panelák

{{short description|Colloquial term in Czech and Slovak for a panel building}}

Image:Paneláky Košík.jpg-Hostivař, the Košík housing estate]]

Panelák{{Efn|{{IPA|cs|ˈpanɛlaːk|lang}} {{IPA|sk|ˈpanɛlaːk|lang}}}} is a colloquial term in Czech and Slovak for a large panel system panel building constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete, such as those extant in the former Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic & Slovakia) and elsewhere in the world. Paneláks are usually grouped together, creating a housing estate ({{Langx|cs|sídliště|links=no}}, {{Langx|sk|sídlisko|links=no}}).

File:Paneláky.jpg.]]

{{lang|cs|Panelák}} (plural: {{lang|cs|paneláky}}) is derived from the standard {{lang|cs|panelový dům}} {{In lang|cs}} or {{lang|cs|panelový dom}} {{In lang|sk}} meaning, literally, "panel house / prefabricated-sections house". The term panelák is used mainly for the elongated blocks with more sections with separate entrances – simple panel tower blocks are called {{lang|cs|věžový dům}} (tower house) or colloquially {{lang|cs|věžák}} {{In lang|cs}}. The buildings remain a towering, highly visible reminder of the Communist era. The term panelák refers specifically to buildings in the former Czechoslovakia, however, similar buildings were a common feature of urban planning in communist countries and even in the West.

History

Image:Ato halova spoza ramena.jpg in Bratislava, Slovakia.]]

Interwar Czechoslovakia saw many constructivist architects in the country, such as Vladimír Karfík and František Lydie Gahura, many of whom would maintain prominence following the establishment of the Czechoslovak People's Republic in 1948.{{Cite web |last=O'Sullivan |first=Feargus |date=2020-09-30 |title=Prague's Communist-Era Apartments Get a Second Life |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-30/the-history-and-design-behind-prague-s-concrete-apartments |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004235200/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-30/the-history-and-design-behind-prague-s-concrete-apartments |archive-date=2020-10-04 |access-date=2020-10-04 |website=Bloomberg CityLab |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |type=Even though this publication is mainly about Prague, it applies just as well to Slovakia and the Czech Republic as a whole}} In the years following 1948, the Czechoslovakian architectural scene favored Stalinist architecture over more modern architecture. However, a 1954 speech by Nikita Khrushchev encouraging the construction of panel buildings, coupled by post-war housing shortages faced throughout both Eastern and Western Europe, encouraged the country's architectures to construct more simplistic, modernist buildings. {{Citation needed span|text=Planners from the communist era wanted to provide large quantities of fast and affordable housing, as well as to slash costs by employing uniform designs over the whole country. They also sought to foster a "collectivistic nature" in the people. In case of war, these houses would not be as susceptible to firebombing as traditional, densely packed buildings.|date=October 2020|reason=}} Throughout the mid 1950s, the country's designers applied a modernist aesthetic known as the {{Interlanguage link|Brussels Style|lt=|cs|Bruselský styl|WD=}}, named after the international attention it attracted during the 1958 World's Fair held in Brussels. By the late 1960s, the country's paneláks often reached up to 16 stories in height.

Between 1959 and 1995, paneláks containing 1.17 million flats were built in what is now the Czech Republic.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} {{As of|2005}}, they housed about 3.5 million people, or about one-third of the country's population.{{Cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Matt |date=2005-03-10 |title=Still standing |url=http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0310/news1.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312060427/http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0310/news1.php |archive-date=2005-03-12 |access-date=2020-10-04 |publisher=The Prague Post |type=Even though this publication was mainly about Prague and the Czech Republic, it applies just as well to Slovakia}}

In Prague and other large cities, most paneláks were built in a type of housing estate known as a {{Lang|cs|sídliště}} {{In lang|cs}} or {{Lang|sk|sídlisko}} {{In lang|sk}}. Such housing developments now dominate large parts of Prague, Bratislava and other cities and towns. The first such housing development built in Prague was Petřiny in the 1950s;{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} the largest in Prague is Jižní Město (about 100,000 inhabitants), with 200 buildings and 30,000 flats built since the 1970s. The Slovak Petržalka however, is the largest such housing development in Central Europe, with its population exceeding 110,000.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

File:Sídlisko III z Kalvárie.JPG, Slovakia.]]

Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, there was widespread speculation that the country's paneláks would fall out of favor, due to their simplicity and small size. The Czech and Slovak government sold individual panelák apartments to their tenants for cheap prices, furthering speculation that the apartments would be undesirable. However, these fears have not materialized.

= Records =

The tallest prefabricated house in the Czech Republic was built in 1980 in Jižní Město in Prague, currently called the Kupa hostel. The {{Convert|81|m|ft|abbr=unit}} high building with 23 floors is a unique bridge connection on the top floors. One of the longest prefabricated houses is located in Bohnice, Prague, on Zelenohorská Street. The twelve-story building from 1973–1974 with 612 apartments and about 1,500 residents is {{Convert|340|m|ft|abbr=unit}} long and has 18 entrances.{{Cite web |last=Lišková |first=Michaela |last2=Jakub |first2=Zuzánek |date=2022-08-17 |title=Nejdelší panelák v Česku? Lidí tu bydlí jako v malém městě, schůze jsou v "kulturáku" |trans-title=The longest panel house in the Czech Republic? People live here like in a small town, meetings are held in the "cultural center" |url=https://magazin.aktualne.cz/kuriozity/pres-600-bytu-a-1500-lidi-kde-se-musi-schazet-svj-nejdelsiho/r~877e68a01d3f11ed8980ac1f6b220ee8/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Aktuálně.cz |language=cs}} It has the longest corridor, water distribution and heating of a prefabricated house in the country.{{Cite web |last=Hora |first=Josef |date=2015-09-22 |title=NEJ rekordy paneláků. Sídliště, kde se bojí policie, i nejdelší chodba |trans-title=THE BEST records of panel houses. A housing estate where the police are afraid, even the longest corridor |url=https://www.idnes.cz/bydleni/panelak/bydleni-v-panelaku.A150917_170218_architektura_web |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=iDNES.cz |language=cs}} An even longer prefabricated house is located in Ruprechtice, Liberecké. It is a curved prefabricated house nicknamed {{Lang|cs|Hokejka}} (Hockey Stick) because of its shape. It has 24 entrances, 11 floors and 693 apartments.{{Cite web |title=Ruprechtice |url=http://www.panelaci.cz/sidliste/liberecky-kraj/liberec-ruprechtice |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231207162809/http://www.panelaci.cz/sidliste/liberecky-kraj/liberec-ruprechtice |archive-date=2023-12-07 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=panelaci.cz}}

However, the longest panel house (continuous panel house complex) in the Czech Republic is located in Ostrava on Horní Street (it also extends into Cholevova and Mitušova Streets), it has a total of 28 entrances (of which 26 are in one line), 6–13 floors, 841 apartments and a total length of {{Convert|540|m|ft|abbr=unit}} (of which {{Convert|500|m|ft|abbr=unit}} are in one line).LIPTÁK, Marián; PŘENDÍK, Petr. Městský obvod Ostrava-Jih: včera a dnes. 1.. vyd. Ostrava: MONTANEX, 2018. 224 s. {{ISBN|978-80-7225-450-7}}. Retrieved 2025-03-12.

Characteristics

File:Kamýk, Durychova, věžáky.jpg.]]

{{Citation needed span|text=In comparison to pre-war apartment buildings, paneláks can be truly enormous. Some are more than {{Convert|100|m|ft|abbr=unit}} long, and some are more than 20 stories high. Some even have openings for cars and pedestrians to pass through, lest they have to go all the way around the building.|date=October 2020|reason=}}

A typical panelák apartment has a foyer, bathroom, kitchen, a living room (also used for dining), and a bedroom. All paneláks in the Czech Republic were constructed to follow one of sixteen design patterns.

