Modernism versus postmodernism as an impetus to creativity in the work of architects Milenija and Darko Marušić

Abstract

In light of the development of contemporary Serbian architecture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the work of the team of architects Milenija and Darko Marušić is indicative of trends in Serbia’s Belgrade architectural scene. Their substantial and affirmed architectural activities encompass a series of issues and themes related both to the changes in Serbian architecture permeated with dialogues between modernism and postmodernism in the last decades of the twentieth century and to the specificity of the author’s contribution based on the personal foothold around which their architectural poetics weaves. The context of postmodernism, particularly the Neo-Rationalist European current, has been a suitable ambience in the genesis and upgrade of their creativity. It can be considered through several typical themes on the Modernism versus Postmodernism - relation, starting from the issue of contextuality as determination, through duality, mutual dialogue as an impetus, attitude about the comprehensiveness of architectural considerations based on the unbreakable link between the urbanism and architecture, and on the issues of urban morphology the theme oriented towards both the professional community and the wider public, but also towards architecture itself - its ethics and aesthetics, which are equally important themes for them.

Keywords

• modernism versus postmodernism
• duality
• Serbia
• Belgrade school of housing
• contextuality