PANELKI

Plattenbau, Panelák, Wielka Plyta, Panelház, Panelki... Prefabricated panel blocks go by different names around the former Eastern Bloc, but their goal was the same everywhere: to provide homes for the growing populations of the cities after WW2.

Panelki by Zupagrafika allows you to assemble a genuine soviet era pre-cast block, panel by panel, while learning about prefabricated construction systems commonly used behind the Iron Curtain. The first part of the book opens with an introduction to mass housing in the former Soviet Union and its satellites, illustrated with photographs and socialist propaganda posters. The second part contains 164 press-out cardboard panels that will enable readers to assemble a 27 cm high 3D block with easy-to-follow instructions. The panels feature detailed illustrations recreating the original facades of prefabricated buildings that are home to millions of city dwellers to this day.