I didn’t know anything else. There were a stadium, climbing bars, willow, and half tires where you could climb. It was quite nice! Eva
The minimal design accumulated with granny’s cultural layers. And frightening soviet lifts, which I used nevertheless. K
Blocks of flats remind me of visiting granny and grandpa in Jelgava. Those flats and courtyards remind me of childhood. Very pleasant memories. Always when I’m in the stairwell and go to my flat, I feel the scent of pancakes or boiled potatoes. It reminds me of home and gives me a pleasant feeling. Because food means well-being.
Although I have been to other flats when visiting friends and classmates. Those gave me a gloomy and dark impression. In my opinion, it depends on the smells in the stairwell. For example, the smell of cigarettes is unpleasant, but the scent of flowers that are put on the mailboxes at the entrance of the flat gives you a pleasurable feeling. In granny and grandpa’s house, there were always flowers near the entrance. Santa
The project's authors didn’t think of me as an individual with his wants and needs but as a cog wheel in the political mechanism. Living here is like being a part of the old ideology. Hearing neighbors, small kitchens, and bathrooms. Design that is not directed towards “bourgeoisie” leisure or social gatherings but on living as a utilitarian experience. Kate
Our current flat's doors are very close to our neighbour’s. When they’re opening their door, it sounds exactly like our door is opening. When you’re alone at home, and you know that at this time nobody should come home, you get a creepy feeling. You have to get used to this, especially at night. Evija
I like the reminder that we all come from somewhere and everything is connected over time and space. Liene
I liked that everyone had more or less the same flats and you could go to your friends at any moment without warning. Nothing has helped me to understand people more than blocks of flats. Once I almost fell out off the balcony. Vilis
You must try to know how it is. And it looks like the issues of flats buildings still need to be addressed. They know how to build but can’t make a functional society in these houses. I like what Grassroots architects are doing in poor neighborhoods worldwide. They listen to all the residents instead of forcing their solutions on others. They leave the classical top-down and create bottom-up. Kate
In childhood, those spaces seemed vast, but now when you’re in the blockhouse district, the yards don’t seem that huge. Not to talk about those two-room flats. A. S.
Ha, firstly, you can climb high and look at everything from the top. And generally, a nice feeling to be in a block of flats. It feels like each block has its aura. And it’s nostalgic. Mersedese
The stairwells always have a distinctly unpleasant smell, and the walls are of a strange color. Every block of flats I've ever been to has a peculiar smell in the stairwell. All smell almost the same, but each building has its own. And it's never pleasant, but you get used to it and develop a relationship with it. Some buildings with common corridors usually have all kinds of junk stored there – strollers, sleds, shelves with jam, or who knows what. Inside the flats, especially those built in the 70s & 80s, there is barely enough space to move around and keep all your things. The strangest part is that the flats are all the same - even in different cities, you will find flats with the same layout. Peter
When you see the sky and feel the open space, it seems like you’re in the country. Signe
The lift was always out of service. I was afraid of entering the elevator, which always had cigarette burn marks on the walls or some missing button. Kitija
Sometimes there is pee in an elevator; otherwise, all is okay. I’ve heard that there are criminal districts, but personally, I haven’t experienced that kind of situation. Karline
In the flat beneath me, the neighbour used to have a goat on the balcony. Anastasija
My whole childhood, I lived in blocks of flats and never knew how it is when you have a high ceiling that lets you breathe and think. And the sound of the neighbour banging his pork chops also seems further away. Dita
I remember how someone always said that it would collapse soon. Andris
At my mum’s house, the roof was open, and during the summer, I climbed up to study for exams, and sometimes I fell asleep. Once a washing machine flooded six floors down. The water was going through power sockets, from the ceiling, everywhere. Everyone was running between floors and yelling at each other. I don’t remember how it ended. Marijana
If you look from the convenience side of things – everything needed is at arm’s length: schools, health centers, sports fields, and public transport. And sometimes also most of your friends. Ieva
