from 2019, all new houses being built will have to meet passive house building standards, and from 2021, these standards will apply to other buildings.

Moreover, heating a private house in Europe is not a cheap pleasure, due to the increase in prices for hydrocarbon energy resources. Therefore, during the construction of a private cottage, a certain standard has already been developed: the enclosing structures of a new house must be well insulated, and energy-saving technologies are used during its operation. Old European houses are also systematically undergoing renovation and additional insulation, most often from the outside.

How houses are built in Western Europe

As you know, in any construction it is better to learn from the experience of others. For example, let's focus on Germany. According to statistics, Germans most often build stone houses. The first place is held by porous “warm ceramics”. Then there are various “stone materials” - sand-lime brick, aerated concrete, various blocks, monolithic technology, etc. The share of frame houses is smaller, although their design and technology are also worked out to the smallest detail. But in Scandinavian countries, for example, in Norway and Finland, they build more “frame houses” than stone cottages.

This is due to the fact that the principle works that it is cheaper to build from the material that is widespread in the area where the house is being built. There is a lot of forest in Finland. Accordingly, the priority is woodworking and the construction of frame buildings, including multi-storey residential buildings from factory prefabricated houses. Germany has fewer forests, but the country has a well-developed industry and a long tradition of brick making and laying.

Wall-e FORUMHOUSE Member

I want to find out how stone houses are built in Europe, so I created a topic on the portal in which Oleg Bruilo answers my questions and the users’ questions. He has been working in Germany for a long time and is well versed in the nuances of building European cottages and brickwork.

Bruilo Oleg User FORUMHOUSE

According to Oleg, in those years he could put 5-9 cubic meters. m of expanded clay concrete blocks and 8-15 sq. m of facing brick. So he tried to work here, but he was told that the worker should put 2-3 cubic meters. m blocks and 6-8 sq. m of facing masonry. If you have completed the work, then you don’t need to sit and smoke either. It's better to clean up and put the workplace in order.

The submission came from “first hand”, and therefore the topic aroused increased interest on the portal. Because it contains a lot of useful information that cannot be covered in one article; we will tell you about the key features of Western construction. Let's start from the foundation.

Wall-e

I wonder what type of foundation is most popular in Germany?

Bruilo Oleg

Most often the slab is poured, because... it itself is already the ceiling of the first floor. Ground floors with a basement are built much less frequently. The preparation is standard - a well-compacted sand “cushion”, reinforcement in two layers, pouring concrete from a mixer. All stages of work are strictly according to the project developed architect-designer with constant supervision of the foreman responsible for construction. Test concrete “cubes” are also made to check the grade.

Stone and concrete work in Germany can only be carried out by a certified specialist who bears personal responsibility for it. Warranty – 25 years. Self-construction is also allowed. In this case, the responsibility lies with the self-builder.

Important: Before starting work, a contract is concluded. If it turns out that there was a defect in the construction of the house, That all alterations are at the expense of the culprit. Because Competition in the market is high, people are interested in high-quality work. Construction companies, even those that have received a license to perform a specific type of work, are constantly inspected by government agencies. If a complaint is received from the customer, and further legal proceedings, the construction company can only be licensed and closed. The law is on the side of the future owner of the house. Therefore, the option “the builders cheated me” - they took the money or did a hack job - does not work.

Before construction begins, the area is landscaped. There are access roads, roads, communications, etc.

Those. There is no eternal Russian problem, when the area after construction equipment resembles a tank track, and construction materials can only be brought in with the help of a tractor pulling trucks out of the mud.

Looking ahead a little, we note that the “warm floor” system has become widespread in the West as a heating system. The final covering of the first floor is tiles. Let's move on to the “pie” of walls.

The most common design in Germany is as follows:

• warm ceramics – “25th” block, i.e. width 250 mm;
• stone wool 5 cm thick, laid in two layers to overlap the seams, total 100 mm;
• ventilation gap – 30-40 mm;
• cladding – clinker brick 0.7-1 NF format.

To connect the facing brick with the load-bearing wall, stainless flexible connections are used.

Bruilo Oleg

According to my observations, approximately 70-80% of private construction in Germany is made of porous blocks, moreover, polished ceramics. The masonry is done using glue. Aerated concrete is used less frequently. The internal walls of partitions and outbuildings are made of sand-lime brick. They are also placed on glue. Only the first row of blocks or bricks is placed on the mortar for leveling. External finishing - clinker brick. The old foundation is often insulated with polystyrene foam, and a wet façade is made on it.

