Although Serbia does not have significantly high mountains, it does have vast mountainous areas south of the Danube River. Since most rural mountain houses in Serbia have disappeared over the last three decades, traditional mountain building is reduced to sporadic reconstructions, mostly for open-air museums and ethnic parks.
Contemporary mountain architecture in Serbia is developing under the same overall influences of the rest of the country. These influences, among others, are the primacy of market demands, non-systematic planning, and lack of investment in raising the level of spatial culture among the general public. Fortunately, some examples illustrate the willingness of architects to push the contemporary Serbian architectural practice forward and the willingness of investors to consider a wide range of influences and aspects that generate a comprehensive response to contemporary demands and concerns. The selected projects presented in this article show different responses in relation to the context, environment, heritage, and ideas of contemporary life in rural and natural areas.
Most of these examples follow a more experimental approach. This usually stems from links to regionalism and modernism. Despite expectations, Serbia cannot join the most progressive European currents or fully adopt the vision of individual high-quality national architectural agents overnight. However, the Serbian architecture scene will be increasingly present in the media, also as a result of international connections and circumstances that had somehow ‘matured’.
