by Divna Pencic
After the catastrophic earthquake on 26th July, 1963, Skopje used its chance to become a city recognised as a symbol of international solidarity (the aid for the renewal and rebuilding of the city came from 82 countries worldwide and the United Nations Special Fund for reconstruction), modern urbanism and remarkable architectural buildings from the ’70. There is not a politician or an architect who does not commit to memory that first step of globalisation when for the first time both the East and the West got together, joining their efforts to build this modern city. And as hardly anywhere in the world, most of the ideas and conceptions for reconstruction of the city were materialised and made real. The urban plan for the city was made by two eminent planning bureaus, Doxiadis from Athens and Poliservis from Warsaw in collaboration with the Institute of Planning and Architecture of Skopje. Based on the compilation of the awarded concepts of two teams of architects, one of the Japanese architect, Kenzo Tange and the other of the Croatian architects, Radova Misevic and Fedor Wnzler, received on the international competition for urban plans for the city central area, a detailed urban plan for realisation, the famous “variation IX”, was prepared. According to that plan, and under the supervision of Kenzo Tange, were build the City Wall, the New Train Station, the Complex of Banks, and later on, there was an international competition for the Cultural Centre, the University Campus and some other buildings. Skopje used that chance to establish itself as a modern city with recognisable public and residential buildings and to become an interesting destination not only for tourists but also for urban planners and architects from all over the world.
In 2006 the City of Skopje had one more chance to get another symbol for international recognitions. It was about the initiative to build a Memorial House of Mother Teresa, the laureate of the Nobel Price for Peace in 1979, supported by the Vatican and the Catholic Church, the followers of her Sisters’ order, as well as by the entire political and general public in the Republic of Macedonia. Skopje is the city where Mother Teresa was born and the place from where she started her humanitarian work and devotion to her philanthropic believes. This represents a great honour and pride for the City of Skopje.
Skopje was once again faced with a challenge that required an appropriate consideration. The Ministry of Culture announced an International Competition for a Conceptual architectural design of a Memorial House of Mother Teresa. Exquisite architectural designs were received, among which the one of Jorge Marum, an architect from Portugal, was declared as winning. However, the government and the Initiation Committee decided to ignore the expert architectural opinion and the real values of architecture, and published a new announcement for International Competition, under which they awarded the first price to a design that they previously ordered from the architect Vangle Bozinovski, known after his architectural fairytales and schizophrenic architectural creations.
Unfortunately, for the City of Skopje that meant a lost chance, and for the architects, another example of unjust intervention into a fair play. What we have now is a structure which is all but a symbol of Mother Teresa and her life and work. As noted on the Skopje Forum 2009 by Professor Erich Raith (Technical University, Vienna) “the structure is designed very perfunctorily (in a hit-and-miss manner), missing out nothing that does not attract attention, with too many stories to tell, but without any essential message to give”. For him this structure, if it wasn’t for the cross, could very well be some disco or a casino. Professor Maren Harnack (Hamburg) stated that the structure “does not symbolise her life and her giving up from material goods”. For Vera Martinez (Berlin) are also questionable “the messages given by the interior of the house: a kitsch room, with a bed and a table with five chairs and four dinner sets, pretending as if all that had something to do with Mother Teresa”. A very plastic description was given by assistant Jovan Ivanovski from the Architectural Faculty in Skopje (University Cyril and Methodius): this structure reminds you of “someone’s materialised nightmares”.
For me personally, this structure looks very much like a tastelessly dressed girl, in lace stockings, but who cannot give up her gumboots, in a brocade skirt borrowed from her grandmother and a Chinese silky shirt, with Swarovski jewellery, and cosmonaut helmet on her head. She puts everything on, all she has ever dreamt of, as now she can afford to have it. Only she cannot decide the time in which she would like to live. This is even more emphasised by the narrations from the house interior. According to the custodian, “this is the dream of the little Teresa, to live in a normal city family”. I very much doubt that “little Teresa” was ever dreaming of petty bourgeois and snobbery life, devoted to material goods.
If it wasn’t built for such a noble person as Mother Teresa was, this structure might have even been enjoyable. But as it is now, it is a big offence. It offends with the whole procedure how it was selected; it offends with its pretentiousness, it offends with its arrogance, it offends with its tastelessness, but most of all, it offends with the totally missed correlation with the life and work of Mother Teresa.
In my personal opinion I strongly believe that this is a lost chance for Skopje to be once again listed on the maps of those who truly love and admire architecture and arts. Will Skopje get another chance? After this, it does not deserve one.