Ceramic blocks in Europe are also placed on a special PPU adhesive foam that has low secondary expansion.

In our country, polished porous blocks are still exotic. This is reflected in the low demand for this wall material, which requires greater construction culture.

Also, as an example, let’s give a “pie” of a frame wall in German. These are powerful wooden racks with a cross-section of 200x50 mm, between which a layer of thermal insulation 20 cm thick is laid. The racks are covered with plasterboard on both sides. The finishing is done from the inside, and another 10 - 15 cm of EPS (expanded polystyrene or, popularly, polystyrene) is added to the outside for plastering or for gluing clinker tiles.

Total: the total thickness of the thermal insulation of the frame wall is brought to 30-35 cm. Also, during the construction of the frame, glued I-beams (for floors), LVL beams, glued beams, roof trusses assembled on MZP (metal gear plates) are actively used.

It would never occur to anyone to build a frame house from boards of natural moisture with a “dancing” cross-section and curved geometry. Only dry calibrated planed lumber is used.

Construction approach: large critical components are manufactured at the factory, and then transported and installed by crane at the construction site. This guarantees quality, unlike trying to make handicrafts on the site.

Another interesting observation is that load-bearing walls in Germany can be made from ceramic blocks less than 25 cm wide, for example 17-20 cm, although for stability it is recommended to build a load-bearing brick wall of 1.5 bricks - 380 mm.

The thickness of the load-bearing brick wall is only 20-25 cm thick and requires competent design calculations for collecting loads and highly qualified masons.

sedoychel User FORUMHOUSE

I built a house in Belgium. 2 floors + attic. The outer wall is made of ceramics 14 cm wide. The internal load-bearing wall is 30 cm thick. Insulation is extruded polystyrene foam 6 cm thick. Here everyone builds like this and, according to local requirements, this wall thickness is quite enough.

In addition to stone wool, EPS and non-flammable PIR thermal insulation are also used abroad to insulate the walls of a stone house, although less frequently.

Another an important nuance about European construction. Self-construction “there”, in that “wild” form to which everyone is accustomed “over here,” is impossible. Those. - “sculpting” anything and any way will not work.

sedoychel

When we received a building permit, it turned out that all three houses being built on this site, mine and the two neighboring ones, must have the same height and roof slope. The neighbors have already started building the house, so it determines the size of the remaining buildings. Because a neighbor is building a cottage to the maximum possible size, I had to increase the dimensions of the roof of my house. And this is + 4% to the cost.

There are a lot of similar features. Therefore, looking at European houses, you often catch yourself thinking that they are similar to each other, like twin brothers. Identical dimensions, slope angles, roofing, finishing, etc.

Also, it is not customary for local residents to build very large houses, because... it is irrational, expensive, difficult to heat, clean, etc. Middle-class cottages have a simple shape and a regular gable roof without fancy elements - bay windows, towers and other decor.

sedoychel

Living in Belgium, in principle, I can build a house myself, but then I will have to obtain a license, insurance, permission to connect, etc. This is very difficult, time consuming and requires understanding the local specifics. That’s why I’m building through a “company”.

In Belgium, the architect and the builders give a 10-year guarantee on the house. All corrections are at their expense.

Danil User FORUMHOUSE

I wonder what you can plant on your site?

sedoychel

You cannot build or plant anything on the site just like that. When dividing land for construction, the local administration draws up an urbanization plan specifically for each plot or group of plots. Roads, water, electricity are connected to the plots and only after that the plot is sold. You can familiarize yourself with the urbanization plan before purchasing a plot. If you don’t like something, you’ll have to look for another site, but you can find land to suit every taste and any type of home.

Food for thought:sedoychel To cut down a tree on your property, you must obtain permission to do so. He also cannot plant potatoes or onions. You can plant flowers on the plot, and not in front of the house, because... communications take place there. You can't hang a satellite dish on your house either. The color of the facade and roof of the house must match the color scheme of the surrounding houses.

Having dealt with the walls, we return to the design of German stone houses. The most common interfloor ceiling is monolithic reinforced concrete. Floor slabs are used less frequently. The roofing pie is standard - with a vapor barrier, insulation, a moisture-and-windproof membrane, a ventilation gap and a finishing coating - natural tiles. Metal on the roof can be found much less often.

A Western European house is built from time-tested quality materials that have a long service life.

