Prefabricated panel blocks go by different names around the former Eastern Bloc, from Plattenbau to Panelak, Wielka Plyta, Panelky or Panelhaz, but wherever they were built their goal was always the same: to provide homes for growing city populations after the Second World War. The volume lets readers assemble a Soviet-era pre-cast block, panel by panel, while learning about the history of the prefabricated building systems commonly used behind the Iron Curtain.