by Madeleine Anderson, March 2022
Plattenbau housing in Marzahn, Berlin ¹
Unlike the fashionable districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, or the historic, museum-laden district of Mitte, visitors to Berlin are unlikely to take the S7 train out east to visit the residential district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, despite the borough’s unique history. This is unsurprising; the suburban neighbourhood is not an obvious tourist hotspot, nor is it very scenic. Step off the train platform and you’ll be greeted with a landscape noticeably different from the rest of Berlin. More sky is visible than in the dense city centre, streets are wider, and spread as far as the eye can see are what are known as Plattenbau apartment buildings: ugly standardized concrete megablocks recognizably from the Soviet era. The name Plattenbau literally means “panel building”, derived from Platte, meaning panel or slab, and Bau, meaning building or construction. The megablocks in Marzahn are dispersed with significant space between them, creating more green space than a city dweller is accustomed to – a suburban environment that could not be more different from the single family homes we usually associate with suburbia in North America. Despite their emblematic status within East Berlin and the Soviet Union, a North American tourist will likely not be unfamiliar with buildings like these, and may have in fact seen similar projects at home, or colloquially referred to them as “commieblocks.” Then what makes the district of Marzahn and its Plattenbau apartments so unique? And why is the Plattenbau’s history instrumental in understanding the cultural dimensions of social housing projects, their reception and their legacies? That is precisely what this piece will explore.
Prefabricated apartment buildings are characterized by their unique and efficient building techniques. The construction method involves producing premade slabs of reinforced concrete at a nearby facility and then transporting them to the building site to be assembled on the spot, building a structure faster and more efficiently than traditional building methods. Though prefab apartment megablocks have become widely associated with the Soviet Union, they were not a Soviet invention. The construction method was pioneered in the Netherlands (see: Betondorp) following WWI and was based on construction methods developed in the United States.¹ The building style falls under the broader style of architectural modernism, a movement which originated before WWI and only became widespread in the aftermath of the WWII. The architects most famous for pioneering architectural modernism (such as Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Gropius, to name a few) in large part were not associated with the Soviet Union at all, however modernism’s principles of function over form and the elimination of ornamentation were compatible with certain Soviet goals, as will be discussed later on.
In the German context, though the Plattenbau have become emblematic of the former East, there are examples of similar buildings in West Berlin. The city was bombed on all sides, and clearing the rubble to make for new development was a task that all zones had to undertake. One such development in the West was the Hansaviertel, a neighbourhood built for the Interbau 57 project.
Hansaviertel, Berlin²
Located on the western section of the Tiergarten, the Hansaviertel was built as a housing solution to revitalize a heavily bombed central area. Guest architects from across the Western sphere (including some of those previously mentioned pioneers of modernist architecture) were invited to Berlin to design buildings in the modernist style in an effort to showcase West Berlin’s international flair and to promote a “city of tomorrow” vision. The Hansaviertel was also built as a response to the construction of the Stalinallee in East Berlin.
While prefabrication as a construction technique is predominately associated with modernist architecture, it was also used for construction projects which were not modernist in style. One example is the Nikolaiviertel on the eastern side of Mitte; a neighbourhood named after the historic St. Nicholas’ Church, erected around 1230. After the area was destroyed in the air raids of WWII, the church was rebuilt and the surrounding residential area was reconstructed using prefabricated slabs that replicated the historical neighbourhood, creating a strange and unique neoclassical historical centre.
Nikolaiviertel (click to expand)³
Despite the fact that prefab apartment blocks were also built in the West, they became most strongly associated with the Soviet Union due to the sheer extent to which they were adopted. What was called a Plattenbau in Germany was known as a Panelák in the Czech Republic, a Wielka Płyta in Poland, a Panelház in Hungary and a Panelki in the former Soviet Union² . In Russia, the *Khrushchyovka* is the colloquial name for the standard three- to five-story apartment buildings built in the 1960s. Named after Soviet leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev, the style was chosen to fulfill his motto, “cheaper, better, faster construction.” The goal was to provide the maximum number of apartment units for socialist citizens at the lowest possible cost, and the Soviets turned to prefabrication to achieve those ends³. Many variations of the Khruschyovka were built between the 1960s and the fall of the Soviet Union, differing in height, capacity and organization (see the video below). Today, many of these units across the former Soviet Union are in disrepair, as they have exceeded their intended lifetimes⁴.
[This video outlines soviet housing and city planning theories⁴](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGVBv7svKLo)
This video outlines soviet housing and city planning theories⁴
Being within the Soviet sphere of influence, East Germany’s architectural character followed Russia’s lead, turning to modernist housing solutions shortly after they were implemented in Moscow and other Russian cities.
Trümmerfrauen (rubble women) in Berlin, 1945⁵
The Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin, seen from TV tower⁶
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Berlin was separated into four sectors controlled by the occupying powers: the United States, Great Britain, and France in the West, and the Soviet Union in the East. Both East and West shared one major obstacle in establishing themselves as functioning states: rebuilding the city and housing their residents after being bombed to rubble. More than half of Berlin’s living space was ruined, and there was a shortage of 1.4 million apartments by the end of the war⁵.
In the East, early construction projects were more focussed on Neoclassicism and Socialist Classism than modernism. The Stalinallee (renamed Karl-Marx-Allee in 1961) was the “flagship project heralding East Berlin’s reconstruction as the capital of a socialist state”⁶ and provided luxurious apartments while projecting East Germany’s image to the global audience. Intended to display the strength and sophistication of East German architecture and the new state’s power in general, the wide boulevard was lined with socialist classicist architecture and wedding-cake style buildings, typical of early monumentalist Soviet architecture.
While modernist architectural principles were being adopted in the West as well as in other parts of the Soviet Bloc, East Germany did not adopt the concept on a large scale until the 1970s.
By the end of the GDR’s second decade, the housing crisis had become one of the foremost issues of political discussion. Due to policies opting not to repair the existing housing options, the majority of East Berliners in the 1970s lived in older (Altbau) apartments that were overcrowded and deteriorating, and where residents often shared bathroom facilities with other apartments and had to carry coal up flights of stairs to heat their homes. These were the circumstances that led not only to the GDR adopting Plattenbau apartments on a mass scale, but also to the mostly positive reaction towards them. While in the West, “commieblocks” were seen as ghettos for low-income residents and immigrants, in East Germany, the Plattenbau was considered a prized housing option by residents, built for the model socialist citizen⁷.
[This video from 1984 shows the construction of Plattenbau apartments in Hohenshönhausen, a neighbouring district to Marzahn. Not only housing has been built, but also schools, kindergartens, community centres and shops. The first resident explains that moving into the apartment was “like winning the lottery.” Another resident explains how impressed he is with how quickly the development has happened, saying “you can see how things are moving forward.”⁷](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFgCAvbKrog)
This video from 1984 shows the construction of Plattenbau apartments in Hohenshönhausen, a neighbouring district to Marzahn. Not only housing has been built, but also schools, kindergartens, community centres and shops. The first resident explains that moving into the apartment was “like winning the lottery.” Another resident explains how impressed he is with how quickly the development has happened, saying “you can see how things are moving forward.”⁷