Novo Naselje Housing Archive, Vol. 1

The Novi Sad Housing Archive is an ongoing research project conducted with architecture students in the courses Contemporary Architecture 2 and Modern Architecture of the Region. The project is dedicated to researching archival and technical documentation and projects of residential buildings in Novi Sad, created in the second half of the 20th century. The aim of examining this documentation is to isolate, analyse, and study the apartments developed during this period, their compliance with existing regulations, and the housing standards that have been progressively achieved in post-war reconstruction and construction. Following the model of the Apartment Photo Archive published by the IMS Housing Centre, plans have been carefully digitised and presented, recording their authors and builders.
The “Novo Naselje Housing Archive, Vol. 1” is the first comprehensive overview of the apartments in a specific residential zone of Novi Sad. This part of Novi Sad, built on the foundation of four decades of housing construction experience in the city, showcases the most advanced solutions and standards in this field. Moreover, the approach to building in this area critiques the modernist approach to city planning, introduces new trends in urban design, and showcases paradigms highlighted in the significant Yugoslav competition for another area of the city – the Mišeluk settlement. The development of Mišeluk has been postponed, while a modern settlement has emerged on the eastern edge of the city, adhering to high urban and architectural standards that remain particularly valuable even under contemporary conditions.
The research in the first part of the Novi Naselje Housing Archive focuses on the northern fragment of the settlement, located north of Jovan Dučić Boulevard, specifically on two macro-blocks that display different design approaches from various periods of implementation. Selected types of residential buildings represent a typical apartment organisation, regarding the spatial structure. The second part of the research is dedicated to detailed analyses of specific quality elements, as conducted during the most intense period of construction, using various methodologies. The goal of these analyses is to quantitatively express the quality of residential spaces, enabling a more profound understanding beyond today’s singular value category – the price in the real estate market.
The entire project, which will continue in the following years, aims to systematically present and systematise the experiences of housing construction from the period of intense urbanisation and modernisation of Novi Sad for the first time. By working on research and analyses, students have the opportunity to directly investigate, analyse, recognise, and evaluate the qualities of specific architectural realisations, thus forming their own value judgments and design positions in relation to this process. This book is the result of our collaborative work, incorporating students’ valuable contributions, and serves as a guideline for further research on similar topics.