Architecture before and after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the end of the 2nd world war Czechoslovakia of that time got in line with the countries of the communist block. That had an impact also on architecture. After the private sector had been abolished there remained only state building enterprises, so the architecture of rental houses started stagnating. Industrialization was Slovakia´s great task – building huge factories able to produce for the whole eastern block.

During a few years lots of new inhabitants came to live in Bratislava – the residence of the chemical, petrochemical, mechanical and automobile industry. To solve the housing question the state looked for such a solution that would be the cheapest, the simplest and (in accordance with the ideology of the time) to efface differences between social classes. Workers, firms managers, doctors and socially poor inhabitants lived uniformly in the same quality houses. Then block of houses began to be built.

In difference with other countries that had satellite towns of block of flats, our housing estates became block of flat labyrinths with grey facades, similar to each other to such extent  that one would get lost in one´s own quarter. Such a town in town is Petržalka . Some of the houses are 30 to 40 years old. They were designed for the maximum number of people with the minimum building investment.  Mostly they were formed like blocks and the construction and the construction was all ferroconcrete.

The younger generation cannot imagine the same arrangement of the interior, the same kitchen unit, the same bathroom equipment, the same paint. You would never search for a lost thing in such a flat for a long time because the flat  is exactly your flat´s copy. All the parts of a building were produced in series and in such a way that they must be as cheap as possible. But the main consequence of that was the absence of quality. There was not a firm able to build so many flats of high quality in such a short time and there wasn´t anybody to check the quality of their work. You had to get used that the door handle came off the door – to stay in your palm, the window did not fit in with the frame, you could find a big crevice around a gas stove through which was possible to see if the bottom neighbours had the light on. The flats were not sound –proof, up to now you can hear every loud neighbours´ words as well as yours. The present day reality faces the problem: what to do with blocks of flats whose durability without the general repair lasts for 50 years and the state has no money to repair all houses?

The inhabitants through self-help activities and with the help of the state try to improve such buildings of low quality. A building demolition is also not a cheap matter. Still it is more profitable to mend ferroconcrete monsters than to pull them down. We could not reprocess such amount of panels. Present day rent houses are built to look attractive from outside and to draw attention. These houses are mostly built by private firms that try to make them as much interesting as possible. But there is one more problem- under socialism it was possible for everybody up to certain age to live in a grey block of flats. Today earning in average 12.000 Sk monthly  a man should save money for many years. For most inhabitants the flats in beautiful new houses have become inaccessible. Today architects can pay much more attention to forms and outer design.  New technologies and materials are used today. Investors and architects basically make final decisions on everything – parties and the government negotiate about their own problems.
Author: Peter Iring
 

Update 13. May 2005
Ing. Lýdia Haliaková