Possibilities of staged renovation of reinforced concrete facades of multi-family buildings in the central zone of New Belgrade

Abstract

The central zone of New Belgrade represents an architectural and urban complex which construction began in the early sixties of the twentieth century. In the period from the early sixties to the end of the seventies, multi-family buildings were constructed in blocks: 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30, and today they are classifi ed as the most representative examples of domestic architecture. Based on its architectural and urban characteristics, the central zone has the status of a spatial cultural-historical entity from 2021. Although this zone represents a cultural asset, the multi-family buildings in the blocks are examples of buildings that in the past few decades have not undergone any planned renovations of facade envelopes. The goal of the work is to present the possibilities of restoring facade envelopes through the process of staged renovations while considering ways of treating the envelopes that potentially preserve the original appearance - given that the selected buildings are treated as architectural heritage. Different reinforced concrete facade assemblies and existing damages also require different approaches in staged renovations, as a legitimate solution to this problem. Unplanned and unorganised works aimed at the restoration of facade envelopes led to signifi cant damage and general degradation of both their non-transparent and transparent zones. Despite such problems, the owners of the apartments in the buildings were forced, due to the lack of organised renovations, to individually solve the encountered problems of facade assemblies. This primarily refers to the replacement of dilapidated windows and doors in facade envelopes, while the treatment of non-transparent zones was not carried out according to plan. This led to unfavourable situations in which the degradation of facades is not prevented. By applying staged methods of renovation and activating tenants, these problems can potentially be overcome, which is the main goal of this paper.