NBS SPECIAL PUBLICATION 334 Industrialized Building In the Soviet Union r UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE • Maurice H. Stans, Secretary NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS • Lewis M. Branscomb, Director Industrialized Building in the Soviet Union (A Report of the U.S. Delegation to the U.S.S.R.) James R. Wright, Editor Building Research Division Institute for Applied Technology National Bureau of Standards Washington, D.C. 20234 National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 334 Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Spec. Publ. 334, 81 pages (December 1970) CODEN: XNBSA Issued May 1971 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (Order by SD Catalog No. C13. 10:334), Price 75 cents Key words Building economics; building systems; construction industry; housing; precast concrete; production capacity; production management; production methods; standardization; United Soviet Socialist Republics Abstract The 1969 Exchange delegation to the USSR reports the status of Soviet building industrialization, with emphasis on Soviet housing. The report describes the State management hierarchy, produc- tion of precast concrete components and housing construction procedures. The loadbearing panel system, the mainstay of Soviet prefabricated housing, is compared with the newer three- dimensional box system. Detailed analysis is made of the cost of a nine- story panel prefabricated apartment building in the USSR, and the cost of the same building if constructed in the U.S. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-607803 Members of the U.S. Delegation Dr. James R. Wright David Watstein W. Burr Bennett, Jr. Philip D. Bush William W. Caudill Charles C. Law, Jr. Fred W. Mast Dr. Charles J. Orlebeke iii Contents Preface > Utilities v page 26 The Absence of Integration Foreword page 27 Background Utilities for Housing The Technical Exchange Program Pieces, Panels, and Boxes Delegates Building Type Specialization page 28 Itinerary ;,. Pieces page 28 The Soviet Union and Industrialization Panels page 29 Commitment ' ^' " Boxes page 31 The Leap to Industrialization The Great Debate page 32 ' The Housing Record The Demise of the Architect Justification for Industrialization The Problem of Atrophy page 32 Needs and Life Style User Catalog Systems page 33 User Needs Determination Production Life Style The Trend to Turnkey Responsibility Housing and Resources Allocation Combines and Trusts page 34 The Size of an Apartment Turnkey Justification page 34 The Rebuilding of Tashkent Precast Plant Operations Organization for Construction The Scope and Scale of Prefabrication page 35 The Management Hierarchy Production Flow page 37 Gosstroy Vertical Battery Molds page 38 The Lesser Gosstroy Fixed Casting Beds page 38 Cost Control and Construction Pallet Casting Trucks page 38 Management Conveyors page 38 Building Standards page 43 and Research Curing and Time Cycles A National Code Case Studies Gosstroy and the Research Institutes Moscow Combine No. 1 page 44 The Process for Soviet Research Moscow Combine No. 9 page 44 Design page 45 Moscow Experimental Panel Factory Design for Industrialization page 46 The Standardization Approach Kiev Trust No. 1 page 46 Soviet Design for Housing Leningrad Combine No. 2 page 47 Tashkent Combine DSK-1 FTlodular Coordination page 47 Kiev Combine No. 3 Materials Construction The Tradition of Brick The Promise of Efficiency The Move to Precast Concrete Rapid Construction 49 The Lesser Materials page The Nine-Story Apartment House page 49 The Donetsk Five-Story Apartment House page 53 iv Contents continued Conclusions from the Ukraine page 53 Commentary page 54 Construction for Seismic Loads page 54 The Question of Quality Quantity Before Quality page 56 Evidence page 57 Economics and Industrialization USSR and USA: the Cost of Housing Unit Costs page 60 Comparison: USSR and Western Europe page 61 USSR Systems: Advantages and page 61 Disadvantages Housing Standards: USSR and USA page 61 The Cost of USSR Methods for US Housing page 62 Analysis of the US Construction Industry page 71 Extension of Industrialization to US Housing page 71 Summary page 73 Commentary on the Soviet Experiment Industrialization Imperative for Housing page 73 Process, Test-Bed, and Execution page 74 The Unofficial Record page 74 The Job Remaining page 74 V 1 Tables Illustrations Table 1 USSR Housing Production 1964-1969 page 9 The American Delegation page 4 Table 2 Apartment House Basic Information page 22 The Soviet Union: Itinerary page 5 Table 3 Kiev Nine Story Apartment House page 48 Exchange Hospitality page 8 Table 4 Kiev Apartment House Bereznyaki page 50 Moscow: Conveyor Control Station page 10 No. 18 Moscow: The New Housing Environment page 11 Table 5 Bereznyaki No. 18 Cost Accounting page 53 Moscow: The New Housing Environment page 12 Table 6 Donetsk Five Story Apartment Houses page 54 Typical Apartment House Floor Plan page 12 Table 7 Tashkent Four Story Apartment House page 55 Kiev: Seventeen-Story Apartment House page 14 Table 8 Relative Cost by Construction Type page 60 Leningrad: A