Aleksandar Kušić | Univerzitet Privredna akademija u Novom Sadu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Aleksandar Kušić
Facta Universitatis, Series: Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2023
This paper investigates the residential towers of Block 10 in Vojvode Stepe Boulevard, Belgrade, ... more This paper investigates the residential towers of Block 10 in Vojvode Stepe Boulevard, Belgrade, Serbia. The two towers (buildings no. 39 and 40) were initially designed by Branko Aleksić in 1969 and redesigned three years later by Aleksić and his co-author, Stana Aleksić. Taking into account the housing policy of the day, the urban planning of the Boulevard and the role played by the towers' investor, association 'INPROS', the paper approaches architects as intermediaries. The designers are understood as part of a network addressing Belgrade's housing deficit, themselves navigating a tight creative space determined by forces operating beyond their control. At the same time, their work is recognized as bent on producing a distinct set of subjectivities, with each referring, individually, to a pattern of political organisation, consumer culture, gender, or class. The towers are thus probed for their capacity to act as a medium, both in themselves and as part of a larger whole.
Architectural Research Quarterly, 2021
The housing estate of Julino Brdo was built in the late 1960s in the Čukarica municipality of Bel... more The housing estate of Julino Brdo was built in the late 1960s in the Čukarica municipality of Belgrade, and housed the ‘middle class’ of Yugoslav selfmanagement socialism – managers, experts, and administrators, in an area that was also populated by the improvised homes of illegal settlers. Approaching the estate from the north, the observer first notices two clusters of homogeneous masses rising out of a plateau known as ‘Grujina Strana’. As the observer moves forward, the estate briefly disappears from sight, only to reappear as a single cluster merged with the steep sides of the plateau.
Český lid, 2013
The article examines the rise of informal spatial practices in the areas left in the shadows of t... more The article examines the rise of informal spatial practices in the areas left in the shadows of the socialist planning system, in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1970s and 1980s. By looking into the relation of spontaneous interventions with the constitutionally enacted system of territorial self-management, we explore both the enclaves of everyday life forming in parallel to the hegemonic and homogenous plan, and highly formalised, planned attempts at emulating spontaneous practices in large housing projects. The research is based on comparative analysis of planning documentation and illegal interventions, period sources including letters and memos written by architects and illegal constructors, available statistics and published polemics. The article argues that many of the unresolved contradictions of the socialist period can be seen as the seeds of those practices which have been part of the post-socialist transition and its spatiality from the 1990s onwards. Indifference toward self-management, cynicism of the everyday in the blind spots of socialist society and the planning profession’s failure to deal with informality, are reproduced within the post-socialist city through unrelenting consumption of the common space.
Facta universitatis - series: Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2017
This article investigates Cerak Vinogradi housing estate (Darko Marusic, Milenija Marusic and Ned... more This article investigates Cerak Vinogradi housing estate (Darko Marusic, Milenija Marusic and Nedeljko Borovnica, 1977-1988), moving through a string of relevant factors: from the chief principles of the housing policy, the urban and architectural design of the estate and the dynamics of its construction, to the contacts between the architects and residents, and the latter?s informal interventions. We approach these factors by referring to the highly popular 1980 TV series Vruc vetar, with the series acting as a valuable insight into the social and spatial patterns of ex-Yugoslavia. We use the series to demonstrate how Cerak Vinogradi were the result of tension existing between two frames: the first defined through urban and architectural design and unsuccessfully defended by the architects, and the second which involved deficiencies in construction and apartment space, inciting in turn the user interventions. Demonstrating all the alienation the housing policy of the day resulted i...
Books by Aleksandar Kušić
Dok se stanogradnja širi današnjim Beogradom, u njenoj pozadini stoje naselja i blokovi nastali z... more Dok se stanogradnja širi današnjim Beogradom, u njenoj pozadini stoje naselja i blokovi nastali za vreme socijalizma. Trideset godina nakon sloma SFRJ, ova knjiga se vraća na razdoblje između sredine 60-ih i ranih 90-ih. Njena tema jeste odnos arhitekture i stambenog pitanja u Beogradu, u doba kasnog socijalizma. Ovaj odnos sagledava se na dva načina. Sa jedne strane, arhitekti su prepoznati kao deo mreže nastale u pokušaju da se suzbije stambeni deficit. Pored projektovanja i planiranja, ovu mrežu činili su uticaj državnog aparata na dinamiku izgradnje, delovanje građevinskih preduzeća, oduzimanje zemljišta i bespravna gradnja, kao i život nastao iz svega navedenog. Sa druge strane, knjiga otkriva samosvojnu nameru autora da proizvedu subjektivnost, i to kroz organizacione i formalne obrasce, promotivni i izloženi materijal, kao i direktne kontakte sa korisnicima. Celokupan narativ prožima negativnost, čije manifestacije, od nepostojećih i delimičnih realizacija, preko neformalnih intervencija na izvedenim delima, do promašenih pokušaja interpelacije korisnika, ukazuju da je arhitektura stanje raskola.
