Why All New Apartment Buildings Look Identical - Cheddar Explains

Low income housing in disguise meant to raise crime in the future

The housing would be useful if these 5 over 1s were actually affordable for the communities they pop up in but they aren't. Normally the community is priced out of being able to afford these apartments

They’re going to make people give up their homes and move to those

I plan on running into some wealth and I want to kinda build stuff like this with gyms and basketball ball courts possibly swimming pools in the facility. I’m undecided and the right perfect opportunity will present itself.

Does public Housing fall into federal or state responsibility in the USA?

These damn things are blighting every area around where I live in New jersey! I hope these buildings become America's version of Ghost cities\buildings. Let these greedy unimaginative creeps loose their pants! I have no pity on them!

I call these things Commie blocks. Entire cities look exactly the same like the soviet union.

Where is it

It's kinda scary how these are similar to the Khrushchevka that dominated the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the 1960s.

This is just what Los Angeles is now

These aren’t ugly so long as you paint them nice and give them some level of depth and texture with some greenery and nice lights.

Most of the problems pointed out in this video are down to buildings either not being properly engineered or more likely someone cheaping out during the construction process. Though soundproofing is indeed a problem in all types of wooden buildings. It's also important to note that when those buildings burn down, it's usually during construction, before most of the fireproofing systems are installed, when people live in them, they aren't any more or less safe than any other type of multi-story residential building. Concerning the design, it might be a bit generic, but I'd prefer it to the regular mid rise residential building here in Europe. At least the Americans do some kind of decoration, even if it is at times uninspired, in Europe a house very often is just four flat, plastered walls and a roof - which I find to be very bland.

They make every town and city look the same which is boring. They all look identical in the UK too.

i dropped into los angeles and found one of these buildings under construction within 30 seconds lol

They are building these all over Austin. One just went up right by my single family neighborhood. I recall thinking it was strange that they were using wood framing for a large 5 story building. Also I do not think they are "affordable" but I may be getting old and think renting a space for $2000 per month is quite high since my first 1 bdrm in 88 was only 230 a month.

In summer 1985 I visited Moscow and Leningrad in the Soviet Union as part of American Council of Teachers of Russian.
For 7 weeks we were housed in these tall bland high-rise apartment buildings/hotels.
There was a cluster of maybe 5 of them in them. All looked identical. After our morning Russian language lessons, we went out in the afternoon on our own exploring the city. One day I returned to what I believed was my apartment building
and room number. I go up to my room number in the building. I found it odd that my key did not open the door.
I knock on the door. Some young German male opened the door. I saw through the door some other young German man and woman having sex. Turns out I was in the wrong apartment building. I apologized as best I could for my confusion.

I do not care one sh*t what anything looks like. I care ONLY about functionality, usefulness.
e.g. As an American Antinatalist Animal Rights Vegan (AARV) I HATE HATE HATE fast food places because they breed & torture & murder billions of animals for no reason. But, I don't give an F wtf the buildings look like.

Humm, I think I see some factors coming together. At a certain height you've reached the strength limits of wood construction, at about the same point you reach changes in elevator technology. The handicapped rules make costly elevators mandated for multi-story buildings, this can be avoided by building townhouses putting the bedrooms on the second floor, these are everywhere. Hydraulic elevators that are less costly than cable elevators are a good solution up to about five stories above that their limited speed becomes an issue. Another consideration is that higher buildings will require multiple elevators taking up more floor space in the plan. Remember that the owner is looking for net rentable space and stairways and elevators eat into that. Another factor is the community's fire fighting capabilities generally limiting buildings to ladder or tower height, go above that and you'll need multiple fireproof stairwells, these allow tenant escape as well as firefighting access. In most cities parking is essential as tenants expect to have space for their car(s), cities like NYC with good transit would be excepted but the US has few of these. Even in NYC the outer boroughs are more likely to need parking. Not having parking generally means that on-street parking will be the eventual solution, not a good answer. City planners will praise this solution but they all own cars. Back during the fuel shortages of the 1970s there was a problem for landlords that couldn't pass along the rapid price increases for heating fuel that was generally included in the rent, this led to making the heating systems unit specific with the tenant paying for this in their electric bill. This will continue to haunt the housing market as less costly gas heating louses that advantage and maybe becomes unavailable coupled with large increases in the price of electricity. Zoning rules that restrict high rise or medium rise buildings in neighborhoods are not a bad idea. Nobody wants their building shaded by a new tall neighbor and not having this kind of rule will un-stabilize the community with a continued turnover of properties converting single unit homes to high-rise apartments, the same applies to mac-mansions. Lastly there is the problem of who is able and allowed to build in each technology, there are many contractors skilled in wood frame construction while the numbers that do steel and reinforced concrete are generally fewer and often highly unionized, this greatly affects costs. Housing prices will reflect the size and condition of the existing stock, the cost of new construction, the maintenance and operating cost of the particular unit and very importantly, the demand for housing units in the community. In NYC this demand is very high and is reflective of a market with consumers willing and able to pay while places such a Buffalo, NY there is little demand and you see little new construction and abandonment of existing stocks.

