This Old Home: Retrofitting the Soviet Khrushchyovka

The aging apartment blocks (nicknamed “khrushchyovka”, or plural “khrushchyovki” for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev) of the former USSR are facing demolition, despite the fact that many low income families still depend on these units for housing. This paper researches the development of the khrushchyovka and its estate leading up to the post-Soviet period and examines case studies to assess how these buildings can be modernized to spare them from demolition and to continue to serve as a reliable low-cost housing option. Studying how other projects have addressed similar problems in their architecture, these findings will be synthesized to present a full but minimally invasive khrushchyovka retrofit prototype, with improvements that will culminate in a more energy efficient, sustainable, and comfortable living environment for residents. This prototype provides a standardized template of services and improvements to be made, and can be adjusted to include specific features that meet the needs of a certain climate or location. In the early 1960s during the Khrushchev administration, these housing blocks made from prefabricated insulated concrete panels were constructed all over the USSR to alleviate housing shortages. A lot of them have an in practice service life of 150 years, meaning that many are incredibly durable with millions of people still living in them today. With their small size (ranging from 323 to 646 ft² depending on the number of bedrooms), they continue to be a suitable housing choice for low income small families and young people (Aliashkevich 31). Amid the threat of demolition to make way for cheaply made luxury-priced condos, many residents in the former USSR contend that their beloved khrushchyovki should be preserved (Watson), as they still have the capacity to be renovated in the interest of energy efficiency, cost savings, and community comfort.