Srna Mandič, Stanovanje in

constructed in a modernist tradition and limited by relatively strict material constraints, the architecture only briefly succumbed to the extreme utilitarianism associated with socialism - rather than ideological reasons due to poverty.

Out of the six constituent republics of SFRY, Slovenia was the most “westernoriented”, economically stable and first to gain independence. Slovene architects maintained an enviable degree of autonomy and good connections with the architectural movement abroad. Their distinctive architectural expression stems from the work and teachings of architect Jože Plečnik (1872-1957). Due to his more classically oriented views deviating from functionalism, many of his students continued their work at Le Corbusier’s studio. From Yugoslav architects that worked in his studio before WW2, the majority, ten, were Slovene. Seven were Plečnik’s students - the central figure being Edvard Ravnikar. The fact that so many Slovenian architects worked with Le Corbusier is considered a phenomenon and represents one of the foundations for the justified selfconfidence of Slovenian architecture. What also distinguishes them from other Yugoslavs is that they, in the mid-1950s, turned away from Corbusier’s ideas - especially Ravnikar, whose work is most recognisable and developmentoriented among Yugoslav architects.6 The experience of Slovene architects was reflected in the architectural and urban works when the state began to modernise within the new socialist space.

6. Mateja Panter, “Plečnik vs. Le Corbusier,” Dnevnik, accessed December 8, 2021, https://www. dnevnik.si/1042853496.

i. 1945-1953: From reconstruction to a new financial system

From the Second World War up to 1991, Slovenia’s housing policy development has been directly connected to economic reforms and the decentralisation of political power in former Yugoslavia. Several phases can be identified in the development of policy and provision, which correspond with the various periods of economic reform.

Slovenian settlements were severely damaged during the Second World War. More than 46,000 residential, commercial and infrastructural facilities were destroyed. The war damage only increased the pre-war housing shortage when workers’ housing was not taken care of. The intensive industrialisation, which caused a large influx of people from the countryside to the cities, further exacerbated the housing shortage. In Ljubljana alone, there was a shortage of around 2,000 apartments. The existing ones were too small and overcrowded, mostly without bathrooms, with one common faucet in the hallway for all

7. Breda Mihelič, Urbanistični razvoj Ljubljane, (Ljubljana: TOZD, 1983), 23.

8. The initial condition for reconstruction was abolition of private property - nationalisation, which enabled a reorganisation of social life and set ground for the implementation of the first five-year period (1947-52).

9. Mihelič, Urbanistični razvoj Ljubljane, 52.

10. The Yugoslav Constitution stipulates that a citizen is guaranteed to acquire a housing right, which is social property, under conditions determined by law - only on one apartment. (Tone Klemenčič, “Stanovanjsko gospodarstvo,” 117.)

11. Malešič, “Pomen skandinavskih vplivov,” 42.

12. Among the first are Litostroj in Ljubljana, TAM and Metalna in Maribor, settlements in Kidričevo and Jesenice.

13. Such blocks were the only form of collective housing construction of the country, created in similar or identical solutions.

14. Influence of Le Corbusier’s model

15. Mihelič, Urbanistični razvoj Ljubljane, 52-53.

16. Ibid. residents and toilets outside the building.7 The first post-war years were thus marked by a comprehensive (re)construction.8 The central state, based in Belgrade, played a decisive role in the formation and allocation of housing resources. Housing shortages were initially addressed by additionally inhabiting existing old bourgeois dwellings, apartment buildings, and castles outside the city. This was followed by housing construction guided by state administrative plans. In this first post-war period, it was envisaged that mainly all housing construction would be financed from social funds (in Ljubljana, mainly from the City People’s Committee, MLO).9 Rents were under social control, and the “housing right10” was enacted.11

It soon became clear that there would not be enough funds for construction, so the state began to encourage companies and institutions to start building housing for their employees. In the first decade after the war, new housing estates were built mainly next to factories12, according to pre-war research (e.g. urbanism of German pre-war housing estates, Gropius’s housing study at the Bauhaus, and the CIAM doctrine). Litostroj was the first to respond to this action. As early as 1947, it began to build a housing estate for its workers next to the factory, and by 1953 built 15 apartment blocks with 357 apartments and 129 single rooms. The Litostroj settlement had all the characteristics of modern-functionalist urbanism.13 Its urban design consists of parallel rows of long, two- to fourstorey, single typed apartment blocks, built on the principle of free-standing buildings in the park. Within the given conditions, these blocks represented quality and rational design that far exceeded the existing minimum standards - acknowledging sun exposure, airiness and sanitary requirements. The floor plans introduced innovative solutions of the kitchen niche next to the living room, a large living balcony, and connected children’s rooms to the central living space. The rich greening of the ground floor surfaces, which initially blended into each other under the buildings on piles14, created a continuous outdoor space and an exceptionally high-quality living environment. However, there was a large gap between the planned and the actual implementation, which resulted from difficult economic conditions. The social centre was never built, and the ground floors of blocks on piles had to be walled up for the most urgent collective needs, such as shops and the most necessary services.15

Despite all measures, the housing construction in the first post-war period could not keep pace with the growing needs. In 1955, there were 16,000 homeless families in Ljubljana.16

Figue 2: Typical apartment block floor plan, Litostroj 1948, E.Mihevc, M. Gregorič