These buildings earned the name Falowiec due to their distinctive wave-like pattern as they alternate between blocks.
There are eight such buildings in Gdansk, with the most renowned located in the Przymorze block.
It has 11 floors, 16 staircases, 1,792 apartments in which nearly six thousand tenants live.
Its like a small town.
The building stretches like a huge train with three bus stops along its length, and four addresses.
The building is so large that it affects the air movement creating a microclimate around it.
In the north it is colder, and snow and frost last longer.
The Falowiec were built during a period when there was an acute housing shortage.
The buildings were meant to be a temporary solution.
However, they became embedded in the seaside landscape for many years.
The blocks were designed and erected according to a similar scheme.
Most of the apartments are accessed from open galleries that run along the north wall.
In the beginning, it was possible to walk from one end of the building to the other.
But then, boarders erected walls separating the individual apartments from each other.
Photo credit:Vortilogue/Flickr
There are a total of eight Falowce in Gdansk.
All of them were built in the 1960s and 1970s, when there was a huge housing shortage.
They were meant to be a temporary solution.
However, they became embedded in the seaside landscape for many years.
The blocks were designed and erected according to a similar scheme.
Most of the apartments are accessed from open galleries that run along the north wall.
They used to be able to walk from one end of the building to the other.
Then, on the galleries, walls grew up, separating the individual cages from each other.
The blocks have balconies on the south side.
The shape of the buildings resembles a sea wave.
Vice-President Wojtkowiak still remembers when the largest of the wave houses, at Obroncow Wybrzeza Street, was settled.
It was done in stages.
When the residents moved into the first segment, the next ones were still being finished, he recalls.
The giant’s surroundings resembled a construction site for a long time.
But for most people, their own apartment was quite an ennoblement.
Especially living in a place like this.
Photo credit:Robin Hamman/Flickr
Photo credit:Igor Mroz/Flickr
Photo credit:magro_kr/Flickr
