The Nature of the Phenomenon
The mass construction of the preceding period — Stalin's rule — consisted of two- and three-story wooden barracks. The Soviet Authority believed that the Soviet Union would prevail in international competition because the next generation of Soviet citizens, having grown up en masse free from the need to worry about daily bread, would be head and shoulders above their foreign counterparts. To that end, creating a material foundation for such a program became an important goal. The first step in the architectural sphere was the mass construction of apartment buildings.
Apartments in the "Khrushchoby" were given to those who had previously lived in barracks (typically workers of rural origin) and communal apartments (the intelligentsia).
"Khrushchoby" occupy an intermediate position between the Stalinist barrack and the Brezhnevite nine-story block.
Cultural Significance
The "Khrushchoba" proved to be one of the most costly symbols of dead-end development and an absence of hope for the future: among residential structures, only favelas lack any exterior finishing whatsoever. Even the entrances to the caves used as dwellings in prehistoric times were always decorated.