19/06/2018
In
Key words
Konstantinovski – Images – 1960_1970
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Brutally Fractured Patterns
Key words
Brutalli – Patterns – Skopje
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Trainspotting
Key words
Cognitive map – Perceptual form – Visual narrative
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Lost In Translation
Key words
Democracy – Falsification – Neo-brutalism form
Section
Drawing
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
A Tame Modernism
The text proposes a reflection on the dimension of tame modernism. The realization of Kenzo Tange’s project for Skopje is read as evidence of the reconciliation between the heroic dimension and the domestic condition of the project. These two opposite natures, which the fragment of modernity holds together, continue to face each other inside but at the same time propose a possible useful cohabitation to the paths of contemporary architecture.
Key words
Kenzo Tange – Domestico – Modernità
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Skopje. A Transitional Model
Text by Jana Konstantinova and Anna Positano – Photographs by Anna Positano
Skopje is a case study to analyse contemporary architecture and identity in the Balkans, in the light of the current Macedonian political affairs and urban transformations. Several cultures and long-lasting migrations shaped Skopje’s urban fabric. Yet the city is mostly the result of political choices of the last fifty years. In 1963 the global political response to Skopje’s earthquake profoundly affected the city. As the Cold War reached its climax, international efforts to rebuild the city had the objective to pursue a global political stability. With the support of the United Nations, the Yugoslavian government adopted Kenzo Tange’s reconstruction plan of brutalist buildings, which made Skopje a modern, utopian metropolis. When Macedonia gained independence in 1991, nationalist politics changed the identity of Skopje’s architecture. The Socialist, international post-quake architecture could not represent Macedonian identity any more. Along with slow political transition, in 2010 the government announced a plan of urban renovation, Skopje 2014. The plan is turning Skopje’s brutalist heritage into neo-neoclassical buildings. The new confused and scattered built environment takes apart the civil society from architecture. This in combination with a young, uncertain political situation affects people’s personal and socio-cultural values. The plan attracted strong criticism since its announcement. Protesters have taken to the streets of Skopje and recently have turned into a Colourful Revolution against the general cultural austerity. Similar to other former Socialist countries, Skopje appears unable to re-examine and evaluate its architectural past. A city that once was the model of global architectural solidarity, now offers a case study of transitional post-Socialist dystopia.
Key words
Brutalism – Transformation – Politics
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Skopje’s Mega Block: modern architecture as an art of grafting
The formative idea of “grafting” or “graftage” is originally a horticultural technique of inserting tissues from one plant to another in order for them to join together and continue to grow as a single plant. The technique of “graftage” in architectural context would mean that a new architecture is being interpolated over an old one, but by a set of treatments used, the different architectural interventions function as a single entity. It is presented in this text in the context of modern architecture of one singular urban block of Skopje.
Key words
Grafting – Modern architecture – Skopje
Section
Text
19/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Walking on broken glass
Typological shifts of Skopje and the continuing discontinuity of its urban landscape
The essay introduces a particular historical frame, interpreting the urban development of the city of Skopje as a self-referential paradox. Within its turbulent history, Skopje survived three significant typological shifts represented with the urban designs by the teams of Josif Mihajlovic, Ludjek Kubes and Kenzo Tange. Partially carrying out and later abandoning these projects, led Skopje to reawake each time portraying a new typological narrative.
In this context, the so called “project Skopje2014” is interpreted as the latest narrative which continues the discontinuity of the urban landscape. In addition, it poses a great ethical challenge for the urban thinkers in Skopje at present time.
Model 01 – “Traditional” Skopje 1890
Model 02 – De-facto to De jure 1929
Model 03 – From “Genius loci” to “Zeitgeist” 1948
Model 04 – From “Modern” to “Postmodern”
Key words
Skopje – Typological shifts – Historical urban plans
Section
Text
18/06/2018
In
Title of the work
A plea for the balkanization of europe
Short description of the work
The storytellers of the new Balkan states are diligently handicrafting something using memories and desires. However the price cannot be measured in euros. The price is the transformation of the local inhabitants into foreigners. It is time we remembered the true history of the Balkans. In the 20th century, the history of the old multinational states was overwritten with a national history. Let us expose it. We will see: The “Balkanization of Europe” is not a doomsday scenario. It is, with its democratic characteristics, the only way.
Key words
Nation-building vs. Balkanisation – A-Better-History
Section
Text
18/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Sidetracked recollections
Short description of the work
Fictional text that explores the problem of preserving the private, or nearly mundane experiences of structures of cultural significance. Where there is the tendency of bringing elements of the built environment to the level of monuments, how does the quality of the habitual get introduced to it.
Key words
idiosyncrasy – temporality – Preserved
Section
Text
18/06/2018
In
Title of the work
“Skopje 2030” interview with Simon Hartmann
Short description of the work
Simon Hartmann was born in 1974 in Bern, Switzerland. From 1994 to 2000 he studied at ETH Lausanne, TU Berlin and ETH Zurich. He collaborated with Rolf Furrer Architekten from 2000 to 2003 and he is teaching assistant at ETH Studio Basel from 2002 to 2007. In 2003 he founded HHF architects with Tilo Herlach and Simon Frommenwiler. HHF architects, based in Basel, has completed and ongoing projects in Switzerland, China, the United States, Germany, Italy and Montenegro. Simon Hartmann is a professor from 2009 to 2017 at HEIA Friborg. In 2011 he is Visiting Professor at the University of Innsbruck and in 2014 at the KIT of Karlsruhe. Since 2018 he has been Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture.
Key words
Intervista – Interview – интервју
Section
Text
18/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Politiche di nazionalizzazione e architettura: la radicale trasformazione urbanistica della città di Skopje
Short description of the work
Al fine di comprendere le ragioni delle scelte che hanno portato alla distruzione del patrimonio architettonico brutalista, si propone qui un’analisi che mette in relazione l’architettura e il nazionalismo. Tale trasformazione urbana è dovuta al totale stravolgimento del centro di Skopje fortemente voluta dal governo VMRO-DPMNE. La ricerca mette a confronto più teorie derivanti dalla scienza politica, dalla sociologia e da quest’ultima applicata all’architettura. Il periodo cui si fa riferimento nello studio è quello compreso tra le ricostruzioni del 1963 e dei primi due decenni del XXI secolo.
Key words
Nationalism – Architecture – Skopje
Section
Text
18/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Skopje in the contemporary Macedonian film
Short description of the work
The article focuses on the representation of Skopje and its architecture in contemporary Macedonian cinematography.
Key words
City – Cinema – Skopje
Section
Text
15/06/2018
In
Title of the work
Re-Building Skopje: The Curations of Past and Present in the ‘Capital of Kitsch’
Short description of the work
Architectural investigation into Skopje provides us with the tools to understand both the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav architectural and political events. The contemporary architecture of Skopje exemplifies of the architectural production in the post-socialist Southeastern Europe and its deeply intertwined relationship with politics. The examination of the re-production of politics and ideology through architectural construction, allows for an insight into events taking place in Skopje today, in the deeply problematic processes of both canceling and negating of the communist past. I study the two reconstructions of Skopje, the post-1963 earthquake period and the contemporary architectural events in the city, and I argue that both projects exhibit the shifting relationships between architecture and politics, as well as its perpetual re-negotiations, and the paramount importance of their contexts in understanding the conjunction of the past and present in the city.
Key words
Brutalism – Heritage – Nationalism
Section
Text
