One side has already been demolished. The sound of breakers can be heard.
Dr. Nick: Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Moscow...
Sailor Star Dust: The demolition sound effects give off a touch of creepiness, somehow.
FreakyFilmFan4ever: (174-178) The buildings almost seem to be looming over Shinji, with the buildings filling the frames previous to the shot of the camera looking down upon Shinji. He's probably in way over his head, here.
NemZ: Why exactly are they being demolished anyway? Just designate the area a preferred location for confronting angels and let things play out. Besides, if the world’s going to end soon anyway and the city’s population is dwindling what do they really need the space for?
Additional Commentary
Kendrix: Ah, Anno's use of urban imaginery/aestetics. I've always loved it. Probably, you get to like what you're used to seeing when you're a kid - I spent the first four or five years of my life in such a building, and I could never find any beauty in any sort of natural landscape.
I've heard that Anno grew up in an industrial town, explaining why he uses that sort aestetics a lot.
Probably, the same is true for Rei who grew up in a lab. An aspect that is often forgotten by fans/fanfic writers is that a) the place is abandoned, so no chance of anyone mugging Rei. b) It's eternal summer, so bye bye "Broken Heater" plot-bunny. c) Episiode 23 pretty much implies that she lives there by choice because she, much like many other people, prefers a living space that is similar to her "home". People tend to find it odd when someone else likes things made of concrete - I can spend hours gushing about fournaces or industrial buildings most people would just call "ugly", so, this sort of thing exists, even in "normal" people.
That sort of building didn't always say "designated poorhouse": A few years ago, those were "cool and modern" because of the cheap, "technological" way they could be built. The communist world, in particular, used to be fond of those, to the point that high-ranking diplomats would be given the "privilege" of living in those.
As for why those buildings are like this and why they're being demolished, I always assumed that they were built after Second Impact when lots of people lost their homes and cheap living space was needed. So, reconstruction became a wave of concrete, until peoples' financial situations began to improve and they could afford "prettier" houses, leaving these appartments deserted with Rei as their only resident.
They're probably being demolished simply because they're not needed anymore, Tokyo 3 is half empty anyway and most people who remain probably do so because they're paid high enough to afford better housing than that...
I always found this particular location/setting to be a brilliant work of art, after all, the house one lives in is an integral part of someone's personal world and says quite a lot about its owner/ can be an efficient tool of characterization.
Of course, a stark grey, artificial location with "technological" background noises is the perfect environment for an unhappy artificial girl.
Also, the way the many identical houses fade into the distance evokes the one shot from episode 14 and the idea of "clones" in general, a percieved "lack of uniqueness".
Further, the fact that she lives in an "abandoned" part of the city, a sort of mini "ghost town" reinforces her assotiation with being a "faded afterimmage of the past"
The demolition noises make for an eerie, recognizable background noise, lampshade the constant presence of death and decay in Rei's personal world and again showcase that she just accepts things that any other human being would complain about, either because she'd be used to machine noises from Nerv HQ, or because she simply wouldn't find her own comfort or discomfort relevant.
