Housing development in the 1950s in Serbia-typical examples of residential blocks built in Belgrade

Abstract

To date, the Serbian architecture of the nineteen-fifties has not yet been more comprehensively studied albeit the fact that there are sufficient sources, data, literature, and structures built at that time. The reason for the lack of interest in architecture of that period may be found in the relationship between the non-understanding and insufficient valuation of architectural results of the modern architecture of the time, but also in the general opinion that the immediate postwar years were the time of a poor social housing development, which is also characterized by the lack of distinct architectural values. Furthermore, there has been an obvious unreadiness to analyze in more detail and in time distance the subject of the sociorealistic construction, which was also partially present in this period. After a short period of the so-called Socio-Realism 1945-1950, characterized by reconstruction of the war devastated country with extensive participation of youth brigades, the housing construction in particular got a big boost, considering the changes in population structure, as well as the fact that a significant portion of population moved from rural areas to towns. The subject decade of the newly established socialist society was, in every respect, marked with upward path of economic, political and social development, which was an important base for overall architectural and cultural construction. This was the time when Serbian architects of different generations created a great number of works, which were diverse in they contents. The architects of older generation often created their most important works, while young architects, looking into future, but also into own architectural heritage and accomplishments, achieved their first significant results, thus generating autochthonous architectural trend and expression which would soon be recognized as the Belgrade School of Architecture. In the conditions in which the Serbian architecture developed, it actually meant fitting within the world development trends along with preservation of own and regional specificities.