Apartment in a panel house: design, layout and project overview (115 photos) | ivd.ru
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12 Mar 2023
We consider the pros and cons of apartments in the panel, choose the appropriate style and figure out what to do with the layout when most of the walls are load-bearing, using the example of real apartments.
Typical "panels" are well known to all of us. The designers took into account the shortcomings of the Khrushchevs and made this type of housing more comfortable, but still not without drawbacks. We will talk about the pros and cons in this article. And we will also analyze the most popular layouts in panel houses and analyze how you can beat their features on the example of implemented projects.
All about the design of an apartment in a panel house
Features
Despite dozens of different series, all panels have common features that need to be taken into account when repairing such housing.
Low ceilings
One of the most striking features of typical houses of the late Soviet period is low ceilings. Of course, in the newer series they have become a little higher (2.7, and somewhere 2.8 m), but most often they are familiar to the owners of Khrushchev indicators of 2.5-2.6 meters.
Unlike other architectural features that can be changed, nothing can be done with the height of the ceilings. So you need to work with what you have. Various decorative techniques help to achieve the desired visual effect: for example, to paint the ceiling white, to use vertical stripes on the walls or coloring a color block, to make illumination around the perimeter, to choose low furniture, etc.
Load-bearing structures
In panel houses, photos of apartments in which we will show below, almost all the walls are load-bearing.
Since they are forbidden to be demolished or moved, this reduces the possibility of redevelopment to a minimum. As a result, there remains a meager set of permissible maneuvers: to move the entrance to the room or to combine the bathroom. In any case, all changes need to be coordinated, and also make sure that the wall from which the manipulations are planned is not a load-bearing one. Also, not every partition will be allowed to make an opening: for example, in some series of houses, reinforcing elements are built into the structure of the building itself, which protect the building from progressive collapse.
Poor sound insulation
High audibility is as vivid an association with panels as low ceilings and small rooms.
Noise insulation in such houses is much weaker than in monolithic and brick ones. As a result, you can hear everything: neighbors' quarrels, music, repairs after several floors, and even ordinary conversations in old houses. You will have to deal with the problem locally within your apartment. You can contact specialists and make a full-fledged sound insulation of all rooms. This is effective, but it requires money and time.
Among the simpler ways:
Smooth walls
But this feature refers to the advantages of panel houses.
The walls are smooth, they do not need additional rough finishing, even if the overhaul in the panel house was a long time ago. This significantly saves time and money during interior renovation. Also, thanks to well-aligned surfaces, you can experiment with finishing materials: choose any wallpaper, paint, decorative plaster. If the canvases are patterned, it will be easier to neatly dock the rolls.
Small rooms
Does a three- or four-bedroom apartment sound luxurious? Absolutely! But until you look at the layout and see a total area of 60-80 squares and rooms of 8-11 sq. m.
And if you remember about the low ceilings and the impossibility of global redevelopment, then a sad picture emerges. In fact, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments in panels are often quite good: with a fairly large kitchen and living rooms. But the more isolated zones there are, the smaller the area of each individual room becomes. This will have to be corrected again for the most part by decorative techniques: use light finishes, mirrors, light textiles and abandon bulky furniture. You can also put interior doors with transparent glass inserts, this will make the space more airy and light.
Apartment layouts in a panel house
Let's consider options for typical layouts for different apartments. And using the example of projects, we will analyze how you can transform the space, completely or almost without affecting the original plan.
One-room apartment
This one-room apartment is located in the house of the 2003 modern series. The area is small, only 39 squares, but the advantages include a spacious kitchen (9.2 sq. m.).
The customer was the daughter of the future owner of the apartment. The housing was designed as a gift, and when creating the project, the designer had to take into account the tastes and lifestyle of a mature woman. The original planning solution assumed a large hallway, so it was decided to allocate part of it for a comfortable full-fledged dressing room. A separate bathroom was combined. No other changes were made.
