Residential building series

Series of residential buildings are residential structures built according to a standardized group of typical designs, which within a given series may vary in the number of floors, number of sections, orientation, and minor architectural finishing details. As a rule, a residential building series features a limited range of apartment layouts, a unified architectural style, and a consistent construction technology. The use of standardized designs is aimed at industrializing construction, allowing for the lowest possible cost per square meter of housing while ensuring high construction speed. However, this often results in architectural uniformity and a lack of diversity in residential neighborhoods.

Such buildings were most extensively constructed during urbanization periods in many countries, shaping the architectural appearance of residential districts in numerous cities. Series-based apartment building design saw its greatest development in the USSR during the era of mass post-war housing construction, was widely adopted in socialist and developing countries, and continues to be used today.

Based on the materials used for load-bearing and exterior enclosing structures, series-built houses can be classified as reinforced concrete, cinder block, or brick. In standardized construction of individual houses, wood and various wood-based panels were also used. Reinforced concrete structures, depending on construction technology, can be block-based, panel-based, monolithic, or precast-monolithic.