ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Brezhnevka

Imagine you are playing with building blocks and you want to build a house. You take one block and put it on top of another block, then another block on top of that, and keep going until you have a tall tower of blocks. This is kind of how a Brezhnevka building is made.

Brezhnevka is a word that people use to describe a type of apartment building that was very common in the Soviet Union during the time of a leader named Leonid Brezhnev. These buildings were not like normal houses with gardens and yards. Instead, they were really tall buildings with many floors and lots of apartments inside.

Just like when you build a tower with blocks, a Brezhnevka building is made by stacking many similar parts on top of each other. Each individual part is called a module. These modules are like small apartments that can fit a few rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and sometimes a balcony.

Once the modules are made, they are transported to the building site and stacked on top of each other with a crane, just like how you stack your blocks. This is why Brezhnevka buildings often look like they have many rows of identical windows.

These buildings were quickly built because the Soviet government wanted to provide housing for many people in a short amount of time. They made the modules in factories, so they could be mass-produced and assembled quickly. However, because they were built so quickly, the quality of the construction was not always very good.

The inside of Brezhnevka apartments had some good things and some not-so-good things. They had basic things like electricity, plumbing, and heating, which were important for people to live comfortably. But the apartments were often small and cramped, with thin walls that made it easy to hear your neighbors. Sometimes, the buildings were not built with good insulation, so they could be either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.

Brezhnevka buildings were seen as a symbol of the time when Leonid Brezhnev was in power in the Soviet Union. They were built all over the country, so many people lived in them. Some people liked living in Brezhnevka apartments because they were affordable and convenient, while others did not like them because of the problems with the construction and design.

Today, many Brezhnevka buildings still exist, although they are now quite old. Some people still live in them, while others have been renovated or demolished. They are a reminder of a time when many people needed housing quickly, but also a reminder of the challenges and limitations of that time.