Summing up

The basic building principle in Europe is time is money. In the sense that no one will drag out construction for years. The principle of rationality comes into play - long-term construction is very expensive. Therefore, everything that is possible is manufactured in factories and brought to the construction site in the form of assembled units or ready-made kits. Equipment is actively used at construction sites - mini-tractors, bulldozers, lifts.

No one will dig a pit or trench for several days using hired workers, when an excavator can handle this job in a few hours. All construction stages are mechanized as much as possible. Seeing a small crane that supplies blocks to the second floor of a private house under construction is a common occurrence.

Primitive manual labor is reduced to a minimum, because this gives a gain in speed with consistently high quality. Workers have their own standard electric tools. “Tricky” circular saws, vibrating plates, mini-excavators, scaffolding are rented.

As mentioned above, a house in Western Europe is being built strictly according to the project, from which they do not retreat. The customer knows exactly how much money he will ultimately spend. The amount specified in the contract does not change. The eternal Russian saying from the foreman “we need to buy something else” will not work. If the contractor made a mistake in calculating the estimate and did not calculate all the necessary construction materials, this is his problem, not the customer's.

Another feature of Western construction is that the house is considered as a complex, and it is consistently built by different teams that specialize in a specific job and are licensed for it. There are no “universal fighters” that we are used to, who today pour the foundation, tomorrow lay the walls and build the roof, and the day after tomorrow install the electrical and utility lines.

The professionalism of the workers + constant supervision of the foreman ensures high quality and speed of work.

You should remember the main construction secret that a novice developer should know. It is impossible to build a high-quality, reliable and durable modern country house cheaply.

Regardless of the design, a stone or frame house built from good materials and in compliance with all technology is an expensive pleasure. All attempts to cheat and save lead to only one thing - mistakes, alterations, long-term construction and, as a result, new significant expenses.

It is better to reduce the size of the cottage, abandon the complex geometry of the “box” and roof, and reduce costs in this regard, than to use cheap and low-quality materials and untested designs.

Our articles tell, and.

The video shows an example of a modern country house built by a professional architect.

Great Britain has always been associated for me with a place where absolutely everything is hopelessly expensive and only a serious oligarch or a masochist can live here. And indeed, with relatively low salaries in the world, the British overpaid exorbitantly for everything that costs pennies in the USA or even Germany. Not to mention tourists who are forced to spend fortunes on hotels and transport. But three years ago, the country was hit by an economic crisis and the once stably expensive pound fell by more than 30% against the dollar and euro. I understand that those receiving salaries in pounds only lost from the depreciation of the national currency, but what a relief for us, tourists. But today I would like to talk about how the British middle class lives, show a completely ordinary London apartment of my IT specialist friend in a very ordinary residential area, his car, and simply talk about how residents of what was once the most expensive country in Europe live.

We are talking about an ordinary London family, husband - wife - small child. The guy is a native Londoner of Polish origin, but his wife was born in Vietnam. They have a cool baby, who is six months old and who combines the features of both dad and mom. A very funny little man. So, his dad works as an IT specialist, his mom is still on maternity leave.

Just on the day of my arrival in London, my friends bought a new Mercedes 220, which is shown above in the photo. How's the new one? 2016, second hand for £18,000. A new one costs 30 thousand. But the car is in perfect condition with about 9 thousand miles, one might say completely new.

I’m not asking about salaries, that’s not correct. But I can just say that on average, IT specialists in London receive 4-5 thousand pounds a month in hand, after taxes. A couple of years ago this corresponded to about 7 thousand dollars, today it is about six thousand. I don't know if this is a lot or a little. In Moscow, how much does an IT specialist earn today?

They live in a very ordinary four-storey house in the East Croydon area in the south part of London (about 7 kilometers in a straight line to the Tower), exactly the same as the one below in the photo on the right. They bought an apartment of about 70 square meters a couple of years ago for 200 thousand pounds, of course with a 15-year mortgage. Naturally, mortgage interest in the UK cannot be compared with the hellish 12-15% per annum in Russia; here is only 1.5% of the force. In addition, loans are insured in case of illness, job loss, and so on. The area is considered the most average and in the city, of course, there are much more respectable places, as well as much poorer ones. Property prices here are a drop cheaper than, for example, a 20-minute walk to East Croydon railway station, from where trains run to the city center every 10 minutes. There is transport directly from the house to the center (if you are too lazy to go to the station), a bus, but if the train ride takes 20 minutes at most, then by bus it can take an hour and a half with traffic jams. These small nuances also affect the value of real estate.