Since the housing is quite new, already of the post-Soviet period, the ceilings here are slightly higher than in Khrushchevki and Brezhnevki, 2.7 m. They were painted white and laconic stucco cornices were added, a traditional neoclassical element. The palette turned out to be both calm and diverse: there are both basic shades (beige, white, gray) and muted pastels (pistachio, pink, purple). The wall behind the sofa bed was covered with accent wallpaper with the image of Japanese sakura, which the customer's mother loves.
Two-room
This one-bedroom apartment belongs to a girl. Despite the small area (54 square meters), according to the original plan, residential premises of 17 and 12 square meters were allocated. m respectively.
No changes were made to the original plan, they did not even begin to combine the bathroom and toilet. The designers worked with the available volumes, but not without interesting solutions. So, for example, the location of the zones turned out to be non-standard: usually the living room is made the room closest to the kitchen, but the hostess likes to receive guests at home, so it was decided to arrange the common space in the largest and, accordingly, the farthest room. To beat this, the storage system was moved from the bedroom to the corridor leading from the entrance to the living room. Thus, the private area turned out to be light and not crowded with furniture, and the rooms are visually connected to each other.
The color scheme is also unusual. In small sizes, and even with a low ceiling (it is only 2.5 meters here), deep dark shades are rarely used, but the designers, together with the hostess, decided on such an experiment. The palette is diluted with bright accents, wood texture and white color.
Three-room
This three-piece is located in the house of the P-111M series and belongs to a married couple with two daughters.
The initial conditions were not bad: three living areas with an area of 17, 12 and 12 sq. m (they were given for the bedrooms of spouses and daughters), a kitchen of 9.2 sq. m, a balcony and a large hallway. We made a minor redevelopment: we combined a bathroom with a toilet, allocated a dressing room in the parents' room and changed the location of the partition between their bedroom and the corridor. At the entrance there was originally a storage room, it was turned into a second bathroom. Since there was no separate room for the living room, the recreation area was organized on the insulated loggia at the kitchen.
The owners had no specific wishes about the style, so the authors of the project designed the space in the spirit of eclecticism. The color scheme turned out to be rich, but restrained and cozy. Shades flow into each other from zone to zone, and natural materials are organically combined with artificial ones.
Four-room
This project is a typical example of multi-room housing in a panel, which at the same time is comparable in area to a modern two-bedroom apartment.
So, the square footage of this four-room apartment is only 67 sq. m! Naturally, there simply could not be large rooms here: the owners had a kitchen less than 6 meters and isolated rooms with an area of about 9 squares at their disposal. The only exception is the living room of 19.7 sq. m. A soft zone and a dining group were organized in it, as well as the largest storage system (the rest were placed in the bedroom and hallway). The owner of the apartment is a girl, she lives alone, but her mother often comes to visit. Also, the customer needed a separate office.
Redevelopment was not done, all the rooms remained within their borders, including a separate bathroom. This was the wish of the hostess. The smallest rooms were allocated for bedrooms, the middle one for an office. Despite the fact that there is a dining area in the living room, the kitchen has been allocated space for a small round table with a couple of chairs. It is convenient to have breakfast, drink coffee and have lunch at it.
In general, the interior is designed in a typical small-bar style: laconic basic finish, light furniture. But the hostess also likes bright colors, so a rich blue set appeared in the kitchen, and accent wallpaper in the bedrooms. All this is complemented by a variety of decor that the girl brings from traveling.
Choosing a style
You can arrange housing in a panel house in almost any style, the choice of direction depends primarily on your tastes.
It can be either minimalism or scandi, or, for example, eclecticism or vintage, any moderate eclecticism will also look good. However, it is necessary to take into account the features of the apartments in the panels, which we talked about earlier. It is better to abandon interior styles that require a large area, high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as an open plan.
First of all, this is a loft in its purest form. But no one forbids taking some elements from it: for example, lining one of the walls with decorative bricks, using plaster for concrete or adding accessories in an industrial style. Also, the classic style as it is will not work. But it will be perfectly replaced by neoclassicism, in which the features of traditional interiors are preserved, but at the same time it is lighter, more concise and suitable for small cars. If you have inherited antique furniture or vintage decor, feel free to integrate them into a modern environment to get an interesting and original mix.
