Rural areas of the Republic of Croatia are experiencing abandonment, which is especially intensive in the eastern part of the country. This paper aims to provide insights into places with specific spatial and functional characteristics, pustara settlements, within the rural landscape of the Baranja region, presenting their cultural and architectural heritage that needs comprehensive protection and conversion. The redevelopment potential, as well as the negative significance of abandonment of these sites, indicates the need for identifying the characteristics of these settlements: the tangible value of its built facilities and open spaces, its movable cultural heritage, as well as its intangible values. The main objectives were to determine desirable tangible and intangible pustara values by investigating place attachment among former pustara residents, and to provide information on domestic tourists’ preferences in visiting these settlements. The results indicate a common preference among former pustara residents and tourists for its architectural heritage: e.g. its settlement as a spatial unit and its parks. Additionally, tourists expressed preferences for recreational and entertainment facilities. Common interests, as well as highly expressed needs among former inhabitants and tourists, present the basis for establishing new functions and redevelopment plans.

Rammed earth buildings constitute a large part of the housing stock in rural areas. Although these houses are recognized as a cultural heritage, detailed analyses of their architectural features, geometric parameters crucial for structural stability, and soil properties used for their construction have not yet been carried out in Croatia. The aim of this study is to collect basic data on the architectural features and material properties of rammed earth walls through field research in Croatia. These data are crucial for both numerical and experimental studies to improve the understanding of the structural behavior of rammed earth houses. Data were obtained through field research and a detailed survey of 22 houses. The houses were analyzed, samples of the rammed earth walls were collected, and their properties were tested in the laboratory. This study contributes to a better understanding of regional building practices and provides data that will enable us to identify the causes of damage in future studies and to select rehabilitation measures to preserve the authentic symbols of cultural heritage.

The main objective of this research is to identify spatial configurations that were dominant in apartment design from 1930 to 2015 in the city of Osijek, Croatia. Development of apartment design will be shown in the framework of various time periods following the social and economic changes that have taken place in Osijek in the last decades.For this research, a total of 590 apartment building plans were collected. The final sample contains 358 spatial configuration diagrams of medium-sized apartments.Results identified five different spatial configurations that were innovative for the period in which they appeared. The conclusion of the research is that the spatial layout of the apartment changes according to social and economic periods. Differences among types were identified in apartment functions organized by zones versus those organized by rooms; direct versus indirect inter-room communication; the appearance of specific room functions versus the integration of room functions; and growth versus decli...

Today more than ever, people are demanding higher-quality housing, and therefore, there is an increasing need for scientifically sound methods of systematic housing assessment that are capable of addressing multiple, conflicting, and irreconcilable aspects in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Existing studies and models often use a relatively small number of indicators and consider housing quality from a single perspective. This paper presents a methodology used to develop a model for assessing the quality of multiple conflicting spatial characteristics of an apartment. Through a literature review and a survey of 12 architects, 24 spatial indicators were identified and then classified into five categories: (i) additional rooms, (ii) room size, (iii) window orientation and ventilation, (iv) circulation, and (v) spatial organization. Finally, the overall rating of the apartment is calculated as the sum of the ratings of all indicator categories, where the share of each category in the overall rating and desirable characteristics of the apartment is determined by the user. The model was tested on the example of two apartments in the city of Osijek, Croatia.

People spend up to 45% of their time in their living space, which has a major impact on their physical and mental health, behaviour, happiness and overall life satisfaction. In these times of rapid change and new, modern demands on living, it is necessary to understand the needs of residents and current design trends in order to incorporate both into the design of new living spaces. The aim of this study is to use the views of residents and architects collected through surveys to rank apartments and identify differences in the definition of what a high-quality apartment would be based on their spatial characteristics. The previously developed Housing Quality Assessment Model was used to assess the 126 most represented apartment layouts in the city of Osijek, Croatia, built since 1930. Apartment layouts were further divided according to the time of their construction, location, and size for comparison purposes. The research shows that residents rated apartments with higher ratings than architects in all categories and that residents and architects gave different ratings on certain characteristics of the apartment, e.g., the existence of additional storage space, the existence of a bathroom window, the size and orientation of living rooms, the type of spatial organisation, etc.