INSTITUTIONAL HOMES: THE EVOLUTION OF OPEN SPACE IN THE CASE OF SOME WORKERS' COLONIES IN HISTORYDomenZupančičauthorThis is a critical review of examples of how workers’ settlements have been organised throughout history. I examine some examples of workers’ settlements from the perspective of spatial organisation, architectural economics and urban design. The hypothesis is that workers’ dwellings have not basically changed since the earliest civilisations. The role of workers’ dwellings has been constantly on the fringes of spatial organisation. Generally, workers as a class were not considered an integral part of business management. Workers are part of any industrialised process and can not be overlooked in an architectural analysis of their dwellings. The conclusions of the paper are oriented from praxis to theory. Analogies from the past to the present are presented, with a set of sketches in which the theory of spatial organisation, architectural economics and urban design patterns may be evident. 06. Histoire de l'architecture03. Aménagement du territoire07. Gestion09. Monuments historiques16. Patrimoine industriel et technique06. Textes doctrinaux, conventions et chartes02. Afrique05. Europe2012University of Niš, SerbiaArticle