Alex Savova
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How to live in a Communist Panelka: Block B5, Razadnika Sofia Bulgari
Block B5 may be seen as no different from the other Panelki flats that dominate Sofia’s urban landscape. Although they may share similarities in their physical appearance, there are stark contrasts between the motive, construction, and personal lived experiences behind that specific building compared to other Panels. Block B5 was constructed thirty years after the first panel block inside Sofia and one of the last panel houses under the Soviet regime. Being one of the former residential buildings built under the Soviet rule meant it was constructed under economic difficulties such as a shortage.
The aim of this research is to investigate how people living inside a former Socialist country attempt to carve out different lives for themselves inside a typical panel building. This research will unpeel the layers of history behind Block B5 and understand how residents living under state control have the power to modernise their perceptions of home. I focus on mass housing as it provides an excellent window onto the multifarious interactions between state, society, and architects. Furthermore, I focus on a Socialist building constructed in the late 1980s as it was viewed as cultural medium through which societies tried to regain their distinctive national and regional traditions in defiance to Soviet rule.Bulgaria is chosen for this study as it a country that I have spent most of my childhood, and one that is a home to my close relatives. It offers a unique, if under-researched, opportunity to study what happens to daily life in a country where the Panelka first had a profound impact on the social fabric than in other European countries. Most importantly to trace those developments to the present day, where the Bulgarian Panelka is transformed into the largest post-socialist concrete canvas on which individuals can creatively experiment
Block B5 may be seen as no different from the other Panelki flats that dominate Sofia’s urban landscape. Although they may share similarities in their physical appearance, there are stark contrasts between the motive, construction, and personal lived experiences behind that specific building compared to other Panels. Block B5 was constructed thirty years after the first panel block inside Sofia and one of the last panel houses under the Soviet regime. Being one of the former residential buildings built under the Soviet rule meant it was constructed under economic difficulties such as a shortage.
The aim of this research is to investigate how people living inside a former Socialist country attempt to carve out different lives for themselves inside a typical panel building. This research will unpeel the layers of history behind Block B5 and understand how residents living under state control have the power to modernise their perceptions of home. I focus on mass housing as it provides an excellent window onto the multifarious interactions between state, society, and architects. Furthermore, I focus on a Socialist building constructed in the late 1980s as it was viewed as cultural medium through which societies tried to regain their distinctive national and regional traditions in defiance to Soviet rule.Bulgaria is chosen for this study as it a country that I have spent most of my childhood, and one that is a home to my close relatives. It offers a unique, if under-researched, opportunity to study what happens to daily life in a country where the Panelka first had a profound impact on the social fabric than in other European countries. Most importantly to trace those developments to the present day, where the Bulgarian Panelka is transformed into the largest post-socialist concrete canvas on which individuals can creatively experiment