Inhabited Roofs, New Horizons of the Urban Fabric on the Example of the City of Skopje

Abstract

Roof extensions, in a different form, geometric style, emerged as an expression of new social and economic tendencies for additional space and additional profit in the post-socialist transition period. First they started as a series of informal gestures, part of the tactics of horizontal or vertical extensions of existing buildings, such as building - up, building - out, building - in, and then were assimilated into the general housing construction practice. Soon they defined a new residential type and a new spatial syntax of the construction form. In essence, they represent a kind of upgrading to the former urban fabric. On the one hand, they are recognized as actors of the deviation of pure architectural types, on the other hand, as an additional, and therefore an accessible residential area. On the example of the city of Skopje, we will consider a segment of this newly built horizon between, a retrograde and a new social beneficial and affordable tendency.