Re-Domesticating Mass Housing

Abstract

The project proposes a rethinking of what it means to live in a high-density housing estate, wanting to establish how Functionalist Residential Architecture can make its residents feel "At Home". To this end, I propose understanding the differentiation between the concepts of "House" and "Home". Reflecting on the writings of Heidegger, Merleau Ponty and Gaston Bachelard, a house is a functional object, while the home becomes a narrative of living not confined to the extent of the physical dwelling.
Depopulation comes at a high cost. Depopulation essentially entails the dissolution of existing social bonds, and ultimately, depopulation gives way to separation. Depopulation and its by-products, further enhanced by the existing architectures of New Belgrade, essentially give way to what Rod Serling labels "the barrier of loneliness". Given demographic projections, depopulation will become pervasive in all Serbian environments. However, I would argue that given the extent of the titanic functionalist housing blocks in New Belgrade, depopulation will be felt particularly harshly in the capital. This phenomenon allows us to pose a different question to the ones pressing during the Yugoslav housing construction periods: is a functional dwelling enough? In analysing and responding to this demographic situation in Serbia, the project was restricted to Block 23 and the Northern Slab Type Housing Building on site. Through the site's sheer size and status as a canonical example of socialist architecture in New Belgrade, Block 23, therefore, becomes the means to respond situationally to a broader societal issue.