Yakushev Design Bureau for Reinforced Concrete

The Yakushev Design Bureau for Reinforced Concrete (Russian: ВСКБ им. А.А. Якушева, a limited liability company) is a Russian engineering and design organisation based in Irkutsk. It works in the field of reinforced-concrete construction and, in particular, large-panel housing construction (крупнопанельное домостроение), the industrialised building method that dominated Soviet mass housing from the 1960s onward. The bureau's public identity is closely tied to the Soviet standardised building system known as Series 135 (Серия 135), a comprehensive catalogue of standard designs for large-panel residential and public buildings. The bureau presents itself as a design and engineering practice offering services, maintaining an archive of information, a gallery of built projects, articles and video material, and a list of certificates and permits. Its website also documents the history of Series 135, including the first Series 135 residential building in Irkutsk (1979) and the 1976 collection of standard-project passports for the series. The organisation has taken part in the InterConPan international scientific-practical conference on the development of large-panel housing construction in Russia, including the 2015 edition in Kazan. Although the subject is often associated with the Soviet era, the operating entity is a contemporary Russian company. Its contact details point to offices in Irkutsk, and it has publicly appealed for donations of Soviet-period standard documentation — typical designs for residential and public buildings for Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region — indicating an active role in preserving and reusing this technical heritage. The bureau's work sits at the intersection of structural engineering, standardised design and the modernisation of Russia's prefabricated housing stock.

The Yakushev Design Bureau for Reinforced Concrete is a Russian design organisation based in Irkutsk whose name and work are bound up with the Soviet industrialised housing programme. Its public history is told largely through the standardised building system it promotes and documents: Series 135 (Серия 135), a comprehensive series of standard designs for large-panel residential and public buildings. According to the bureau's own account, the comprehensive Series 135 of standard projects for large-panel residential and public buildings was developed in accordance with the requirements arising from the decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of 28 May 1969 No. 382, "On measures to improve the quality of housing and civil construction." The series offered a broad nomenclature of projects for large-panel residential buildings and public buildings of urban and rural type, intended for use in climatic sub-regions IB and ID, climatic regions II, III and IV with ordinary geological conditions, and in conditions of seismicity of 7–8 points. Different building designs were developed for different climatic regions. The nomenclature intended for urban construction included standard projects for 5- and 9-storey residential buildings and block-sections, 5–9-storey hostels, kindergartens and nurseries and general-education schools of various capacities, shopping centres, consumer-services complexes (KBO), boarding houses and separate blocks for sanatoria and rest homes. The 5- and 9-storey block-sections included ordinary, end, corner and turning sections, as well as block-sections with a fire passage, and were supplemented by various blocking-element options. The bureau's archive records a 1976 collection of passports of standard projects for large-panel residential and public buildings of the comprehensive Series 135, and a 1982 nomenclature of the series. It also documents the first residential building of Series 135 in the city of Irkutsk, built in 1979 — a local landmark in the spread of the system into Siberia. In the post-Soviet period the organisation continued as a limited liability company, ООО «ВСКБ им. А.А. Якушева», based in Irkutsk. Its website presents the company as active in design and engineering, with sections for services, an information archive, a gallery of projects, articles, video and contacts, as well as certificates and permits. The company has participated in the InterConPan international scientific-practical conference on the development of large-panel housing construction in Russia; its representatives took part in the fifth such conference, InterConPan-2015, held in Kazan, described as the largest Russian forum for producers, designers, machine-builders and scientists in the field of industrial housing construction. The bureau has also positioned itself as a custodian of Soviet technical documentation, publicly appealing for donations of standard documentation from the Soviet period — typical projects for residential and public buildings for construction in the city of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region — with pickup possible, indicating an effort to preserve and reuse this material in contemporary practice.

• Decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 382 'On measures to improve the quality of housing and civil construction', which provided the basis for the comprehensive Series 135.

• Collection of passports of standard projects for large-panel residential and public buildings of the comprehensive Series 135.

• First residential building of Series 135 in the city of Irkutsk.

• Nomenclature of Series 135.

• Representatives of VSKB im. A.A. Yakusheva took part in the fifth InterConPan international scientific-practical conference in Kazan.

Specialist design bureau for reinforced-concrete and industrialised large-panel housing construction, with a focus on the Soviet Series 135 standardised building system.

• Series 135 large-panel housing system

  A comprehensive series of standard designs for large-panel residential and public buildings, developed from 1969 requirements, with a broad nomenclature including 5- and 9-storey residential buildings, hostels, schools, kindergartens, shopping centres and other public buildings.

1. 1Official websitevskb.su
2. 2Серия 135 Историяvskb.su
3. 3Wikidatawikidata.org