In the early 1960s, the Soviet Union began widespread construction of panel-housing microdistricts, starting with Mustamäe in Estonia in 1961. To counter the monotony of these buildings, urban architect Dmitri Bruns initiated a project to decorate the windowless end walls of apartment blocks. Inspired by a successful sgraffito at the Kalev Sports Hall, artist Valli Lember-Bogatkina developed a unique technique. At the Tallinn house building combine, metal carcases or strips were installed onto freshly cast building panels and filled with colorful rubble and crushed brick. Alongside Bogatkina, artists Margarethe Fuks, Enn Põldroos and Oskar Raunam contributed to the designs. The geometric images reflected 1960s optimism, space achievements, technology and the peaceful atom. However, the initiative was short-lived because aligning the multi-panel images slowed down mass production and hindered the fast-paced construction of residential buildings.
Today, many of these approximately 60-year-old artworks have disappeared under modern insulation materials, sharing the fate of the aging apartment buildings they decorate. Some pieces, such as the silhouette of a boy dreaming of becoming a cosmonaut and various zodiac signs, have been covered up, although in a few cases, respectful imitations have been painted over the new wall coverings. Some original panels, like the Factory Workers, are still preserved and not yet buried under insulation.
The Factory Workers mural is part of a series of decorative walls created for apartment buildings in Tallinn at addresses including Akadeemia tee 4, 6, 14 and 22, Ehitajate tee 2, 15, 17 and 19, and Karjamaa 6 and 8. For instance, Karjamaa 6 exceptionally features art on both end walls: a child reaching for a peaceful atom by Põldroos, and gliding seagulls with a fish by Lember-Bogatkina. As exterior architectural elements, the surviving works can be viewed freely from the street.