Unique Building: Bus Service page 22 Table 9 Kiev Cheapest Apartment Series Unit page 60 Barn Cost Moscow: A Unique Building: TV Center Tower page 23 Table 10 Apartment House Construction Unit page 61 Moscow: Cast-ln-Place Piping Exhibit page 24 Cost Moscow: Panel Utility Core Exhibit page 25 Table 1 USSR and US HAA Housing Standards page 61 Kiev: Bathroom Prefabrication page 26 Table 12 US and USSR Systems Cost page 63 Moscow: Precast Column-Deck-Wall page 27 Comparisons Assembly Exhibit Table 13 Summary of Costs page 63 Kiev: Industrial Construction: Taxi Garage page 28 Table 14 Factory, Transport, and Site Labor page 64 Kiev: Precast Concrete Girders page 29 Cost Leningrad: Loadbearing Panel Construction page 29 Table 15 Material Costs: Architectural and page 64 Leningrad: Pin and Socket Connection Detail page 30 Structural Leningrad: Bathroom Boxes Awaiting page 31 Table 16 Material Costs: Plumbing and Heating page 65 Finishing Table 17 Material Costs: Electrical page 65 Moscow: Conveyor Panel Fabrication: Tilt page 39 Table 18 Equipment Rental Costs page 66 and Pick-Up Table 19 Supplemental Construction Costs page 66 Moscow: Conveyor Panel Fabrication: page 40 Table 20 Annual Panel Plant Costs Excluding page 67 Vibrate and Screed Labor & Production Materials Moscow: Conveyor Panel Fabrication: page 40 Table 21 Costs: Landscaping, Walks, and page 68 Finishing Parking Moscow: Conveyor Panel Fabrication: page 40 Table 22 Land Cost page 68 Curing Oven Table 23 Financing Cost Associated with page 68 Moscow: Conveyor Panel Fabrication: page 40 Typical Apartment Building Form Stripping Table 24 US Labor Costs for Equivalent USSR page 69 Two Level Conveyor Schematic page 41 Labor Input Kiev: Reinforcing Cage Fabrication page 42 Table 25 Current Conventional US Costs page 70 Kiev: Reinforcing Steel Cages page 42 Table 26 Conversion Factors page 75 Kiev: Automatic'Welder for Wire Mesh page 45 Kiev: Reinforcing Cage Welding page 45 Leningrad: Finished Panels Ready for page 46 Trucking Ilustrations continued Leningrad: Nine-Story Apartment House page 49 Nearing Completion Leningrad: Panel Trucking page 56 Moscow: Milling Plant: Window Sash page 57 Production Moscow: Milling Plant: Window Sash page 57 Production Leningrad: Tiled Exterior Panel Erection page 58 Leningrad: Corner Connection at Floor Slab page 58 Detail Kiev: Column-Girder-Beam Connection page 59 Leningrad: Fenestration Erection page 59 Leningrad: Exterior Wall Panel Erection page 72 Kiev: Precast Concrete Fabrication Plant page 72 Leningrad: Entry Detail page 73 vii — Preface both This report is botin an amalgamation and a synthesis of eight Office of Soviet and Eastern European Affairs—for assistance reports-—one from each member of the American delegation which in our Soviet visit and in the preparation of this report. traveled to the USSR August 23-September 9, 1969, to examine Soviet management, planning, design, production and construc- The Exchanges Agreement also provided for a tour of the US This tour tion practices. building industry by a Soviet delegation. was made September 29-October 16, 1969. The US/USSR Exchanges Agreement under which we traveled stipulated that emphasis be placed on the "industrialization of the Dr. James R. Wright building process. ' The Building Research Division of the National Chairman Bureau of Standards' Institute for Applied Technology, which along with the Department of State sponsored the exchange program, was especially interested in Soviet methods of evaluating innova- tions in building processes and products. This interest was shared by the delegation members who represent a wide range of US building industry sectors. Because trends in the United States appear inclined toward greater use of industrialized techniques, the US delegation was most eager to learn of the experiences of a nation whose pre- eminence in industrialized building techniques is readily acknowl- edged. Our itinerary, while structured to provide a general overview of Russian building practices, was arranged primarily to yield an understanding of the industrialized procedures employed by the Soviets in answering very heavy shelter demands. We took to the USSR a set of pre-formed questions, responses to which form much of the raw material of this report. Once inside the USSR, however, we found that the vast differences between the US and USSR systems rendered some of these questions irrele- vant. Also, some of the questions were simply not answered or not answered amply. Finally, there was a communication problem: Virtually all of what we learned was conveyed through verbal translation; the possibility of error or distortion creeping into the translation process was always present. Our visit was made easier by the advance preparation we re- ceived from the Department of State. We are indebted to State particularly to Mr. Franz H. Misch, foreign affairs officer in the viii Foreword The original reports of the eight American delegates to the Soviet Union were brought together in a limited circulation Na- tional Bureau of Standards publication titled Report of the US Delegation to the Soviet Union.