Housing+: Stories of Residential Buildings from the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Over 85% of architectural production in urban areas consists of residential buildings. Housing is a primary existential space, directly linked to culture, identity, and quality of life. The most extensive production of mass housing estates and buildings in Europe, including the former Yugoslavia, occurred during the second half of the 20th century, following World War II. This was a consequence of post-war reconstruction, new urbanization, and industrialization, accompanied by migration, which led to the creation of the so-called middle class. These residential complexes, which remain in continuous use today, represent a significant urban and architectural heritage that faces various contemporary challenges. They are also key witnesses to the post-war expansion of cities and the development of housing culture, but also an important part of the broader European culture.

The selection of the HOUSING+ theme within the BalkanStoryMap project represents an attempt—and hopefully just the beginning—of researching and mapping residential estates, blocks, and buildings, primarily in the realm of collective housing, through selected case studies in Kosovo and Montenegro. In a relatively short period of four months (from April to July 2024), 10 young participant-researchers (5 from Kosovo and 5 from Montenegro) with diverse backgrounds created 10 engaging stories. These stories were developed through archival research, periodicals, photo documentation, interviews with authors or their descendants, residents, and other relevant interlocutors, among other sources.

These 10 authentic stories, which go beyond a purely urbanistic-architectural approach, vary in scale and chronology: from smaller, individual residential buildings that reflect the specific socio-political context of their time in the 1960s (such as the residential building on Beogradska Street 6/8 in Podgorica), with a particularly pronounced design aspect (like the Bor building in Mojkovac) or the rarity of being recipients of architecture awards (such as the Avala S55 building in Budva, recipient of the “Borba” republic award in 1972); to the first planned residential blocks that introduced elements of modern urbanity into smaller, industrially developing towns during the 1970s (like Ortakoli in Prizren and the "Chinese" in Đakovica), or those born out of significant efforts of Yugoslav solidarity following earthquakes (such as the Macedonian settlement in Bar); and to those that strongly define the urban morphology of major cities (like the large residential neighborhoods of Ulpiana and Dardania, and the Aktash Solitaire buildings in Prishtina), or successful examples of new, post-modernist housing models that flirt with tradition in the early 1990s (such as the Malo brdo housing estate in Podgorica). The actors of these 10 stories include both renowned and some forgotten Montenegrin, Kosovar, and Yugoslav architects and urban planners, making these narratives, in part, stories about them as well (including Hysnije Hisari, Svetlana Kana Radević, Bashkim Fehmiu, Novak Jovović, Aleksandar Keković, and others).

The experiences of the past are important, also for the present, where we lack sufficient understanding of them, and for the future, which at least in principle, aspires to be better and of higher quality. The harshness of the transition to neoliberal capitalism in the Balkans, driven solely by profit, has led to chaotic residential construction, lack of public spaces, green areas, and supporting amenities. Understanding, valuing, and protecting the architecture of the second half of the 20th century—especially housing as the most vulnerable typology—and critically engaging with it through the activation of forgotten knowledge and practices, are crucial for the future.

Our existence is spatial. The stories of the spaces we inhabit are stories about ourselves.

• Prof. Dr. Slavica Stamatović Vučković
• Faculty of Architecture, University of Montenegro