It is known that seismic activity in Armenia occasionally exceeds the normal limits. In spite of the fact, many houses here are built without observing essential construction standards. In the event of an earthquake, many of them will be easily demolished falling onto each other.
There is a saying according to which every Armenian must plant a tree, raise a son and attach a house to his apartment in Yerevan.
The 5-storey houses that used to look neat and nice in Soviet times resemble now the Shanghainese slums.
Unauthorized construction is progressing rapidly and hampers movement. Houses are totally hidden behind adjacent accommodations.
People add new floors to the roofs and new rooms to the houses they live in.
Free space in the yards is occupied by garages and numerous buildings used for different purposes.
Due to unauthorized construction the size of the building can be increased twice.
The building itself can be totally closed with new utility rooms.
No one cares about the architectural component.
It is up to every dweller to decide how many new rooms he ot she needs.
The building is totally reconstructed.
Look at the wonders of architecture.
If you can’t afford building new rooms, just fence a piece of land around the house.
Building patios on the roofs is quite common.
Planning permission is not necessary, no problems with authorities are expected and the building will hardly be demolished.
Location: Yerevan, Armenia
via zyalt
Well, it has its charm…
Great images of an urban lifestyle; non- conformist and risk takers.
Armenia might have its fair share of problems, at least the people are free to build what they want. A freedom that is lost in most countries.
When they become more prosperous, sure enough they will start paying more attention to safety, quality and decorum.
Free to do (build) whatever people want is not a freedom. It is an anarchy. Almost certainly many neighbors will suffer at some point from that ignorant building.
Looks like New Orleans 9th ward.
Poor man´s ideas of how to humanize the tragically ugly and cheap Soviet houses. Guess the patio would be harmless for the static of the joke if constructed as light wooden pergola.
We also have people who like to expand they’re living area in the apartment buildings, but it’s much more modest and much less ugly than what is shown in those pictures.
I like freedom of choice, but this seems a little ‘over the top’.
Soviet style architecture combined with Middle Eastern style mud hut architecture, it’s actually looked really good why do people dislike it?
haha russian or no-russian people are the same everywhere… (yes even those in the west)
A. Bunka here. What this thing corrects our spelling too?
One thing that does not exist in an organized society is freedom to build where and how you like. You must pay proper bribe first, and if you can’t afford bribe, comply. Zoning does serve a purpose:in Tbilisi you see very tall buildings on blocks with nothing but one family houses and it looks out of place.
A. Bunka here. My posts still get deleted. As much as I would like to share with you all I can not sorry.
I hate censorship. Don’t fear the truth haters. Leave Archy alone.
seriously, considering how much concrete was likely stolen from the original buildings by various contractors, party aparachniks and mafia types during the original construction, my guess is that the additions on those bloks is not the chief safety concern there.
anything to cover up the original “modernist” designs of soviet style bloks is quite and improvement, though these additions are not the prettiest thing i’ve seen done with brick and mortar.
IOB TVOIU MATI with all your censorship
I bet the inside if those places are cozy and clean… pride on the inside of the house who cares about the outside, best not to attract attention
And when the next earthquake happens everyone will be wailing and moaning about the high number of casualties(from these buildings collapsing).
It looks like the Brazilian “favelas”, It’s like buildins on the Rio de Janeiro’s hills.
Actually it looks a lot like ordinary brazilian cities, not really the “favelas”. Most of Brazil looks like a big slum.
Slumization on its way!!
At least they spend their time and energy trying to live better. Most countries in the region are consumed by religious fanatism and live much worse.
who knows how they live over there? we never get shown a “normal” day in these places on satellite TV in English language. Hoovering the carpet in Yerevan or Kurdistan will not make it to the BBC.