The influence of prefabricated construction systems on Belgrade's architecture

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th century Belgrade was being developed and expanded at a fast pace. Many residential areas that grew at the time were built using prefabricated industrialised systems. Prefabricated construction technologies were developed as a result of multiple influential factors such as the socio-economic situation, cultural, scientific and technical development, and housing policies. The paper presents several widely used prefabricated construction systems (IMS, Rad-Balansi, Jugomont, Trudbenik, Komgrap), points to a few characteristic examples of residential buildings, complexes, blocks or neighbourhoods dating from different decades of the second half of the 20th century, and identifies as yet unmapped examples of Belgrade's residential architecture using the historical method of research. The paper initiates further and more thorough research both into residential architecture in Belgrade and into the technology of prefabrication in the context of the technical and architectural achievements of the 20th century. The goal of the research is to gain a more thorough knowledge of the examples of residential architecture which are representative of a particular period or a type of housing. The paper draws attention to the architectural works which have not hitherto been studied or published but which deserve the attention of the professional and general public. Its particular contribution is in defining the ways in which prefabricated industrialised systems influenced architectural design, and in proposing a typology of floor layouts occurring in residential buildings constructed using these systems.

Keywords

• residential architecture
• influences
• industrial modernism
• prefabrication
• housing construction
• Belgrade's architecture
• Novi Beograd