H&M and Flats in Prague

Ok, we've all seen them.  You know, the H&M suits that are made by the zillions by underage workers somewhere east of here.  They're made for the teens and 20 somethings who have not yet developed a waistline - and they're usually a grad's first interview suit. 

But I digress.  The reason why I bring up the H&M suits is because you can find them everywhere.  Kind of like the projects in and around Prague - well, most of the former Eastern bloc cities which have undergone voluminous development.  Once you've seen one flat you've pretty much seen them all.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The Panelaky were built between 1959 to 1995 to accommodate the postwar housing shortage and to provide large quantities of housing at lower costs, in large part because of mass production, to the masses.  They also wanted to instill some "collectivist nature" in the people, I guess - everyone is equal and everything is for the common good.  Regardless if you were in Prague, Brno or Bratislava (even East Berlin or Warsaw) you saw the same designs over and over.

In the early days of the new development euphoria, local "architects" seemed to know only one design - "the box".  Much like the panelaks, it was very utilitarian.  You walked in the front door, sometimes face to face with the water heater (ok, sometimes it was over the tub or kitchen sink).  You walked through a door to face more doors - the kitchen was behind one, the living room another, then the bedroom, the ubiquitous separate toilet behind yet another, then the bathroom.  All leading from wasted space called the corridor.  The walls were white, the floor was laminate something or other, the plaster "finish" was usually uneven.

We progressed into the mid 90s with a move from something + 1 to something + kk - the kitchen corner.  The kitchen space became a part of the living space, not relegated to a separate room.  Water heaters made their way into closets.  Bathrooms were not as utilitarian.  It was, to coin a phrase, one giant leap for mankind!

It brings me to the point of this rank - that developers have not REALLY progressed much past the standard issue from, say, ten years ago.  The exterior designs have advanced and today we're seeing landscaping being added to the mix but more or less what we still see are those damn single needle tailored, massed produced, H&M suits. 

So what to do to separate the men from the boys?  Offer, like in Poland, shell and core units where the buyer designs his/her own interior - complete with client change headaches? Or completely finish them out?

Developers are throwing anything and everything at the wall and hoping something sticks.  Offering free design service, shell and core to those more adventurous, kitchens included and other so called perks. Nothing seems to be getting buyers in the door - not even the lowest mortgage rates in history.

Could we be moving more towards the German model?  That is, renting instead of owning?  It's certainly cheap to rent nowadays.  Could a rent to own scheme then work?  The developer (and the lender) would at least have some cash flow and the development would be "living".

I would like to hear some views on this.

P.S.  Back to those H&M suits.  If one of those twenty something grads comes into your office wearing one, hire him.  He's trying!