Loss is More Detailing towards a Media-Based Atlas of Modernist Heritage Fragmentation

Abstract

The research addresses the transformation of architectural heritage and the problem of extending the life of modernist buildings through contemporary adaptive reuse practices, focusing on the phenomena of modernist heritage fragmentation. It examines how the reconstruction of post-war architecture generates new forms of meaning, value, and continuity, often negotiating between preservation and loss. Additionally, the research outlines how design-driven methods can contribute to reinterpreting the material and cultural layers of modernist heritage.

The work focuses on the transformation of the architectural detail, as a site where architectural identity, material agency, and historical narrative converge. Building upon earlier explorations of speculative detailing and post-tectonic studies, the research develops a media-based atlas as a design-driven framework for tracing and visualizing trajectories of modernist heritage fragmentation. Using the Sava Center in Belgrade as a pilot case study, the research investigates how the erasure of distinctive elements during recent reconstruction reflects broader processes of modernist heritage fragmentation and transformation. By reactivating lost details and tectonic fragments, the project articulates how design can engage with heritage not only as a restorative act but as a form of critical reinterpretation.