References:
http://www.forumskopje.com/
http://www.porta3.com.mk/
Showing posts with label Urban Tendencies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urban Tendencies. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Cities beyond Now
by Stefan Lazarevski
Unlike the American or Asian continent, Europe does not feature large cities (aside from London or Paris). Over the time, a series of small or medium-sized towns, each with their own history and important cultural or political establishments have proudly resisted the hegemony of the bigger cities (primarily capital cities). Even today, says Bernardo Secchi, “political and cultural importance of the European towns doesn’t strictly relate to physical or demographical size”. Globalization has acted therapeutically for some medium-sized European cities to establish themselves as global players, but, even so, they could not maintain such position on long terms relying on the traditional forms of overall development.
In order to remain competitive, many of the European cities understood and enforced the knowledge-economy concept of economic and social development. What is more, European Union in 2000 reached the so-called “Lisbon Policy Brief” which stated: “The development of a modern knowledge economy reflects a larger transition from an economy based on land, labor and capital to one in which the main components of production are information and knowledge. Because of that, the most effective modern economies will be those that produce the most information and knowledge – and make that information and knowledge easily accessible to the greatest number of individuals and enterprises”. One of the most important aspects of this document was recognition by the leading European countries that further progress does not rely, anymore, on competition with countries that offered low-skilled work at low wages, but rather production and implementation of knowledge within their own societies.
The trigger for transition from conventional to knowledge-economy based societies was different for different cities. For some it was economic crises, decline of economic bases or fleeing of the knowledge base, whereas for others improvement of level of competitiveness, rise of the economy or strengthening of the current network balance. In any case, Knowledge-Economy centers such as Helsinki, Dortmund, Rotterdam, Munich, Zaragoza or Manchester have proven, over the years that investments in stronger education, R&D areas, stable organizational structure, investments in clustering and diversification of the economy, can worthwhile step in building up stronger societies. What is more, they have shown proactive behavior in upgrading the knowledge foundations, strengthening the knowledge activities and applying sophisticated strategies to attract the knowledge capital of the region.
In terms of urban planning this meant strategic approach based on the knowledge foundations and knowledge activities. The pillar foundations: knowledge and economic base are essential in upgrading the urban diversity, social equity, accessibility and thus overall quality of life. Additionally, the cities need to undertake number of actions to become stronger in the knowledge economy. This is an on-going process which is based on four types of “knowledge activities”: creating new knowledge, applying new knowledge, attracting knowledge workers and developing new growth clusters.
Naturally, not all cities have similar prerogatives to initiate, much less to develop knowledge-economy based society. According to van Winden and van der Berg from the European Institute for Comparative Urban research and based on the size of the labor and cultural diversity there can be isolated: Metropolitan and non-Metropolitan cities. While the first group anticipates primarily big cities with solid knowledge foundations and stable position in number of global networks, non-Metropolitan cities are of smaller scale, they have weaker knowledge foundations, but have strong organizing capacities, low level of crime and congestion and strong local leadership. This category also differs within, and therefore stretches over to: star techno-towns, techno-towns in transition and university towns. However, there is a thin line that separates these cities especially if they are engaged in polycentric networks and alliances. It is generally accepted that non-metropolitan cities have more difficulties in applying knowledge economy. The common thing for all of them, however, is that they all are formulating comprehensive and explicit strategies to attract and retain KE activities by utilizing their own strengths and resources, founded on education, technology and research as well as designing sustainable housing policies and city marketing.
The cities today, aim to become international destination known for the high quality of life provided to its inhabitants and to be sustained by a vital public realm rich in cultural and social opportunities. Knowledge-economy concept, for many of them, has turned out to be the next step forward.
Reference:
― Van Winden, W. and van den Berg, L., 2004, Discussion paper - Cities in the knowledge Economy: New Governance challenges, European Institute for Comparative Urban Research
― Calthopre, Peter, 1993, The Next American Metropolis – Ecology, Community and the American Dream,Princeton Architectural Press, New York
― http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/11/36278531.pdf, 19.04.2009
Unlike the American or Asian continent, Europe does not feature large cities (aside from London or Paris). Over the time, a series of small or medium-sized towns, each with their own history and important cultural or political establishments have proudly resisted the hegemony of the bigger cities (primarily capital cities). Even today, says Bernardo Secchi, “political and cultural importance of the European towns doesn’t strictly relate to physical or demographical size”. Globalization has acted therapeutically for some medium-sized European cities to establish themselves as global players, but, even so, they could not maintain such position on long terms relying on the traditional forms of overall development.
In order to remain competitive, many of the European cities understood and enforced the knowledge-economy concept of economic and social development. What is more, European Union in 2000 reached the so-called “Lisbon Policy Brief” which stated: “The development of a modern knowledge economy reflects a larger transition from an economy based on land, labor and capital to one in which the main components of production are information and knowledge. Because of that, the most effective modern economies will be those that produce the most information and knowledge – and make that information and knowledge easily accessible to the greatest number of individuals and enterprises”. One of the most important aspects of this document was recognition by the leading European countries that further progress does not rely, anymore, on competition with countries that offered low-skilled work at low wages, but rather production and implementation of knowledge within their own societies.
