(Max Avdeev/For The Washington Post)The Soviets built Margarita Smurova’s five-story apartment building — and tens of thousands more like it — with an expiration date that’s long since passed. (Max Avdeev/For The Washington Post)In 1954, the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev began the largest urban development project in history. But it’s hard to communicate its values because they’re invisible.”When they first appeared, the apartment buildings were hailed as a revelation. But Russian attitudes toward the prefab housing grew darker in later years, particularly as the apartment buildings grew larger and the infrastructure decrepit. (Max Avdeev/For The Washington Post)Nowadays, these Soviet buildings have become shorthand for working-class neighborhoods.

Source: Washington Post April 17, 2017 08:26 UTC