The topic of this year’s Belgrade International Architecture Week is Public Spaces, where through a series of different programs visitors and lecturers will investigate the content, meaning, the interactive nature and formal values which define urban spaces. Centre for Architecture Belgrade participates in this year’s BINA with three events.

On Friday May 16, in Artget gallery of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade took place the lecture Why public space?, a presentation of the European Prize for Urban Public Space. This prize is a biennial competition that aims to encourage and recognize  the creation, recovery and improvement of public space in the understanding that the state of public space is a clear indicator of the civic and collective health of our cities. The program is organized by the Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona (CCCB).

At BINA the European Prize for Urban Public Space was presented by David Bravo Bordas from CCCB and Darko Polić from CAB. The event was moderated by Ivan Kucina.

Among the BINA workshops program,  Milena Zindović from CAB and Katarina Aleksić, informatics teacher, will hold the workshop Women as Belgrade Builders for children of age 10 to 12.  The workshop is scheduled for Thursday May 29 from 10:00to 11:30 am, and of Friday  May 30 from 10:30am to 12:00 pm, in the space of the Center for Promotion of Science in Knez Mihaila Street 5.

The workshop participants will work in groups to explore elements of urban public space using simple Web tools, as well as present their findings in the form of interactive images, interactive timelines and mind maps. Through their work and dialogue with moderators, the children will get acquainted with the history of Belgrade and its public spaces, significance of architecture and urban design in development of the city, as well as with works of our women architects. The workshop will be based on the principles of peer education since the children participating will be helped by their peers from “Branislav Nušić” Primary School, who have already successfully completed similar tasks during the educational project Women as Belgrade Builders.

All children’s work will be published on the project’s blog.

In collaboration and by invitation from Do.Co.Mo.Mo Serbia, Milena Zindović together with Marijom Martinović will guide the BINA walk Banks of Sava River and What Connects Them. On Sunday June 1, starting at 2 pm from Beton Hala, the group will board a boat to travel on the Sava river and talk about its banks, important urban ambiances such as Savamala, the Sava amphitheater and Old Fairground, and buildings such as the “May 25″ sports center, the Belgrade Fair, BIGZ etc.

Workshop Women as Belgrade Builders  which Centre for Architecture Belgrade realized in cooperation with Belgrade Elementary School  “Branislav Nušić” is successfully finished, and this occasion was marked by a visit with the pupils to the subject city sites.

During this tour, guided by Milena Zindović and Katarina Aleksić, the pupils visited buildings by architects Jelisaveta Načić, Milica Šterić and Milica Krstić in dowtown Belgrade. The visit started in front of the Elementary School “Kralj Petar Prvi” building by Jelisaveta Načić, where we spoke on elements of this building’s style, as well as architectural elements in general.   In front of Jelisaveta’s Small steps in Kalemegdan the pupils presented the life and work of the first Serbian woman architect.  We also talked about architecture as a profession and a framework for everyday life.

The walk continued towards Zeleni Venac and the buildings of architect Milica Šterić, with a stop in front of the restaurant “?” and the House of princess Ljubica, two examples of traditional Balkan architecture. The conversation continued on the topic of city planing and importance of urbanism as a discipline.

In Carica Milica Street we stopped opposite the EPS office building by architect Milica Šterić and talked about the aesthetic of Modernism, proportions and life and work of Milica Šterić, longtime director of  Energoprojekt Architecture and Urbanism.

The tour ended with the visit to Electrical Technical School “Nikola Tesla”, former Secong High School for Girls by architect Milice Krstić. Thanks to the hospitality of this school’s professors and secretary we visited the interior of this complex building – the library, ceremonial hall, terrace and laboratories. During the visit to the school the pupils presented their findings and work on the topics of elements of Serbian-Byzantine style, life and work of Milica Krstić, as well as the status of women in Serbia in the 19th and the beginning of 20th century.

All of the pupils’ works and a detailed report of the sites visit can be found at the blog Women as Belgrade Builders, and will also be exhibited in two locations during the coming Belgrade International Architecture Week  from 8th to 31st May 2014.

Centre for Architecture Belgrade would like to thank the enthusiasm and creativity of teacher Katarina Aleksić, the cooperation of Elementary School  “Branislav Nušić” and the support of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of Belgrade for the successful realization of this workshop.

Photos: Katarina Aleksić

The first international academic conference Places and Technologies 2014 was held at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade on April 3rd and 4th 2014.

The Centre for Architecture Belgrade was the official new media partner. Also, we presented two papers entitled “The Impact of Smart Home Technologies on Architectural Design” and “Google Earth as a Microworld”.

After a successful initiative that lasted through the months of September and October last year, Centre for Architecture Belgrade continues the work on the promotion and affirmation of Women in architecture, as well as architectural values in general.

In cooperation with Belgrade Elementary School Branislav Nušić, at the invitation of Informatics teacher Katarina Aleksić, the project Women as Belgrade Builders was initiated. Conceived as a research and part of the children’s Informatics course, this project aims to present the cultural heritage and Belgrade architecture to the pupils and introduce them to the historic development of women’s rights in Serbian society, and all this through the use of information techologies and achievement of computer literacy.

During the Women as Belgrade Builders project, sixth grade pupils of Elementary School Branislav Nušić will work in groups to research topics such as the life and work of some of the women of Serbian architectural history, their built work in Belgrade downtown, architecture as a profession, as well as the position of women in Serbian society from 19^th century until today. Through photographs, videos, drawings and Web 2.0 tools such as infographics, timelines and interactive maps, pupils will present their research and work. Centre for Architecture Belgrade will also organize a walk through city center where the pupils will visit the subject buildings and gather their research material.