A few more words about real estate and the cost of living. Now prices have increased slightly and such an apartment can cost up to 300 thousand pounds. On the other hand, the pound itself has fallen in price, so for an investor with dollars and euros the price has not changed. But we're talking about the British, aren't we? So, the incomes of the British have not changed much, and real estate has risen in price by a third in a couple of years.

In the UK, as in a number of other Western countries, there is the concept of a “city tax”, such as for the use of city infrastructure. This includes garbage removal, landscaping, maintaining parks, bus stops, road repairs, etc. The tax is paid based on the area and square footage of your apartment. The guys pay exactly 100 pounds a month, and for example in central London you can pay 500 pounds for an apartment with similar square footage. Plus, of course, utility costs. All with a counter. For gas and electricity 80-100 pounds per month (gas heating), water 15-20. Internet 20-30 pounds per month. There are several service companies in the city and you are free to choose from whom to buy water, electricity and gas. Prices don't vary much, but you may not be happy with the service and want to switch to a competitor. Then you call the service company, express your dissatisfaction with them, and sometimes they give you some kind of discount and you stay with them. Or you don't stay.

There are plastic trash cans in front of the entrance, each of them for a specific type of garbage (paper, polyethylene, food debris, glass) and residents strictly follow the established rules.

Entrances in London are almost always closed and residents have keys to the front door, plus an intercom. I have not seen any houses in the city where the entrance was a “passage yard” where anyone could enter.

Compared to Russian apartments, the British rarely turn their apartment into a fortress. I mean, no one here puts in strong iron doors with a bunch of fancy locks to keep out burglars. As a rule, the simplest wooden door with an ordinary lock, which, if desired, can be knocked out with a strong kick. But robberies are not a common occurrence here, and if you are not a well-known oligarch, then such a misfortune is unlikely to happen to you. Let's say what happens. So there is insurance!

Cool door handles, typically British, minimalist style -

The apartment has 2 rooms, a kitchen and a living room.

This is, as you may have guessed, a salon. This is where we eat and chat. The TV will definitely have a Chrome attachment for broadcasting from your phone or computer.

The choice of books hints that the topic of travel is very relevant for children -

I’m sure that some purists will write, saying, what a chaos these Englishmen have in the kitchen, how is this possible! Just look at your own kitchen, is it in perfect order? In my opinion, this is an absolutely normal kitchen; my apartment is a much bigger mess and dishes can easily “spend the night” in the sink if you are too lazy to wash them in the evening. The British have a dishwasher in almost every home.

The owner cooks amazingly and I will miss the delicious Asian food. If you are a lover of Asian cuisine, then having a beautiful wife from Vietnam will save you the cost of airfare to Asia! Now I’ll go back to my home and look for tickets to somewhere in Bangkok, or Hanoi, or even Singapore. Because where else can we eat such delicious food?

This is the guest room where I, your humble servant, sleep. In principle, this is part-time the owner’s office, but when guests arrive, they sleep here.

The toilet and bathroom are usually combined. From my experience, when you live alone or even together, this is not important. When the family expands, dad is no longer allowed to sit in the toilet with a book, and the British dad is not allowed either. Pay attention to the rope on the right, do you know what this is for?

This is the light in the bathroom, also a purely British trick -

It didn’t take me long to master the tap in the shower; I’ve never encountered anything like this before -

But the taps in the kitchen and on the washbasin are quite ordinary. Previously, there were British ones, like hot in one tap, cold in another. But this is extremely inconvenient, and the British themselves are moving away from old habits, putting in something more modern.

And we're going to dinner! Look how beautiful it is -

And this is for breakfast -

I didn’t take pictures of the bedroom, but not because the guys are against it for some reason (they are just calm about it), but because there are several photographs of them together on the walls. Don't take them off for the sake of a blog post.

It remains to add that Great Britain is a fairly social state. Here it is customary to provide housing for the poor, provide free (or almost free) medical care, pay money for small children, and provide almost free kindergartens. The child benefit itself is about 20 pounds per week and, accordingly, 80 per month. Not much at all. The mother also receives maternity pay of £150 a week. But there are a number of conditions, not automatically, but only if she worked before going on maternity leave. But at the birth of a child there are tax breaks for a working father and this is a 100-150 pounds per month bonus, depending on your salary.

