Concrete Portraits of the Former Eastern Bloc » Design You Trust

Mass housing in post-war socialist countries was a brief and helpful way to offer properties for the increasing town populations immediately after WWII, but right after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc the destiny of these constructions grew to become unsure. Though modernist estates are currently being renovated or prematurely demolished, their tenants continue to be undaunted. They have lived by way of the buildings’ golden yrs and darker instances.

Additional: Zupagrafika, Instagram

For the previous 10 years, Zupagrafika (earlier showcased) has documented the housing estates erected in Central and Jap Europe, nevertheless perceived by several as ‘eyesores,’ through images and illustrated paper designs. The Tenants characteristics more than 40 housing tasks in 37 unique cities of the previous Eastern Bloc and ex-Yugoslavia. From Berlin to Norilsk, and all the way as a result of Kyiv to Tallinn, the album portrays the inhabitants of individuals complexes holding designs of their residences, while sharing the tales of lives lived in the prefab panel blocks.

Involves a foreword by the sociologist and city researcher Maciej Frąckowiak and an index of the highlighted housing estates, offering an perception into their historical past. The portraits had been taken by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka, with contributions by local photographers.

Highlighted cities: Almaty, Belgrade, Berlin, Budapest, Chișinău, Dresden, Gdańsk, Halle-Neustadt, Kaliningrad, Katowice, Kraków, Kyiv, Ljubljana, Lviv, Łódź, Międzyrzecz, Minsk, Moscow, Norilsk, Omsk, Podgorica, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rostock, St. Petersburg, Skopje, Sofia, Szczecin, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Vilnius, Vorkuta, Warsaw, Wrocław, Yakutsk, Żyrardów.