Purvciems

Starting the end of 17th century and start of 18th century, the largely unsurveyed territory was called Hausmaņa purvs ('Hausmanis' swamp/marsh') and translates from Latvian as "swamp village". Until the 19th century, only yeomen lived there. In 1828, the first part of the region containing Grīziņmuiža and Putnumuiža was included in Riga's borders, and the area saw rise in single-family house construction. The second part of the region was included in Riga's borders in 1924, when a regional development plan and road construction led to rise in family home construction. The territory remained primarily for single homes until 1963–4. In 1965, the Purvciems housing block plan was conceived, that led to extensive high-rise building of five or more stories throughout 1970–80s - Purvciems expanded significantly to the east, with typical panel housing. Purvciems together with Pļavnieki is one of the most densely inhabited neighbourhoods of Riga. == Multi-storey residential buildings ==

The first detailed plan for the construction of the Purvciems multi-storey residential area was developed in 1964 by the Riga General Plan Office (architects Gunārs Melbergs, Ruta Paikule, and Dagnija Sila), but in 1970 it was partially revised by the Pilsētprojekts institute (architects Ēvalds Fogelis, Meinards Medinskis, Ivars Millers and Ruta Dzene). The Purvciems residential area is designed for 65,000 residents and consists of six microdistricts, a community center, green areas, and sports areas adjacent to the Biķernieku Forest. The Purvciems building complex mainly uses right-angled street intersections. The buildings are predominantly 5, 9 and 12 stories high. A distinctive feature of the residential layout in Purvciems is a 120-degree modular grid, reminiscent of a complete or incomplete honeycomb, where the sides of the hexagons are five-story panel apartment buildings. The architecture is complemented by individual buildings of nine or more stories. The spatial character and image of the Purvciems residential area is mainly determined by the 602 series of residential buildings. These are 9-story white or beige buildings, whose light color is determined by panels finished with small white tiles. The courtyards are dominated by large lawns with no specific function, untidy and unkempt greenery consisting of shrubs and small, nondescript trees. In the 1980s, active construction of a new type of house (119 and 104 series) was carried out. Purvciems also has buildings from the 119 series (with varying numbers of floors), as well as buildings from the 103 and 104 series, the 318 series (the so-called "Khrushchev era project") buildings, 464 series ("Lithuanian project") buildings and 467 series buildings. Purvciems is also one of the few multi-story districts where there are a large number of 5- and 9-story buildings from the "small family" project, which in other neighborhoods are found as individual buildings or groups of buildings. Two French project (monolithic) buildings were constructed at 21 and 23 Madonas Street, which are among the tallest multi-storey residential buildings in Soviet Latvia. The buildings were constructed in 1984 and 1986 and are 21 and 19 stories high, respectively. In the 2000s, many new residential buildings were built using individual designs, as well as several social housing projects. In 2007, the 24-story AstraLux residential high-rise was completed, which is 81 meters high and is the tallest residential building on the right bank of the Daugava River. == Infrastructure ==

Purvciems borders the Riga–Lugaži railway line (Zemitāni station). There are several large stores in Purvciems. To make it easier for Purvciems residents to get to the center of Riga, the Deglava Bridge over the railway was opened in 1966. The bridge was designed to carry 900 cars per day and is 646 meters long, which at the time made it the longest overpass in Latvia. == Gallery ==

File:View from apartment building on Dzelzavas iela, Purvciems, Riga, Latvia (2004-09-01).jpg|View of the intersection at the Minsk shopping mall in 2004 File:Dzelzavas iela (3).jpg|View to the east next to the shopping center "Minska" File:Улица Дзелзавас, Dzelzavas iela - panoramio.jpg|View to the west between Lielvārdes and Stigu streets File:Purvciema mikrorajons.jpg|Inner yards of Purvciems apartment blocks in 2005 ==References==