It’s often said that what’s inside matters more than one’s looks, but it’s hard to argue that a product’s looks and its physical user experience are what makes it inst…
Boring is cheap. Look at the way houses and apartments are being built now. Soviet Bloc Block Housing. No need for architects if the preexisting plans are pre-approved.
Yay capitalism.
Edit: a lot of people are missing the nuance. Surprise.
Yep, 35 storeys and 400 units of plain beige whatever.
But you’re missing the value of the modern mixed-use building. They just finished one nearby and it’s insane:
ground-floor light commercial - a pizza place, a daycare and I think a pet store in there so far
parking is secure and underground, with a loading bay,
2 floors of professional - physios and notaries and some ad-hoc wework space
30 floors of apartments
an entire floor of guest space - airBnB units, essentially - and common play-space.
All these pictures are accurate as I remember from the tour:
The units will look more familiar if you’ve been to Northern Europe, but a bit bigger. We looked at a 1150sqft 3bd unit with huge triple-pane windows and - 2024 building code - A/C built-in. If you don’t count a garage - underground parking - the bigger ones are like small ranchers stacked on one another – in concrete, so you don’t notice you have neighbours.
They’re not Bloc blocks; they put a few of these together and they have a small city.
I’ve just been reminded that in the wonderful 70s people felt a bit similarly suppressed and the future dim as compared to 60s as we do now as compared to 00s.
Nothing is new.
What is important, though, is that nothing existing has been given to us be benevolent or harsh, kind or cruel gods. It has all been built by people just like us.
To dream and to work are the most important parts.
Been reading Vonnegut again and it’s astonishing how he’s calling out the exact same societal ills we have today. Only thing he missed was global warming and that’s because many in the 70s thought we were headed for an ice age.
Boring is cheap. Look at the way houses and apartments are being built now. Soviet Bloc Block Housing. No need for architects if the preexisting plans are pre-approved.
Yay capitalism.
Edit: a lot of people are missing the nuance. Surprise.
Yep, 35 storeys and 400 units of plain beige whatever.
But you’re missing the value of the modern mixed-use building. They just finished one nearby and it’s insane:
All these pictures are accurate as I remember from the tour:
The units will look more familiar if you’ve been to Northern Europe, but a bit bigger. We looked at a 1150sqft 3bd unit with huge triple-pane windows and - 2024 building code - A/C built-in. If you don’t count a garage - underground parking - the bigger ones are like small ranchers stacked on one another – in concrete, so you don’t notice you have neighbours.
They’re not Bloc blocks; they put a few of these together and they have a small city.
except at least the commie blocks were affordable lol
“cheap to build” meant “cheap to rent”, not “our housing company is making record-breaking profits! 😃”
There were not “affordable”, they were allocated. One could somehow improve the chance of being “given” that via connections.
And if you changed a workplace, it could be taken back. It wasn’t yours.
the apt i live in isnt mine either. plus i have to pay to live on it.
OK. Suppose so.
I’ve just been reminded that in the wonderful 70s people felt a bit similarly suppressed and the future dim as compared to 60s as we do now as compared to 00s.
Nothing is new.
What is important, though, is that nothing existing has been given to us be benevolent or harsh, kind or cruel gods. It has all been built by people just like us.
To dream and to work are the most important parts.
Been reading Vonnegut again and it’s astonishing how he’s calling out the exact same societal ills we have today. Only thing he missed was global warming and that’s because many in the 70s thought we were headed for an ice age.