5 ms·

The Soviets built these type of buildings at the same speed in the 60s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel%C3%A1k http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel%C3%A1k Amaz

by mianos 11y ago

The Soviets built these type of buildings at the same speed in the 60s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel%C3%A1k http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel%C3%A1k Amazing, doing it higher than 20 floors though.

smcl 11y ago
These paneláky were built at some scale in Czech Republic too. They're a little grim normally, but quite a lot get painted in nice pastel colours so many look quite pretty sometimes. I stayed in one in Brno for a while, the walls are paper thin so I had a very ... intimate knowledge of what my neighbours were up to (our bedrooms were adjacent, as were the bathrooms) and vice versa :)
- mianos 11y ago
  I know, we own one in Slovakia. :) Pretty badly built but compared to the ones in Moscow the Slovak ones are huge. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eGxBiuFCFsU/Sd89UGTbtCI/AAAAAAAADBo/OiyhKoe94-s/w829-h622-no/IMG_0509.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eGxBiuFCFsU/Sd89UGTbtCI/A...
  - smcl 11y ago
    I don't mind them so much tbh. It's pretty surprising how similar they can be though, I saw that picture and thought "that looks like my girlfriend's parent's place in Prievidza"
    - mianos 11y ago
      They all look similar because they are all constructed from the same pre-fabricated panels, like this Chinese building. The interesting thing to me is seeing the slow change of the designs over time. In Puchov they have about four series of designs. Fifty buildings but all one of the four basic designs.
      - smcl 11y ago
        BTW - unrelated but are you aware of any nearby HN-style meetups (Vienna, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest)?
nkoren 11y ago
I am unfamiliar with the paneláky, but I would be surprised if they were built at a comparable speed. While I am aware of large building shells which have been constructed on this sort of timescale, they still required many months/years of fit-out afterwards (plumbing, electricity, fine interior finishing). what is unique about what Broad Group is doing is that they are assembling fully fitted-out modules, which are essentially ready for move-in the day after construction is complete. The only historical analogues I'm aware of are things like Moshe Safde's Habitat 67[1] and some Japanese "metabolist" buildings.[2] But those have been architectural experiments without any real financial viability. What Broad Group is doing is unique in that they are making it commercially viable at scale. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism_%28architecture%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism_%28architecture%29
- minthd 11y ago
  In the article they mentioned the issue of leaks.I read about it in another piece about an American pre-fab building, where it has been a huge problem. What do you think about that issue ? how can it be solved ?

by mianos 11y ago

smcl 11y ago

These paneláky were built at some scale in Czech Republic too. They're a little grim normally, but quite a lot get painted in nice pastel colours so many look quite pretty sometimes. I stayed in one in Brno for a while, the walls are paper thin so I had a very ... intimate knowledge of what my neighbours were up to (our bedrooms were adjacent, as were the bathrooms) and vice versa :)

mianos 11y ago
I know, we own one in Slovakia. :) Pretty badly built but compared to the ones in Moscow the Slovak ones are huge. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eGxBiuFCFsU/Sd89UGTbtCI/AAAAAAAADBo/OiyhKoe94-s/w829-h622-no/IMG_0509.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eGxBiuFCFsU/Sd89UGTbtCI/A...
- smcl 11y ago
  I don't mind them so much tbh. It's pretty surprising how similar they can be though, I saw that picture and thought "that looks like my girlfriend's parent's place in Prievidza"
  - mianos 11y ago
    They all look similar because they are all constructed from the same pre-fabricated panels, like this Chinese building. The interesting thing to me is seeing the slow change of the designs over time. In Puchov they have about four series of designs. Fifty buildings but all one of the four basic designs.
    - smcl 11y ago
      BTW - unrelated but are you aware of any nearby HN-style meetups (Vienna, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest)?

nkoren 11y ago

I am unfamiliar with the paneláky, but I would be surprised if they were built at a comparable speed. While I am aware of large building shells which have been constructed on this sort of timescale, they still required many months/years of fit-out afterwards (plumbing, electricity, fine interior finishing). what is unique about what Broad Group is doing is that they are assembling fully fitted-out modules, which are essentially ready for move-in the day after construction is complete. The only historical analogues I'm aware of are things like Moshe Safde's Habitat 67[1] and some Japanese "metabolist" buildings.[2] But those have been architectural experiments without any real financial viability. What Broad Group is doing is unique in that they are making it commercially viable at scale. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism_%28architecture%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism_%28architecture%29

minthd 11y ago
In the article they mentioned the issue of leaks.I read about it in another piece about an American pre-fab building, where it has been a huge problem. What do you think about that issue ? how can it be solved ?