The ‘socialist apartment’ in Yugoslavia: Paradigm or tendency?

Abstract

The development of residential architecture in Yugoslavia during the period of socialism had its peak in the 1960s and 1970s. Significant progress in construction was accompanied by housing research directed towards finding the optimal urbanistic solutions for the newly formed lifestyle of the socialist society. The tendency was to “pack” as many residential units as possible into each building, almost up to the limits of the functional minimum, at the same time with the aim of setting a more humane pattern of living. Innovative theoretical ideas were developed at leading housing research centers and then spread at conferences, consultations, expositions and architectural contests. Top quality design concepts were mostly obtained through architectural contests, which, among other things, also served the purpose of testing theoretical principles and new concepts of residential patterns on actual examples. Although the term “socialist apartment” seems to be accepted in practice, in the scientific sense, it has not been sufficiently explored or examined. The aim of this paper is to explore whether there was a certain architectural pattern as a form of response to the specific socio-economic conditions in Yugoslavia, in terms of a functional scheme that architects followed and which could be defined by the term “socialist apartment”.