Reissue of the publication Bratislava – Atlas of Mass Housing

2025-09-04

We would like to draw your attention to the reissue of the publication Bratislava – Atlas of Mass Housing. Slovart Publishing House is reissuing one of the first comprehensive assessments of housing estate construction in Slovakia and in the broader context of Central Europe, which was originally published in 2011.

Researchers from the Department of Architecture addressed the topic of modernist housing estates after World War II at a time when these neighborhoods were perceived as scars on cities and inhumane mistakes that needed to be corrected. Through long-term research—from the transformation of urban concepts for housing estates, through individual prefabricated systems and types of residential buildings, to exceptional atypical public buildings, equipment, and art in public spaces – they have shown that Bratislava's “panel” housing estates are not just a gray mass, but that each of them has its own specific qualities and uniqueness.

The new edition is being published at a time when housing estates are increasingly appreciated by the general public and there is even discussion about the preservation of selected parts or individual buildings. The reissue of the Atlas of Mass Housing proves that Henrieta Moravčíková's account of the development of Bratislava's housing estate landscape, as well as her analysis of individual locations, has not aged – even though it has since been enriched with a range of new insights.

The transformations of the 21 housing estates examined – from the early ones, marked by conservative socialist realism, through modernist peaks and monumental late modernist complexes, to postmodern attempts to reevaluate this type of construction – are richly illustrated with period photographs and plans. There are also maps of individual housing estates, diagrams of the main types of residential buildings and civic amenities, as well as an extensive catalog of notable buildings and works of art. All this, with graphic design by Juraj Blaško and Matúš Lelovský, can be found in your bookstore.

Authors: Henrieta Moravčíková, Mária Topolčanská, Peter Szalay, Matúš Dulla, Soňa Ščepánová, Slávka Toscherová, and Katarína Haberlandová
Book design: Juraj Blaško, Matúš Lelovský
Editorial revision: Daniela Marsinová
Translation into English: Martin Tharp
Publisher: Slovart 2025