Residential construction in northern USSR

Abstract

The construction of apartments and other buildings on permafrost has presented a major obstacle to urban settlement at Noril'sk, in far northern Siberia. This article identifies four major stages in the development of local construction knowledge, with an emphasis on residential construction. The first two stages, covering the 15 years following the city's founding, constituted a trial and error learning period, during which local engineers developed the principles presently governing construction on permafrost. The third and fourth stages, extending into the present, have featured the more efficient application of these principles through innovations reducing labour and material inputs.