The construction of modular buildings in Kharkiv

The People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry dwelling With the development of large concrete units, several residential neighborhoods were built in Kharkiv from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. The quality of those so-called "panel houses" is considered low, especially given its poor compliance with the idea of ​​architects. But there is a question that has always been: how did the architects come to the idea of modular buildings? In the early twentieth century, reinforced concrete was used as a technique for constructing building structures since the 1870s, also appeared in Kharkiv. This material gained positions in architecture and construction from 1895 to 1925 and was widely used for construction in Kharkiv. Since the late 1920s, reinforced concrete has become traditional building material.  In the USSR, the Institute of Construction, established in 1927, was of great importance for the development of experimental and technical research in the field of reinforced concrete structures. This institute had held several All-USSR conferences to discuss the use of reinforced concrete. The first two conferences were held in Moscow and Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg), and the 3d I All-USSR was held in Kharkiv in 1934. By that time Kharkiv already had its own rather powerful school of reinforced concrete use, represented by both architects and engineers. Architects comprehended the reinforced concrete structures aesthetically. Engineers worked on improving the technical characteristics of such structures, implying new technologies. A striking example of the Kharkiv school's building from reinforced concrete is Derzhprom. The calculations, the principles of reinforced concrete structures buildings, and technical solutions were pioneered at this object that was to become an example for the structuring of reinforced concrete factory buildings of the 1930s.  And the first modular house in the USSR was built at 40 Pushkinskaya Street in Kharkiv. Its design was created by the architect's team - Mykola Plekhov, Oleksiy Tatsyy, O. Postnikov - and engineer Andriy Vatsenko. Construction was completed in 1933. This 6-story house is one of the brightest examples of the avant-garde with elements of classical architecture. The building has features of avant-garde architecture though its three-part divided facade is clearly influenced by classical buildings. The building on Pushkinskaya str., 40 was an achievement of the Ukrainian Scientific Institute of Buildings (UNIS or UkrDIS). This organization gathered a young team of like-minded people who, under the guidance of engineer A. Vatsenko, conducted research and designed a significant number of experimental buildings.  It is important to note that the staff of the Institute identified 13 basic principles of prefabricated industrial construction. Principle 1 says: "Separate elements of the buildings have to be typified and standardized, and this typification and standardization of building elements are not supposed to interfere not the quality of housing, nor architecture or decoration of the building."  Unfortunately, in the 1960s, economic reasons became more important than architectural and artistic ones, and residential dwellings that were bright examples of architecture once were transformed into mass production. Olga Shvydenko