The frozen Plattenbau in Eisenhüttenstadt A short history of Eisenhüttenstadt of ‘first socialist city on German soil’
Eisenhüttenstadt is a town in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, Germany at the border to Poland. While the communist aera in eastern Europe, Eisenhüttenstadt was for the real-socialistic system of the GDR a symbol for the power of the real-socialism and the possibility of being independent. “The third congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (20–24 July 1950) decided to erect a steel mill, the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost, and an adjacent residential area. Construction began on 8th August 1950. The first blast furnace was put into operation one year later (…) Eisenhüttenstadt was advertised as the ‘first socialist city on German soil’. Like other new socialist towns, it followed the example of Magnitogork in the Soviet Union and was built alongside a new state combine. In the first years, the architecture was strongly influenced by Stalinistand neoclassic architecture. Later, as in all other East German towns and cities, Plattenbau architecture became predominant. (…) After German reunification, the steel mill was prepared for privatization. Due to increased competition from West German steel makers and the collapse of markets in Eastern Europe the the new owners had to lay off workers and close several blast furnaces. In 1995, the steel mill was privatized and sold to the Belgian steel maker Cockerill-Sambre, now part of Arcelor Mittal.” (paraphrasing Wikipedia)
A short history the Plattenbau in eastern Germany
For the project the Plattenbau is the main subject: “Plattenbau is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. (…) In East Germany, virtually all new residential buildings since the 1960s were built in this style, as it was a quick and relatively cheap way to solve the country's severe housing shortage, which had been caused by wartime bombing raids and the large influx of German refugees from further east. (…) Plattenbau apartments were considered highly desirable in East Germany, the main alternative being overcrowded, deteriorating prewar housing, often with wartime damage still visible. Since reunification a combination of decreasing population, renovation of older buildings, and construction of modern alternative housing has led to high vacancy rates, with some estimates placing the number of unoccupied units at around a million.”
The project
In the apartments of the Plattenbauten of Eisenhüttenstadt, the socialist inhabitants were using all the typical GDR-furniture. They were living a typically real-socialist daily life, especially in Eisenhüttenstadt, the “first socialist city on German soil”. The project wants to take one of the unoccupied real-socialist Plattenbauten of Eisenhüttenstadt with the original GDR-furniture and to conserve it in a unique way: All the building, all the floor, the ceilings, the walls, the toilets, the kitchen, the shelves, the bed and all furniture are covered with 10 cm of transparent glass. There should be a 10 cm glass-cover all over the place! The project will be open to visitors, so they can go inside the building and watch through the 10 cm glass surface everything like it originally was. - The projects works like a realistic museum for applied arts: the building would be a frozen moment in time & the visitor would feel like alien to this enviroment from ancient times, long, long time ago.
The frozen Plattenbau in Eisenhüttenstadt A short history of Eisenhüttenstadt of ‘first socialist city on German soil’
Eisenhüttenstadt is a town in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, Germany at the border to Poland. While the communist aera in eastern Europe, Eisenhüttenstadt was for the real-socialistic system of the GDR a symbol for the power of the real-socialism and the possibility of being independent. “The third congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (20–24 July 1950) decided to erect a steel mill, the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost, and an adjacent residential area. Construction began on 8th August 1950. The first blast furnace was put into operation one year later (…) Eisenhüttenstadt was advertised as the ‘first socialist city on German soil’. Like other new socialist towns, it followed the example of Magnitogork in the Soviet Union and was built alongside a new state combine. In the first years, the architecture was strongly influenced by Stalinistand neoclassic architecture. Later, as in all other East German towns and cities, Plattenbau architecture became predominant. (…) After German reunification, the steel mill was prepared for privatization. Due to increased competition from West German steel makers and the collapse of markets in Eastern Europe the the new owners had to lay off workers and close several blast furnaces. In 1995, the steel mill was privatized and sold to the Belgian steel maker Cockerill-Sambre, now part of Arcelor Mittal.” (paraphrasing Wikipedia)
A short history the Plattenbau in eastern Germany
For the project the Plattenbau is the main subject: “Plattenbau is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. (…) In East Germany, virtually all new residential buildings since the 1960s were built in this style, as it was a quick and relatively cheap way to solve the country's severe housing shortage, which had been caused by wartime bombing raids and the large influx of German refugees from further east. (…) Plattenbau apartments were considered highly desirable in East Germany, the main alternative being overcrowded, deteriorating prewar housing, often with wartime damage still visible. Since reunification a combination of decreasing population, renovation of older buildings, and construction of modern alternative housing has led to high vacancy rates, with some estimates placing the number of unoccupied units at around a million.”
The project
In the apartments of the Plattenbauten of Eisenhüttenstadt, the socialist inhabitants were using all the typical GDR-furniture. They were living a typically real-socialist daily life, especially in Eisenhüttenstadt, the “first socialist city on German soil”. The project wants to take one of the unoccupied real-socialist Plattenbauten of Eisenhüttenstadt with the original GDR-furniture and to conserve it in a unique way: All the building, all the floor, the ceilings, the walls, the toilets, the kitchen, the shelves, the bed and all furniture are covered with 10 cm of transparent glass. There should be a 10 cm glass-cover all over the place! The project will be open to visitors, so they can go inside the building and watch through the 10 cm glass surface everything like it originally was. - The projects works like a realistic museum for applied arts: the building would be a frozen moment in time & the visitor would feel like alien to this enviroment from ancient times, long, long time ago.