How long do these things last? I look at old stone built schools that must be 130-150 years old, totally fine, I'd not be surprised if they are still there in another 150 years. Then I think about cheap built schools built in the 70s that look like low level versions of these things. Already pulled down as they were just not built to last.

Its because of the codes

Abolish zoning.

Why not just use brick or concrete?? In my country, and most of the world, that's what we use!

We used to call this type of urban development "Projects". For now they are seen as desirable, but as they age and increase in number they will lose the one thing that keeps them from becoming slums, the ability to attract high-income tenants. Even the ones in desirable locations will not be safe from becoming slums because once people start tp see them as slums no one who can afford something else will want them. Worse still, as with all deve;o[ments, maintenance issues mount up over time. These are going to be horrible places to live in the very near future.

5/1s are great. We had a bunch finish construction in Tampa last year. Within 3 to 6 months of opening, they were in the news! For being on fire, flooding, electrical outages, and black mold.

in a way they remind me of east german plattenbau buildings, altough those where made of concrete slabs

Those will turn the houses in your city into costing $500K.

So nice to live in a house but ever since they started building these in every plot of land, there’s so many weird rude people at the store now. They must be living in these buildings.

Hate them. New Orleans is starting to build a few and it’s just….. ugh. Luckily it’ll never take over the city. It’s a “home” city, when it comes to the city proper.

I honestly don't mind the appearance of these buildings at all. In fact, they kind of strike a rare balance between modernity and friendliness. That said, I don't like how insanely common they've become, and I don't like how we only seem to get these instead of more old-school revivalist architecture.

these but walkable, could really complement certain cities that aren't already car free. I think this would suit an expensive to build but de-car-binizing early stage area. Like California.

The San Fernando Valley, (a bastion of Dingbats), is filling up with 5/1s, but there is nothing affordable about them. It makes me wonder what the people who live there do for a living when some cost $4k-5k a month.

at least they’re mixed use

good explanation of a complex topic. thank you

I actually have always really liked the look of these type.

Live in the same house my family has lived in since 1900 in town with 2 1/2 acres because I like to live like a human being.

This is not affordable housing. In my area, all the people moving in come from either India or China. The inside of these things are extremely small and the price is Trippel the amount of buying a traditional home. In my area, they sell for 1 million to 3 million max.

I don't get why people find these ugly... But then again, I'm from a country where our apartments made of concrete look very ugly in comparison to those 5-over-1s.

The sad reality of these buildings is that even though the living space in sprinklered, in many states the attic space is not. That's ok you say? There are many ways in which a roof area or attic can catch fire and with these buildings is very easy going to over run the interior sprinkler system and burn the building to the ground. People need to be educated on these building before they agree to occupy the space. There is a potential if these building have a fire, it may very well burn completely to the ground and they will loose everything they own.

funny to see that this is new in America, in Europe this is the standard

These houses are great, better than what americans otherwise put into their suburbs. The problem aren't these house designs. The problem is your capitalism that allows your landlords to exploit you. Appartments in those buildings being expensive got nothing to do with them looking identical. They don't look bad. Prices are like that because they can demand that much and people still pay. And if those buildings are poorly built in quality, then that also doesn't have anything to do with the design, but the capitalists trying to make larger profits by using cheap materials. As if your other houses in the US were build solid like in Europe. Most European cities have these types of houses.

beacuse pre form concrete and steel pillars has certain distancing scale between them and preform steel and concrete or pre stress concrete floor have scale shape in which has to be follow so inevitably the building will end up looking like square

affordable housing lol, these may be affordable for builders and landlords, but ask for $2k+ per month for one bedroom apartments.

So you have to listen to your upstairs neighbors foot steps because the floors arent cement. No thanks.

They are everywhere. Cities look alike. And they are NOT cheaper for occupants - but sold as "luxury" units. It's another scam.

Sorry had to re-watch this she says they are an eyesore when they are literally nicer then 80% nicer and nicer looking then houses in my neighborhood

A disaster of a mistake. Should be built with brick and concrete to be solid and sound proof

I've been an apartment dweller in Texas for the better part of the last two decades. I think this style is starting to pop up, but I've only ever lived-in three-story apartments where the apartment entrances are accessed externally. And I've never seen a "Texas Doughnut." If anything, we tend to have reverse doughnuts, where the parking wraps around the apartment building.

They look like Soviet block buildings.

I was interested in watching this but the narrator's voice is so goddamn annoying that I've had blood coming out of my ears.. Why don't people take into consideration whether or not their narrator has a voice that sounds like nails on a chalkboard or not? Her inflections are also incredibly annoying. Like you get from a twelve-year-old. She sounds like a spoiled little brat complaining about what is actually an important issue.

I love these they need to start building these in Poorer neighborhoods screw restrictions so many people would prefer living here then older trailers.