Facta Universitatis, Series: Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2023
This paper investigates the residential towers of Block 10 in Vojvode Stepe Boulevard, Belgrade, ... more This paper investigates the residential towers of Block 10 in Vojvode Stepe Boulevard, Belgrade, Serbia. The two towers (buildings no. 39 and 40) were initially designed by Branko Aleksić in 1969 and redesigned three years later by Aleksić and his co-author, Stana Aleksić. Taking into account the housing policy of the day, the urban planning of the Boulevard and the role played by the towers' investor, association 'INPROS', the paper approaches architects as intermediaries. The designers are understood as part of a network addressing Belgrade's housing deficit, themselves navigating a tight creative space determined by forces operating beyond their control. At the same time, their work is recognized as bent on producing a distinct set of subjectivities, with each referring, individually, to a pattern of political organisation, consumer culture, gender, or class. The towers are thus probed for their capacity to act as a medium, both in themselves and as part of a larger whole.
Architectural Research Quarterly, 2021
The housing estate of Julino Brdo was built in the late 1960s in the Čukarica municipality of Bel... more The housing estate of Julino Brdo was built in the late 1960s in the Čukarica municipality of Belgrade, and housed the ‘middle class’ of Yugoslav selfmanagement socialism – managers, experts, and administrators, in an area that was also populated by the improvised homes of illegal settlers. Approaching the estate from the north, the observer first notices two clusters of homogeneous masses rising out of a plateau known as ‘Grujina Strana’. As the observer moves forward, the estate briefly disappears from sight, only to reappear as a single cluster merged with the steep sides of the plateau.
Český lid, 2013
The article examines the rise of informal spatial practices in the areas left in the shadows of t... more The article examines the rise of informal spatial practices in the areas left in the shadows of the socialist planning system, in Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) in the 1970s and 1980s. By looking into the relation of spontaneous interventions with the constitutionally enacted system of territorial self-management, we explore both the enclaves of everyday life forming in parallel to the hegemonic and homogenous plan, and highly formalised, planned attempts at emulating spontaneous practices in large housing projects. The research is based on comparative analysis of planning documentation and illegal interventions, period sources including letters and memos written by architects and illegal constructors, available statistics and published polemics. The article argues that many of the unresolved contradictions of the socialist period can be seen as the seeds of those practices which have been part of the post-socialist transition and its spatiality from the 1990s onwards. Indifference toward self-management, cynicism of the everyday in the blind spots of socialist society and the planning profession’s failure to deal with informality, are reproduced within the post-socialist city through unrelenting consumption of the common space.
Facta universitatis - series: Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2017
This article investigates Cerak Vinogradi housing estate (Darko Marusic, Milenija Marusic and Ned... more This article investigates Cerak Vinogradi housing estate (Darko Marusic, Milenija Marusic and Nedeljko Borovnica, 1977-1988), moving through a string of relevant factors: from the chief principles of the housing policy, the urban and architectural design of the estate and the dynamics of its construction, to the contacts between the architects and residents, and the latter?s informal interventions. We approach these factors by referring to the highly popular 1980 TV series Vruc vetar, with the series acting as a valuable insight into the social and spatial patterns of ex-Yugoslavia. We use the series to demonstrate how Cerak Vinogradi were the result of tension existing between two frames: the first defined through urban and architectural design and unsuccessfully defended by the architects, and the second which involved deficiencies in construction and apartment space, inciting in turn the user interventions. Demonstrating all the alienation the housing policy of the day resulted i...
Dok se stanogradnja širi današnjim Beogradom, u njenoj pozadini stoje naselja i blokovi nastali z... more Dok se stanogradnja širi današnjim Beogradom, u njenoj pozadini stoje naselja i blokovi nastali za vreme socijalizma. Trideset godina nakon sloma SFRJ, ova knjiga se vraća na razdoblje između sredine 60-ih i ranih 90-ih. Njena tema jeste odnos arhitekture i stambenog pitanja u Beogradu, u doba kasnog socijalizma. Ovaj odnos sagledava se na dva načina. Sa jedne strane, arhitekti su prepoznati kao deo mreže nastale u pokušaju da se suzbije stambeni deficit. Pored projektovanja i planiranja, ovu mrežu činili su uticaj državnog aparata na dinamiku izgradnje, delovanje građevinskih preduzeća, oduzimanje zemljišta i bespravna gradnja, kao i život nastao iz svega navedenog. Sa druge strane, knjiga otkriva samosvojnu nameru autora da proizvedu subjektivnost, i to kroz organizacione i formalne obrasce, promotivni i izloženi materijal, kao i direktne kontakte sa korisnicima. Celokupan narativ prožima negativnost, čije manifestacije, od nepostojećih i delimičnih realizacija, preko neformalnih intervencija na izvedenim delima, do promašenih pokušaja interpelacije korisnika, ukazuju da je arhitektura stanje raskola.