Affirming the concept of continuity in the modernist heritage through the notion of border: case study of the meander buildings in New Belgrade’s Block 23

Abstract

City planning is shaped by urban, political, social, and other resolutions that are materialized in the spatial plan. As an example of post-war architecture of the 20th century, New Belgrade was developed on modernist principles focused on the essence of dwelling, along with the idea of continuity based on the formation of fluid, liminal spaces and designing "from the inside out". Taking into account that the blocks of New Belgrade are particularly valued in the modern-day as locationally desirable and spatially highquality living units, the research motive is the observed change in the way that one block entity is considered in today's context against the system of ideas embedded in the object’s design concept. In accordance with the aforementioned, the research premise is that the long-term recognition of the overall quality of New Belgrade residential blocks can be reflected in the preservation of human-scale continuity, which therefore also ensures temporal continuity - the sustainability of project over time. The proposed hypothesis will be researched through the analysis of continuity and observed in the form of ideology instilled in the spatial organization, relying on the user as a reference value. The continuity of the observed spatial zones is confined by their liminal condition. Therefore, the border significance is determined through spatially defined phenomena of different nature (physical, immaterial, social). The methods used in this paper are theoretical overview, case study, and graphic analysis of the meander objects and their wider spatial context in New Belgrade’s block 23. Graphic analysis, namely mapping of relevant borders, sets the frameworks of spatial zones that participate in the construction of place continuity. Research result is the establishment of a concrete relationship between the concepts of spatial continuity in modernism, illustrated through the phenomenon of the border, which further influences the quality of living in the building after its construction. The research significance lies in a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between theory and practice, that is, in understanding the process of design and life of the chosen study objects, observing their development from the initial idea, through project realization, until its present-day existence.