Promoted as a standard, easy-to-build product, The Unité d’Habitation concept spread all over the world after WWII. The first 5 units (Marseille, Firminy, Rezé, Briey and Berlin) built by Le Corbusier himself became the standard for almost all public housing project between 1950 and 1990.

The more the model was spread along the world, the more it changed from the original concept. Most examples use a simplified version, colloquially known as Panelák or Plattenbau. From the original Unité, the Panelák kept:

• The concept of building as indipendent, serial units floating over a green landscape
• the absence of decorations
• flat roof (even though they were no longer used as public spaces)
• large windows and balconies.

On the other side, some features were discarded:

• buildings suspended over pillars
• multi-functional buildings (commerces and services were put aside, in small, low-rise buildings)

Gdańsk, Falowiek, 1970. 11 storey, 850 m long, 6000 inhabitants (image: wikimedia commons).

An example of Panelák in Prague (image: wikimedia commons).

tower-shaped Panelák in Prague (image: wikipedia).

Gdańsk, typical windows pattern on a Panelák (image: wikipedia).