Pre-Fabric – The Growing Houses of Skopje

On July 26, 1963 a disastrous earthquake destroyed large areas of the city of Skopje. This natural catastrophe resulted in a wave of international solidarity and united ideologically separate worlds in a humanitarian project. The erection of prefabricated houses provided a number of countries with an opportunity to contribute visible and clearly identifiable reconstruction aid. Over the last 50 years the imported houses from Finland, Mexico or the USA have steadily transformed and grown; today they are completely integrated in the city’s urban fabric. PRE/FABRIC undertakes a search for traces in the biography of these houses and their use.