Quote:
Originally Posted by Swede
The 2 last pics really do look like clones of a model seen in a few places in Stockholm. As for the word... well, it fits the stereotype of housing in the old Eastern Bloc.
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In this case the stereotype is in large part true, similar buildings were made elsewhere, just that here there were more of them. The Bratislava wall of "paneláks" is the most impressive, but there is a smaller one outside Brno, and even small cities have their share. At least in most cases they did not tear down the existing buildings to construct them, though that happened. There are towns with no original town left at all, only these paneláks.
They weren't exactly creative, the floor planes and materials are practically the same, so if you have been in one, you would know to find your way in another, even in a different city (or now even in a different country).
Worse, much like Scandinavian projects they were planned around transport and with shared amenities like shopping, but the planning was deficient even then. There is no place to gather, no friendly neighbourhood pub (though that is not so different from Sweden after all...) and very, very few visual surprises.
In the early nineties there was this proposal here in Prague to add a new floor on top of each building, move everyone up a floor, and use the ground floor for common services, shops, offices etc. That surprisingly never happened, but there is discussion what to do in the long term, not the least because these buildings are ageing badly.