Plattenbau
If I were going to move into East Berlin, I guess it would be best to do it right. For that reason, I now live in the DDR. Well, not really, but almost. My apartment building is one of many in a two block radius that are basically exactly the same. The German name for these buildings is "Plattenbau," referring to the fact that they are made of pre-fabricated concrete slabs. 
[Two Plattenbau buildings that look exactly like mine]
In the 1960s in East Germany, there was a housing shortage and one of the best ways to create homes was to throw up Planntenbau buildings all over the East. Being pre-fab, they were easy to build. I personally think they also created the uniformity that the communist East German state was looking for. 
[The front of my house, that faces Otto-Braun-Strasse]
[The back of my house, which is actually where the entrance is, but faces a pseudo-courtyard formed by all the Plattenbaus, where there is also a school]
Today, all over East Berlin, these Plattenbau still exist, although they are not 'desirable' housing. But I like my Plattenbau. I mean, sometimes it is fun to go to the German History Museum here in Berlin and realize that a Plattenbau model on display looks exactly like the apartment you live in!
Here are some pictures of where I now live!
[The door to my room]
[My makeshift closet/really a bookcase]
[The foyer]
[The living room]
[The kitchen]
[The view from the balcony; lots of other East German buildings and construction, of course]
2 comments:
If the Plattenbau all look the same, and are architecturally uninspired structures, why did you feel inspired to post three photos of them? Shouldn't one be enough to get the point across of a building which looks the same from all sides?
:p
I must have missed this post at some point. I think all of these buildings have somehow been renovated, because when dad, Thomas and I stayed down the street from these houses they looked so run down. Even if they all look the same, they don't seem run down.
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