(De)constructing Architectural Memory
Master Thesis
DIA Graduate School of Architecture
Dessau, 2015
Robert-Oxman-Prize / best thesis project 2015
Skopje is the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. The main characteristic of its historical development is discontinuity. The present state of the spatial structure of Skopje is a product of the overlapping of different concepts for its urban development that have often been opposites of their antecedents. In order to understand Skopje’s current spatial structure, one must go over its distinct urban concepts, fully or partly applied through time.
Since 2010 there has been an ongoing project in Skopje, called Skopje2014. This thesis is analyzing the actions and effects of that project. The Skopje2014 project is financed by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and is an undertaking that is changing the image of the city by giving it a new ‘older’ appeal through means of architecture.
This thesis is dealing with the processes of erasing architectural memory and inventing a new one, i.e. presenting an imaginary one, both actions included in the term (De)constructing Architectural Memory.
The Skopje2014 project is erasing architectural representations of real past events – artefacts and is creating architectural representations of invented events, in order to falsify the course of history and through promoting a newly-constructed storyline, to reinvent history.
This thesis will analyze the modifications done on the previously existing architecture and the newly-constructed architectural layer of Skopje. Since architecture is the medium used for reinventing history, architectural tools will be used for this analysis. This thesis will not just analyse the Skopje2014 project, but will also try to be a starting point for a discussion on the necessity to rethink the position of the architect and the role of architecture in Skopje.
The content of (De)contructing Architectural Memory has not been updated since the master thesis project was finished in 2015, when the Skopje2014 project was still ongoing.
Mentor: Gunnar Hartmann
Advisor: Jovan Ivanovski
Photo by Ervo Rocks
