Annex of attics on flat roofs of urban residential buildings

Abstract

Necessity for rehabilitation of flat roofs, as well as residential deficit and high prices of flats caused massive annex of attics. In Belgrade in the period after World War II mass building of apartment houses with flat roofs had been extensively used. Flat roofs appeared functionally unsuitable in domestic climatic conditions. Because of improper technical solutions and building practice, flat roofs leaked, causing bad living conditions in flats underneath. As a sloped roof in our environment is traditional form functionally favorable for our climatic conditions, the solution was in annex of attics, representing a characteristic example how climatic conditions create the renewal of existing buildings and urban spaces. The most important benefits to the community are improvement of technical and living conditions in the whole building, especially on the original top floors, and efficient and cost-effective building of new dwellings, as well as improvement of buildings and settlement appearance. Through review of several examples realized in Belgrade, survey of some technique solutions for annex of attics will be given in the paper. Improvement of building appearance will be also discussed.