There is also free healthcare in the UK, or rather, you make monthly contributions to health insurance funds and in return receive free medical care. If you earn little, or don’t work at all, then get treatment absolutely free, and, attention(!), even dentistry is free.

If you are interested, read other posts about life in different countries.

The Russian capital is actively being built up by “human developments” - these are microdistricts densely built up with high-rise buildings with a small number of parking lots, playgrounds and green areas. For example, the Eastern and South-Eastern districts of Moscow are gradually turning into ghetto areas in which it is simply impossible to live a full life.

Multi-story “romance”

Any resident of Moscow has seen giant houses built right next to each other in Kotelniki, Kommunarka and many other places. The areas are at risk of being overcrowded because of these monstrous, illogically “stuffed” buildings, while there is no social infrastructure there. Looking out of the window of an apartment in such a building, you can often see only a continuous parking lot - one can only dream of a normal yard.

There are many questions about the aesthetics of monstrous high-rise buildings. If they are built in the middle of old courtyards of five-story buildings or on the sides of roads, it at least looks ridiculous. Huge houses - boxes, highways instead of streets, shopping centers instead of street diversity - this is already a reality. The appearance of the Russian capital in these areas can be called shameful.

The mayor's office is, of course, responsible for the appearance of Moscow. The main responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the city’s chief architect, Sergei Kuznetsov. Previously, he was the managing partner of the architectural association SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov. According to the official portal of the mayor and government of Moscow, he is responsible for the architectural and artistic appearance of the capital and for territory planning projects. How he responds in practice is a matter of great debate.

For example, the unsightly appearance of our capital worries Moscow architects. The Council of the Union of Moscow Architects, in an open resolution, criticized the urban planning chaos in Moscow, since even the center of the capital is changing for the worse, losing its historical appearance. Kuznetsov himself said that previously people complained about ugly houses: “... Luzhkov has bad taste.” But he didn’t draw these houses himself! I believe that this is the responsibility of the architects who held the pencil in their hands.” At the same time, the architectural council under his leadership approves such development. So,

in March, “in general” he liked the project on Leningradskoye Shosse - two 20-story towers and towers of 11 and 14 floors, and in December - the mixed-use complex project in 1st Setunsky Proezd, where one of the towers will be 154 meters high. At the same time, Kuznetsov himself often uses beautiful terms to describe the dynamic designs of the facades.

Facades are only one area in the scope of his powers - the chief architect is responsible for monitoring the creation of architectural objects and urban planning solutions, supervising the General Plan, participating in the consideration of draft urban plans for land plots, participating in competitions, and developing projects for the reconstruction of the historical center.

“The promise to stop infill construction has been broken, restrictions on the number of storeys have been lifted, and there is virtually no regulation of urban planning work. As a result, excessive building density increases, the load on transport and infrastructure increases, and public protests multiply,” the resolution says.

At the same time, under the leadership of the chief architect, standards for mass development were developed, and developers were required to obtain a certificate of architectural and urban planning solution. As stated in Resolution No. 284-PP dated April 30, 2013, its goal is “the formation and continuous development of the composition, silhouette and architectural and artistic appearance of the capital, the preservation of cultural heritage, the creation of a harmonious, landscaped and comfortable urban environment.” That is, the Architectural Council headed by Kuznetsov was given the opportunity to directly influence the formation of the architectural appearance of Moscow. According to the resolution, the chief architect is given personal responsibility for making decisions on the approval of architectural and urban planning decisions.

As the architect, honorary builder of Moscow Alexey Krotov said, “what is in demand now is not architecture, but urban blocks.” “In the role of the chief architect of the capital, yesterday’s visualizer. They build what can be sold now. Nobody thinks about tomorrow. Moscow is being turned into a transshipment base. Everything is here for visitors. For our own people it’s a renovation, but essentially it’s the same mass construction with buildings from the mortgage era. Poor and terrible monolithic boredom,” said Krotov.

Indeed, this is exactly what areas densely built up with high-rise buildings look like. If you can come to terms with the fact that their appearance causes melancholy, then it is difficult to come to terms with basic inconveniences. Residents of a high-rise building located on the outskirts of a field can only use a car.

“If there are 192 apartments in a building, you can imagine how huge the area is needed for cheap parking. We all know the areas, for example, y. It's not nice when a large vacant lot is filled with cars. This is what cheap high-rise areas look like,” Irina Irbitskaya, director of the Center for Urban Planning Competencies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the HiGS Institute, told Gazeta.Ru.