Paneláks have been criticized for their simplistic design, poor-quality building materials, and their tendency to become overcrowded. In 1990, Václav Havel, who was then the president of Czechoslovakia, called paneláks "undignified rabbit pens, slated for liquidation". Panelák housing estates as a whole are said by some to be mere bedroom communities with few conveniences and even less character.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

However, paneláks have also been praised by many. Upon their introduction, paneláks offered more reliable heating, hot water, and plumbing than existing buildings, especially those in rural locations. The buildings typically offered large amounts of natural light, compared to their older counterparts.

{{Citation needed span|text=Some housing estates do have other facilities, such as shopping centres, schools, libraries, swimming pools, cinemas and such. Also, architects sometimes made an effort to make the buildings distinct, by mixing various types of paneláks, for example, or by using different colours. Well-designed housing estates also have some environmental advantages. By leaving wide spaces between buildings, designers created large green spaces and parks, which are lacking in many pre-war Czech neighbourhoods. In some places, paneláks were an improvement in sanitary conditions.|date=October 2020|reason=}}

Today

Image:Jahodová od Pražské.jpg-Záběhlice, the housing estate Zahradní Město-východ.]]

Paneláks remain commonplace today, and have attracted a wide diversity of social classes.{{Cite web |last=Kleknerova |first=Zuzana |last2=Holub |first2=Petr |last3=Vojir |first3=Ales |date=2005-03-15 |title=Zachrante nase panelaky, tlaci na EU Cesko |trans-title=Save our panelaks, Czechia pressures the EU |url=http://reality.ihned.cz/1-10009430-15804060-K00000_detail-92 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822011039/http://reality.ihned.cz/1-10009430-15804060-K00000_detail-92 |archive-date=2006-08-22 |access-date=2020-05-16 |website=iHNed.cz |language=cs |type=Even though this publication was mainly about the Czech Republic, it applies just as well to Slovakia. Also note that this publication was a news article about saving paneláks from becoming "criminal ghettos" in the Czech Republic by pressuring the European Union (EU), some information may only be half-truth}} Fears that paneláks would become undesirable and be subject to middle class flight, commonplace following the Velvet Revolution, have not materialized. Panelák apartments have risen in value more than brick apartments, have been praised for housing people from a wide variety of incomes, and have been subject to a number of positive cultural depictions including magazines and TV shows.

Areas with high shares of its population living in paneláks include the city of Karviná (where approximately 97% of people live in them), Petržalka,{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} and the city of Most (approx. 80%).{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} Most's historical city was largely torn down due to the spread of coal mining and the majority of its population was moved into paneláks.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

= Amenities =

{{Citation needed span|text=Some Czech sociologists fear that panelák inhabitants may lack amenities, and suffer from being unable to physically access distant businesses and commercial centres. To combat this, certain local authorities are making significant efforts to prevent this scenario by changing bedroom communities into multifunctional urban neighbourhoods. This may include support for the construction of missing facilities, such as shopping centres, churches, or improved transport accessibility.|date=October 2020}}

{{Citation needed span|text=Paneláks, particularly in big cities, are often the first targets for builders of telecommunication networks, as the housing estates combine a high concentration of people with easy access to underground and in-house spaces for cables. Panelák housing estates are usually the first neighbourhoods with access to cable TV, WiFi network coverage, cable-modem service, DSL and other telecommunication services.|date=October 2020}}

File:Sidlisko tahanovce 05.jpg in Košice, Slovakia.]]

= Renovations =

In March 2005, the director of the Czech Ministry of Regional Development expressed concerns that the country's paneláks were near the end of their lifespan, citing an increasing number of structural incidents. He estimated that his agency would need 400 billion Czech koruna to modernize paneláks in the Czech Republic, and 1.5 trillion to tear them down entirely.

In recent years, many paneláks have been repainted, renovated, and repaired if needed, with funding mainly from the government, partially thanks to funds from the European Union (EU). A sizable renovation market has formed in recent years, and even a home magazine, Panel Plus, exists to give renovators ideas.

