A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Multi-fold Perspectives on Skopje’s Reconstruction. Megastructures, Infrastructures, and Emergency Housing
Reviewing and cross-checking available literature against articles published in international and Yugoslav journals, this paper highlights the diverging aspects of Skopje ́s reconstruction after the earthquake of 26 July 1963, an unmatchable case study on the architectural and town planning debate of the mid-sixties. While the master plan proceeded in forced stages, pondering alternative scenarios, new emergency neighbourhoods were expanding daily along the main arterial roads. The historic centre was considered a vital part of Skopje, yet the future of its architectural expression — according to the entries of the 1965 competition — remained entangled in the infrastructural layout. Considering the complexity of all these conditions (and the strain of time), the notion of context takes on a plurality of meanings: the city of Skopje, having been grafted onto place geography, but periodically reshaped by tumultuous settlement processes; the 150,000 inhabitants that suddenly became homeless; professionals from the town planning institutes of Tito's Yugoslavia, and experts from international organisations: seismologists, hydraulic engineers, economists, sociologists, as well as town planners and architects from different backgrounds. The subsequent planning documents highlighted some fundamental nodes, such as the physical features of the Skopska Kotlina (Skopje basin) where a major national road junction was then under construction, defining urban growth and productive articulation. Using the competition for the city centre as a starting point, we shall consider the gigantism of most architectural projects against the technicalities of town planning allied to emergency interventions, which opened the way to future substitutions and densification. A review of the projects submitted to the 1965 competition, in fact, clearly shows the contrast between these visionary proposals and the reality of the problems at hand. The following paragraphs dwell on the different nature of the above-mentioned problems (in the first ...
Multi-fold Perspectives on Skopje’s Reconstruction. Megastructures, Infrastructures, and Emergency Housing
Reviewing and cross-checking available literature against articles published in international and Yugoslav journals, this paper highlights the diverging aspects of Skopje ́s reconstruction after the earthquake of 26 July 1963, an unmatchable case study on the architectural and town planning debate of the mid-sixties. While the master plan proceeded in forced stages, pondering alternative scenarios, new emergency neighbourhoods were expanding daily along the main arterial roads. The historic centre was considered a vital part of Skopje, yet the future of its architectural expression — according to the entries of the 1965 competition — remained entangled in the infrastructural layout. Considering the complexity of all these conditions (and the strain of time), the notion of context takes on a plurality of meanings: the city of Skopje, having been grafted onto place geography, but periodically reshaped by tumultuous settlement processes; the 150,000 inhabitants that suddenly became homeless; professionals from the town planning institutes of Tito's Yugoslavia, and experts from international organisations: seismologists, hydraulic engineers, economists, sociologists, as well as town planners and architects from different backgrounds. The subsequent planning documents highlighted some fundamental nodes, such as the physical features of the Skopska Kotlina (Skopje basin) where a major national road junction was then under construction, defining urban growth and productive articulation. Using the competition for the city centre as a starting point, we shall consider the gigantism of most architectural projects against the technicalities of town planning allied to emergency interventions, which opened the way to future substitutions and densification. A review of the projects submitted to the 1965 competition, in fact, clearly shows the contrast between these visionary proposals and the reality of the problems at hand. The following paragraphs dwell on the different nature of the above-mentioned problems (in the first ...
Multi-fold Perspectives on Skopje’s Reconstruction. Megastructures, Infrastructures, and Emergency Housing
Korolija Aleksa (author) / Pallini Cristina (author) / Korolija, Aleksa / Pallini, Cristina
2024-01-01
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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