In addition, environmental degradation occurs. According to the expert, even if a beautiful park is advertised next to the house when selling an apartment, most likely they will fall into disrepair.

“The pretty wrapper will come off quickly. This is not a forecast, these are facts of life. There are such areas in the nearest castle,” she said.

Normal shops are fleeing such places, and local schools, kindergartens, and hospitals are unprepared to accept so many people. You should completely forget about the greenery around the house, although every person has a need to be close to nature.

“The swaying green mass that you look at from your apartment window changes your whole day. And it’s a completely different perception when you see a noisy traffic interchange every day from your window. And both the mood and performance of people seriously depend on these “landscapes,” said Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Biogeography of the Faculty of Geography, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences to Gazeta.Ru.

As for “development for visitors,” this fact can easily be explained by housing prices. Ghetto areas will be in demand - without public spaces and a comfortable living environment, apartment prices will continue to fall.

At the end of August, experts from the investment and real estate company Est-a-Tet named the South-East Administrative District the cheapest area on the primary housing market. The average proposal budget there is 8.3 million rubles. The sleeping areas of Severny (SVAD), Nekrasovka (SEAD) and Kryukovo (ZelAO) turned out to be leaders in the list of ten Moscow districts with the lowest prices for apartments in new buildings. At the same time, as you know, price has always been and is the main criterion when buying a home. The newcomers have no other choice - to populate areas that are slowly but surely turning into ghettos.

The Science of High Altitude

It turns out that often the beautiful appearance of a city is just words. And only the areas adjacent to Red Square deserve to look nice and serve people. For example, Zaryadye is a source of pride for the chief architect of Moscow. But further from the center, more and more awkward high-rise coffins without infrastructure are being built. Developers bring a project - officials approve it. On the periphery, Moscow is increasingly striving to lose its appearance altogether. It is impersonality and dullness that become the hallmark of the previously mentioned areas.

Similar discussions about the need for “resident migration” on the air of one of the radio stations led to the appearance of a petition on the Change.org website demanding an apology and resignation of Kuznetsov. “The time has come to remind Mr. Kuznetsov that an official is not a master, and citizens are not slaves,” said the petition, which was signed by more than 8 thousand people.

However, with Kuznetsov taking office, the situation has not changed, because such houses continue to be built. In November, Kuznetsov told Kommersant FM that the renovation law, which was adopted last year, does not provide for restrictions on the number of floors of buildings. This is how he commented on the message of the deputy of Northern Izmailov, who wrote in his blog about the construction of a 31-story building on Konstantin Fedin Street. “What kind of parking, for example, can we talk about if there are only 26 parking lots for 825 apartments? And social facilities will be within walking distance only if a second shift is introduced in overcrowded schools,” the deputy complained.

So, Moscow continues and, apparently, will continue to actively grow upward. In 2018, the average height of new buildings in Moscow reached 20 floors.

“This is surprising for such a huge country as Russia,” the director of the Institute of Regional Studies and Urban Planning told Gazeta.Ru. According to her, the institute conducted surveys among the population, thanks to which it found out that most people consider the 4th, 5th, 6th floors comfortable.

“There may be tall buildings in the central part of Moscow. There is a certain conceptual idea of ​​a powerful center. But in general, there should be mid-rise buildings in the Moscow perimeter. In my opinion, these are 8-12 floors,” Ilyina said.

High-rise buildings “are harmful,” agrees Irbitskaya. First of all, because it assumes an excessive number of residents on one hectare of urban territory. “More than 100 neighbors cannot agree and efficiently operate their house, entrance, facades, territory, glazing of balconies,” she said.

At the same time, a multi-storey building is not cheap. “Tall buildings, contrary to what developers and city officials claim, are actually very expensive. As soon as we build 24 floors, elevators appear, expensive maintenance of facades, and so on.

Multi-storey buildings, by definition, cannot be affordable,”

- noted Irbitskaya.

According to Krotov, globally this situation in the capital can only be changed by a complete restructuring of the system. Structures responsible for the appearance of the city, such as the Moscow Urban Planning Council, the Expert Advisory Public Council under the chief architect of the city and the Methodological Council, are now working ineffectively, and their activities need to be restored. At the same time, the positions of the heads of the Moscow Architecture Committee and the Moscow Heritage Committee should not be appointed, as they are now, but elected on a competitive basis.