NEW SOVIET BUILDINGS HAVE LOTS OF LIGHT, LITTLE AIR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B01039R002204380026-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 23, 2013
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: August 28, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/23 :CIA-RDP92B01039R002204380026-1
Continued on Page Z4, ~otmm~ a ~ t,onunuea on Yage Lz, c;otumn 5 i c:onne>teu on rage cc, ~otumn s i c;onunuea on rage s~, wturr=~. ~,
New SovietBuildi i s Have Lots of Light, Little Air
STAT
d~Av;,r ~~
By RAYMOND H. AN ERSON
SpeMal to The Ntw York Ttmen
MOSC0~2~lass
and steel architecture, domi-
nant in Soviet construction
in recent years, is rapidly
transforming the skyline of
Moscow, but Soviet archi-
tects and builders have over-
looked something in their
passion for glass-fresh air.
1VL~~lern office bu4 ~ings,
hotels and apartr~~nt ii'~as~s,
their large expanses of glass
flashing brillantly in the sum-
mer sun, tower above the
cupolas of centuries-old Rus-
sian Orthodox churches.
Attractive glass cafe,
shops and hairdressing salons
stand in gleaming contrast to
ponderous, heavily
mented brick and
buildings.
orna -
stucco
Yet the glass palms often
la^k windows tha
buildings of glass and
Tass trom Sovfoto
steel are changing. the skyline
Most of them also lack fans,
ventilation and air-condition-
ing.
When the summer sun
burns through the glass, the
result is misery. Office work-
ers gasp and wilt at their
desks. Diners in restaurants
perspire in a stifling atmos-
phere, besieged by heavy
odors of broscht and fryng
meat from the kitchenu.
Women wither in agony in
crowded hairdressing salons
waiting for appointments
with equally suffering em-
ployes.
Occasionally, when the
heat becomes unbearable and
the stale air's carbon dioxide
content dangerous, a crowd-
ed office has to be exacuated.
In the city o! Kuibyshev, on
the central Volga, medical
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/23 :CIA-RDP92B01039R002204380026-1
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/23: ,
CIA-RDP92B01039R002204380026-1 (~,~ ~kj~pY On Ajr
--_..
Continued From Page ~ 1, ~-where built or how to operate "An analysis of the air in
them. There are no repairmen the classrooms showed that the
authorities ordered that a and no instruction books. There content of carbon dioxide ex-
glass school, the pride of is no organization responsible ceeded acceptable nprms by,
local architecture; be closed for the service and repair of
because of the carbon diox- air-conditioning units." 1.8 to 2.6 times. This causes
idehazard to the pupils. ` The neglect of ventilation pupils to faint and to suffer
The plight of the victims of needs in glass buildings, the nosebleeds and headaches, re-
glass architecture is poignantly humorist says, was most dis- quiring urgent medical help for
dbscribed by Boris Yegorov, a tressingly illustrated in the large groups."
Soviet humorist, in the latest Kuibyshev school that was or-
edition of the satirical journal dered closed, a trim structure Undaunted by the stones be-
Krokodil. \ for 2,000 children. ing thrown at their glass struc-
Depicting the glassy-eyed suf- field meets only a small frac- tures, Soviet architects and
fering of people in unventilated tion of the demand. Even builders are pressing on with
glass stores, hotels and other among the few air-conditioning Projects in Moscow and other
buildings, he scornfully asks installations in large buildings, leading cities.
architects: he adds, only ,one of five is in Recently, plans were dis-
"Is it possible that you failed. operating condition. closed for the construction of a
to realize that such buildings,, "The others stand idle," Mr. 65-story glass and steel head-
visited by thousands of people Yegorov complains. quarters for the Ministry oP
each da must have some form' They stand idle because no- Power and Electrification. This
Y
~
y of ventilation?" body understands how they skyscraper-would be twice as
it Air-conditioning is the obvi= Medical authorities issued the High as the city's present tallest
. c caxrnr TQr VPanrnv rnn_ fnllnwinQ indictment of the building, the Universitv of Mos-
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/23
CIA-RDP92B01039R002204380026-1