Talk:Large panel system building

Photo
We should get a photograph of these. David.Monniaux 20:04, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Done. abelson 12:00, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

Merger?
Plattenbau is not English at all and therefore does not deserve an entry in the English Wikipedia. It does not matter that some people think it is somehow part of Eastern Germany -- the text itself explains that it is not. Furthermore, there are plenty of Plattenbauten in other countries, such as large parts of Strasbourg, France. In fact, there probably isn't a large city in Europe (they areb all over the east as well) that does not have Plattenbauten. We simply need to link to the actual English term for this, not use a German word in English that suggests the thing is that German when it is not. One person writes: "The term has come to identify a very specific subset of prefab concrete buildings built in East Germany between 1950 and 1989 and differentiates them from the general heading of prefabricated concrete, and indeed, tower buildings generally." But that is true in German, not in English. So do what you want in the German Wikipedia -- we are doing English here, and this term is not common in English, to put it mildly, and the construction technique is not associated with Germany at all, much less Eastern Germany. Another person writes: "Plattenbau is a term very specific to east germany" - right, in German -- and not in English. In English, Plattenbau is not used at all. Whoever wrote this is racist. Germans live in america and I need to look up German stuff for German class DAMMIT Another person writes: "the status of Plattenbau as a nation and culture specific concept in its own right warrants maintaining the separate listing for this term. The term has come to identify a very specific subset of prefab concrete buildings built in East Germany between 1950 and 1989" -- but the point is that Plattenbau is a German term, not an English one, so it actually is no specific concept at all in English. It's just this weird word that nobody knows. If we start insisting that foreign words that have some special cultural meaning in other languages should also have an entry in the English Wikipedia, where do we stop? Cathedral in northern Germany is called a Dom; in southern Germany, a Münster. Who cares? If I click on Dom or Münster in the German, I want to be taken to the Cathedral entry in English. Because cathedrals are not anything specific to Germany, I also probably am not interested in the fact that these things have two different regional names in the German-speaking world. In conclusion, if I look up Plattenbau in the German Wikipedia and want to see how that is said in English, it does not help to have the same word thrown at me in English when that word is actually not used in English. If we are going to talk about these buildings, which exist everywhere and are not special to Germany at all, then we might want to talk about large-panel construction or whatever, and if you want to serve a German audience on the English Wikipedia (I cannot imagine why you would want to do that, however) you could add a section on Plattenbauten (or should that be plattenbaus in English?), explaining that Germans who speak English mistakenly believe that this type of architecture is somehow German or Eastern German. I'd be the first to find that section pointless.Petiteplanete (talk) 11:39, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Plattenbau is a term very specific to east germany and in many ways is different from the more general 'tower block.' A link suffices to make the connection. Merging these two articles would be like erasing the article for 'Germany' and instead putting everything for Germany under the article for 'Europe.' Not a good idea. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.83.27.187 (talk) 13:32, July 7, 2006

I don't see why the East German use of prefabricated concrete construction techniques warrants a separate article. It should be made a part of a larger article on prefabricated housing, however the article on Tower Blocks needs changing. It either should be renamed British Tower Blocks or should be rewritten to include other examples. Also the article only really discusses high-rise prefab housing and not low-rise. A lot of GDR Plattenbau was low-rise in central East Berlin. Not only that there were (and still are) some quite nice looking examples of what Plattenbau can be when they bothered to make an effort. I think the Plattenbau article should be merged into an improved article on prefab housing but not into the Tower Block article as it stands. Perhaps for now the Plattenbau article should be expanded. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Per1892 (talk • contribs) 18:33, March 2, 2006

I would strongly oppose a merger of Plattenbau into sections on Tower Blocks and/or prefabricated concrete buildings. I believe that the status of Plattenbau as a nation and culture specific concept in its own right warrants maintaining the separate listing for this term. The term has come to identify a very specific subset of prefab concrete buildings built in East Germany between 1950 and 1989 and differentiates them from the general heading of prefabricated concrete, and indeed, tower buildings generally. There could be a link to the section on Ostalgie too, as the revitalisation of Plattenbau settlements can be seen as part of the rediscovery of (and renewed nostalgia) for East German culture. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.50.143.22 (talk) 21:48, March 8, 2006