= Ownership =

Following the Velvet Revolution, most panelák apartments were sold to their tenants at low costs. Many panelák flats are now the property of their inhabitants, though they are also rented out through real estate agents and private landlords, {{Citation needed span|text=although some apartments are still owned by the government and are usually used for social housing.|date=January 2025}} The buildings and surrounding areas are often owned and managed by the government, administrative divisions, housing cooperatives, authorities, self-governing (non-profit) organizations, owners of apartments (individual blocks), and/or through public–private partnerships and such, or a combination thereof.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

{{wide image|Dlhe diely panorama zo starych gruntov.jpg|1000px|Panorama of Karlova Ves (Dlhé diely) in Bratislava, Slovakia (2008).}}

Other countries

File:Bloque_de_la_era_comunista,_arquitectura_social,_Sofia,_Bulgaria,_2011.JPG, Bulgaria.]]

Buildings similar to paneláks were also built in other communist countries, and they are a common feature of cityscapes across Central and Eastern Europe, and to some degree Northern Europe.

{{Citation needed span|text=One of the most drastic reconstruction policies of the Eastern Bloc was the systematization programme that took place in the 1970s and 1980s under Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania. In 1971, Ceaușescu visited North Korea and was impressed by the Juche ideology. He enacted a mass programme of demolition and reconstruction of existing villages, towns, and cities, in whole or in part, in order to build blocks of flats ({{Lang|ro|blocuri}}).|date=October 2020}}

In Bulgaria, buildings similar to paneláks are colloquially known as {{Lang|bg|panelki}}, and are the predominant type of en masse housing throughout the country.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} In Hungary, similar buildings are called {{Lang|hu|panelház}}. In Poland, they are called {{Lang|pl|bloki}} (blocks),{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} or {{Lang|pl|wielka płyta}} (the great panel). In Germany, they are known as {{Lang|de|Plattenbau}}. Most buildings in Soviet-era microdistricts are panel buildings.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

In the EU, among former communist countries, a majority of the population lives in flats in Latvia (65.1%), Estonia (63.8%), Lithuania (58.4%), Czech Republic (52.8%) and Slovakia (50.3%) ({{As of|2014|lc=y}}, data from Eurostat).{{Cite web |title=Housing statistics - Source data for tables and figures |url=http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics#Source_data_for_tables_and_figures |access-date=2016-09-02 |website=ec.europa.eu |publisher=Eurostat}} However, not all flat dwellers in Eastern Europe live in Communist era blocks of flats; many live in buildings constructed after the fall of communism, and some in buildings surviving from the era before communism.

In the United States, some housing estates have buildings that are similar to paneláks or are built from the same or similar material.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Popular culture

The movie Panelstory from Věra Chytilová shows the life of several inhabitants in a real unfinished communist-bloc apartment. Awarded a Great Prize in San Remo in 1980.
Béla Tarr's film Panelkapcsolat tells a doomed love story set in a similar housing estate in Hungary. Special Mention at the 1982 Locarno Film Festival.
Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's celebrated Dekalog series is set in a {{Lang|pl|wielka płyta}} housing estate in Warsaw, Poland.
The long-running Slovak soap opera Panelák focused on the residents of a single block in Bratislava.
Other popular TV series set largely within the confines of a panelák include the long running sitcom Susedia (Neighbours), focusing on the relationships between the ethnically Slovak and Slovak-Hungarian families living within the building, as well as some episodes of the stop-motion animation series Pat & Mat.
The Czech horror-game [https://store.steampowered.com/app/3333890/Panelak/ Panelak] released in 2024 is set in an old socialist-era building where strange things happen.

Notes

References

=Bibliography=

Stankova, Jaroslava, et al. (1992) Prague: Eleven Centuries of Architecture. Prague: PAV. {{ISBN|80-900003-1-2}}.
Zarecor, Kimberly Elman (2011) Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity: Housing in Czechoslovakia, 1945–1960. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. {{ISBN|0-8229-4404-9}}.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20050430193617/http://lgi.osi.hu/ethnic/csdb/results.asp?idx=no&id=90 Chánov case study]