The trigger for transition from conventional to knowledge-economy based societies was different for different cities. For some it was economic crises, decline of economic bases or fleeing of the knowledge base, whereas for others improvement of level of competitiveness, rise of the economy or strengthening of the current network balance. In any case, Knowledge-Economy centers such as Helsinki, Dortmund, Rotterdam, Munich, Zaragoza or Manchester have proven, over the years that investments in stronger education, R&D areas, stable organizational structure, investments in clustering and diversification of the economy, can worthwhile step in building up stronger societies. What is more, they have shown proactive behavior in upgrading the knowledge foundations, strengthening the knowledge activities and applying sophisticated strategies to attract the knowledge capital of the region.
In terms of urban planning this meant strategic approach based on the knowledge foundations and knowledge activities. The pillar foundations: knowledge and economic base are essential in upgrading the urban diversity, social equity, accessibility and thus overall quality of life. Additionally, the cities need to undertake number of actions to become stronger in the knowledge economy. This is an on-going process which is based on four types of “knowledge activities”: creating new knowledge, applying new knowledge, attracting knowledge workers and developing new growth clusters.
Naturally, not all cities have similar prerogatives to initiate, much less to develop knowledge-economy based society. According to van Winden and van der Berg from the European Institute for Comparative Urban research and based on the size of the labor and cultural diversity there can be isolated: Metropolitan and non-Metropolitan cities. While the first group anticipates primarily big cities with solid knowledge foundations and stable position in number of global networks, non-Metropolitan cities are of smaller scale, they have weaker knowledge foundations, but have strong organizing capacities, low level of crime and congestion and strong local leadership. This category also differs within, and therefore stretches over to: star techno-towns, techno-towns in transition and university towns. However, there is a thin line that separates these cities especially if they are engaged in polycentric networks and alliances. It is generally accepted that non-metropolitan cities have more difficulties in applying knowledge economy. The common thing for all of them, however, is that they all are formulating comprehensive and explicit strategies to attract and retain KE activities by utilizing their own strengths and resources, founded on education, technology and research as well as designing sustainable housing policies and city marketing.
The cities today, aim to become international destination known for the high quality of life provided to its inhabitants and to be sustained by a vital public realm rich in cultural and social opportunities. Knowledge-economy concept, for many of them, has turned out to be the next step forward.
Reference:
― Van Winden, W. and van den Berg, L., 2004, Discussion paper - Cities in the knowledge Economy: New Governance challenges, European Institute for Comparative Urban Research
― Calthopre, Peter, 1993, The Next American Metropolis – Ecology, Community and the American Dream,Princeton Architectural Press, New York
― http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/11/36278531.pdf, 19.04.2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Architectural Trends in Macedonia
by Nora Arsovska
Another example of the eclectic tendency is the plan for the building of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive that is planned to (or not) be situated on the left bank of the river Vardar. This monument is mimicry of antique temple, situated in a non-suiting contemporary surrounding.
The winning project for the competition for architectural design of a new building for the theater Center in Skopje is more progressive and contemporary solution that follows the world trends. According the authors the geometry of the auditorium is derived from the classical European theater. The appearance of the theater, the skin of the building that is a kind of city curtain is very similar to the one of the Dallas Center for performing arts.
Dallas Center for performing arts
The project for the Macedonian Philharmony should be situated near the Neo-antique temple of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive on the left key of the river. This is a complex building with contemporary look , rounded shape that obviously fits more in the surrounding than the building of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive.
The post earthquake reconstruction of Skopje is the golden (only) period of Macedonian architecture and urbanism, when it follows the global trends and sets certain contemporary designing tools and directions on the domestic scene. This is the period when great number of important urban and architectural plans had been completed or partially realized and had become representatives of their time. Most of the realized plans had been made in accordance with the principals of the Modernism. Many dwelling parts in the town of Skopje have the contemporary urban concept and are realized with modern analytic and synthetic methodology.
During the second half of the 90’s, XX century, parallel with the independence of Macedonia as a republic, a tendency of gradual degradation can be noticed in the architectural and urban development. The descending trend at first was explicitly presented in the single family dwelling design, when the investor took the role of the architect. Eclecticism and kitsch progressed rapidly fast, and for short time the neo-styles reached their higher level in Macedonia. Neo-classical, neo-antique and many other neo styles become the favorite architectural solution for the single family houses. Soon the neo-styles transferred from individual housing to the public buildings in the central urban tissue. The transfer of eclecticism made from individual to public level concerned certain number of professionals that quietly disagreed with this trend.