 * Merger: I don't see any sense in a specific article about East German precast concrete construction. It's a kind of building construction that has deep roots in modern architecture itself, thus all over the world. Actually, precast concrete construction was the favored kind of construction in most former communist countries, but this applies to all countries of the former Warsaw Pact. You'll find, for instance, large residential areas of this kind in any russian city, much bigger than, for instance, Marzahn in Berlin. There is by no means anything special about the bygone GDR about it. Gamgee 15:39, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Support merge - Plattenbau is just the German name for a global phenomenon. I don't think there's enough here to justify a separate article (yet). All these articles, including Panelák and similar, should be merged together. However, I don't think the UK-centric "Tower block" is the best title; not all such apartments are towers. I'd suggest "Apartment block," the closest to a universal term I can think of (not all such standardized apartments were prefabricated, so it can't be based on that term).  Pr oh ib it O ni o n s   (T) 11:42, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Strong oppose - It would be better to keep the distinction between construction technique and application - stongly suggest a merge with Shear wall though.--Mcginnly | Natter 14:53, 18 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Oppose. I believe the subject deserves a separate article on its own merits. Regards, E    Asterion  u talking to me? 16:21, 18 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Strong oppose regarding merger of Plattenbau and tower block. I even oppose merger of Plattenbau and Panelák. Plattenbau, Panelák etc. should be treated as extended sub sections of tower block. JanSuchy 23:25, 1 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Oppose. For a native German speaker, the word 'Plattenbau' is unique. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.50.36.26 (talk) 09:59, October 12, 2006


 * dont merge. this is term belongs especially to East Germany. please, do not merge. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.0.209.173 (talk) 02:57, December 3, 2006


 * Strong oppose - Plattenbau describes a method of construction just as "brick building" or "timber framed" do. It does not describe a single design style. A Plattenbau can be anything from a single detached family bungalow, a row of 3-storey town houses, a (longer than high) Appartement Building or a Tower block. The german term "Plattenbau" has a different scope than the english "Tower block" just as the czech "Panelák" may be considered as one of many sorts of buildings constructed in the "Plattenbau" method and may be designed as a "Tower block". Not all "Tower blocks" though are build using prefabricated concrete slabs und thus are not always constructed like "Plattenbauten" or "Panelák"s. Remembering some long winding "Panelák"s, I don't think I would refer to all these buildings as towers as they can be a lot longer than high. "Plattenbau" could be considered a subgroup of "Prefabricated housing", but I guess no one in Germany would normally think of a prefabricated wooden house as a "Plattenbau". Think of the english word "wood", this can be translated to german either as the material "Holz" or a larger group of living trees "Wald"; sometimes there is no one to one translation that is identical to the scope of the meaning in different languages.--T.woelk 03:03, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
 * How about Prefabricated mass housing? This would be a bit clearer as the main article, and then national variants (Plattenbau, panelák, tower block, etc.) could have their specific articles as required. Pro hib it O ni o ns  (T) 15:18, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

8:3 oppose:support merge (although half the oppose votes are from anons). It looks like there's consensus to keep. Plus the article is a little more substantial than it was when the merge was first proposes, so I've removed the merge tag. I think ProhibitOnion's idea is good. There should be a page (and a category) that incorporates this. They could be split off from the tower block article and only the main page would need to have the long list of translations. I'll put a "split" tag on Tower block. Tocharianne 20:04, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

A reason for the anons may be that the authors base is not the english wikipedia but rather that of their own language. I myself have only signed into the English and german Wikipedia, although I have edited in the french, malaysian, italien, danish, indonesian, spanisch and others I can't remember. It would be great if I could sign in only once and could sign in whatever language I hapen to browse. --T.woelk 12:27, 31 December 2006 (UTC)


 * That makes sense, I didn't think about that. Tocharianne 15:59, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the correct term is Large Panel System building (or should we use Large Panel System?) // Liftarn (talk)


 * some comments try to argue to remove "Plattenbau" because it is "being build cheap" which is a weird argument. Calling for removal because it is a german term is even more stupid, next we delete the articles about "Bauhaus" and "Kindergarden"? Plattenbau isn't as much about building houses in a specific way but about a pretty unique political urban development project. Would anyone suggest to move "One World Trade Center" into the article about "Skyscrapers" because it is just a skyscaper? Crass Spektakel (talk) 16:57, 23 September 2021 (UTC)


 * No, because One World Trade Center is a specific building. Unlike, large panel system-building or "Plattenbau", which is a type of building defined by specific way of its construction, and there were thousands of buildings build in this style. And it's not limited to Germany.Artemis Andromeda (talk) 17:07, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:30, 31 August 2007 (UTC)