The eclectic urban esthetic escalated and reached its pick, when the government became investor of public buildings and monuments according individual taste. The bizarreness of shaping the city culminated when several buildings with hybrid appearance were planned to be or are positioned on locations that are not planed as building parcels in the Master Plan for the City Center, without initiating public debate.
In general, two opposite tendencies can be distinguished in the latest public urban activities in Macedonia. The first one is inclined towards resurrecting the pre earthquake neo-classical buildings so called ghosts, realizing neo-antique and other public building with eclectic styles. The numerous winner projects on the international competition announced by the government certify this tendency. On the other hand there is certain number of competition winner projects that with their function and appearing are bringing back the faith in the urban aesthetic.
Here follows an illustration of the opposite tendencies through a number of examples, some realized and some waiting (or not) to be realized:
The Monumental Home of Mother Teresa is the strangest surreal experience one could have. This “monument”, chosen as a winner on a second competition call under curious circumstances provoked controversial public reactions. In general, the building should represent the traditional Macedonian house that was the unrealized dream of Mother Teresa. The quazi-monument is out of time and fashion placed on non existing building area on the most attractive walking street in Skopje in front of the modernistic concert hall of the Army of Macedonia.
During the second half of the 90’s, XX century, parallel with the independence of Macedonia as a republic, a tendency of gradual degradation can be noticed in the architectural and urban development. The descending trend at first was explicitly presented in the single family dwelling design, when the investor took the role of the architect. Eclecticism and kitsch progressed rapidly fast, and for short time the neo-styles reached their higher level in Macedonia. Neo-classical, neo-antique and many other neo styles become the favorite architectural solution for the single family houses. Soon the neo-styles transferred from individual housing to the public buildings in the central urban tissue. The transfer of eclecticism made from individual to public level concerned certain number of professionals that quietly disagreed with this trend.
The eclectic urban esthetic escalated and reached its pick, when the government became investor of public buildings and monuments according individual taste. The bizarreness of shaping the city culminated when several buildings with hybrid appearance were planned to be or are positioned on locations that are not planed as building parcels in the Master Plan for the City Center, without initiating public debate.
In general, two opposite tendencies can be distinguished in the latest public urban activities in Macedonia. The first one is inclined towards resurrecting the pre earthquake neo-classical buildings so called ghosts, realizing neo-antique and other public building with eclectic styles. The numerous winner projects on the international competition announced by the government certify this tendency. On the other hand there is certain number of competition winner projects that with their function and appearing are bringing back the faith in the urban aesthetic.
Here follows an illustration of the opposite tendencies through a number of examples, some realized and some waiting (or not) to be realized:
The Monumental Home of Mother Teresa is the strangest surreal experience one could have. This “monument”, chosen as a winner on a second competition call under curious circumstances provoked controversial public reactions. In general, the building should represent the traditional Macedonian house that was the unrealized dream of Mother Teresa. The quazi-monument is out of time and fashion placed on non existing building area on the most attractive walking street in Skopje in front of the modernistic concert hall of the Army of Macedonia.
Another example of the eclectic tendency is the plan for the building of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive that is planned to (or not) be situated on the left bank of the river Vardar. This monument is mimicry of antique temple, situated in a non-suiting contemporary surrounding.
The winning project for the competition for architectural design of a new building for the theater Center in Skopje is more progressive and contemporary solution that follows the world trends. According the authors the geometry of the auditorium is derived from the classical European theater. The appearance of the theater, the skin of the building that is a kind of city curtain is very similar to the one of the Dallas Center for performing arts.
Dallas Center for performing arts The project for the Macedonian Philharmony should be situated near the Neo-antique temple of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive on the left key of the river. This is a complex building with contemporary look , rounded shape that obviously fits more in the surrounding than the building of the Constitutional Court/Archeological Museum/Archive.Reference:
The Monumental Home of Mother Teresa
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=103721
The Constitutional Court/Arcehological Museum/Archive of RM http://www.utrinski.com.mk/?ItemID=E7F273AA5FEB0F4AB2EE8092AEE7C837
Theater Center
http://www.novamakedonija.com.mk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=2&fCat=1&top=1&EditionID=354&ArticleID=21450
Dallas Center for performing arts
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/5657/rex-architects-dallas-center-for-the-performing-arts-dee-and-charles-wyly-theater.html
Macedonian Philharmony
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=82863
The Monumental Home of Mother Teresa
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=103721
The Constitutional Court/Arcehological Museum/Archive of RM http://www.utrinski.com.mk/?ItemID=E7F273AA5FEB0F4AB2EE8092AEE7C837
Theater Center
http://www.novamakedonija.com.mk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=2&fCat=1&top=1&EditionID=354&ArticleID=21450
Dallas Center for performing arts
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/5657/rex-architects-dallas-center-for-the-performing-arts-dee-and-charles-wyly-theater.html
Macedonian Philharmony
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=82863
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