Through support and participation in this project, the Centre for Architecture Belgrade develops also an educational aspect of its activities, which are mainly focused on promotion of architecture and architectural values. We believe the development from early age of consciousness for architectural and aesthetic values of Belgrade buildings and the need for their preservation and protection will contribute to a better future of our city.

You can follow the project’s course on its own blog edited by Katarina Aleksić and Milena Zindović: http://graditeljkebeograda.blogspot.com/

Center for Architecture will, as well, report regularly on the development of this projects and its results on our blog.

CAB presented a paper on the information platform of the Centre for Architecture at the International Conference On Architecture. The conference was held at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Artsin Belgrade from 9th to 11th of December 2013.

The paper by Goran Petrović, entitled Integrated Information System of the Centre for Architecture Belgrade, can be found on the conference proceedings CD.

The paper gives a review of the results of several years of work on enhancing the communication between architects and on architecture in general. In contemporary world of digital real-time communication, our approach was to start and promote stories on architecture and urban space through maximum use of new media.

The first step towards the realization of this idea was to start an internet-blog on urban design in 2008. At the time, the idea that anyone can write something and publish it to the whole world was in, so we joined this digital wave of thousands of bloggers.

A few years later, the focus of internet communication switched to social networks as more democratic media. Many bloggers gave up, but we used Facebook and Twitter and turned our story into a wide conversation of all those interested in architecture and the city. For serious communication, we also employed the strict business network LinkedIn.

Today, along with the activities in all those social networks and a periodical newsletter, we maintain a Web site that integrates our whole system. Blog posts on different architecture-related topics and information on our work can be found at the address www.cab.rs.

Our next step will be to enable architects and all other professionally or emotionally involved with the city to access and use various resources of the Centre for Architecture through this site.

Centre for Architecture Belgrade completed a series of articles with the topic Women in Architecture, which were published on our blog during September and October. Through 15 features published in this series we tried to start a conversation about the female authors in Serbian architecture and draw attention to the successful architects who worked and work in our country.

The article series received positive reactions from both the professional as well as the general public, and moved from virtual to real space thanks to the cooperation with Blok Conference, during which a discussion on Women in Architecture was held. The participants were some of the architects featured in the Centre for Architecture’s initiative, as well as special guests. Žaklina Gligorijević, Eva Vaništa Lazarević, Grozdana Šišović, Dubravka Đukanović, Bojana Ibrajter Gazibara, Zorica Savičić and Špela Leskovic spoke at the discussion, while the conversation was moderated by Milena Zindović.

The discussion was organized by Centre for Architecture with the aim of establishing a relation between the global context where the female contribution to the architectural profession has been undergoing a revaluation for some time now, and the local context in which the same principles and questions can be identified. Considering this initiative by Centre for Architecture Belgrade is a pioneer attempt to explore the topic of female authorship in local architecture, the outcome was very uncertain.

Since the project arose great interest with the participants as well as the general public, Centre for Architecture wanted to deepen and additionally clarify some of the opinions related in the interviews and the various stands the participants took, in a form of an open debate. In positive atmosphere the guests talked about their experiences from the practice, answered questions and related conflicting opinions. Some of the topics of discussion were Jelisaveta Načić, Milica Šterić, having or lacking an ego, working in couples, working in smaller or larger teams, with male or female colleagues. At the end the audience interacted as well.

All participants emphasized the importance of good and quality architecture above all, as well as the pitfalls of generalization of certain principles as masculine or feminine. The question on whether we need a female gender for the professional title served as a conclusion that the words architecture and architect already are female – which certainly makes a good base for the continuation of the research.

We would like to thank all those who participated, contributed and followed our initiative. The importance of this topic certainly exceeds the limits of this first project and the Centre for Architecture Belgrade will continue to engage with, research and support women in architecture.

Photos: Vanja Petrović

The Centre for Architecture Belgrade, in cooperation with BLOK Conference, invites you to attend and participate in the discussion on women in architecture, which will be held on the first day of the fifth BLOK Conference, on October 10th 2013, around 4 PM, as part of the main programme of the Conference.

At the height of the initiative on our website , and in cooperation with BLOK Conference, Centre for Architecture Belgrade organizes the discussion on women in Architecture. We would like to continue and expand the conversation started with a series of articles and interviews in which we presented some of the ladies from our architectural history and contemporary practice, as well as raise additional interest in the professional and wider public for the issues of architectural profession. The participants of the discussion will share with the audience their professional experiences, thoughts on architecture and advices for young colleagues. We invite you to join the conversation!

The discussion participants will be some of the ladies that took part in the initiative of Centre for Architecture and special guests. These are, among others: Eva Vaništa Lazarević, architect and professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade University; Žaklina Gligorijević from the Urban Planning Institute in Belgrade, architect-planner and member of numerous professional forums;  Zorica Savičić, architect and professor at the Faculty for art and design, Megatrend University; Grozdana Šišović, architect and co-founder of Belgrade architecture studio Re:Act ; Bojana Ibrajter Gazibara, art historian at the Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of Belgrade; Dubravka Djukanović, architect, conservator and lecturer at Faculty of technical sciences in Novi Sad and Špela Leskovic, architect and co-founder of studio AKSL arhitekti from Ljubljana. Moderators of the discussion will be Milena Zindović, architect, programme director at the Centre for Architecture Belgrade and Marija Maša Pavlović, architect, PhD candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.

BLOK is held every year at the ZIRA Congress Centre. The main part of the conference consists of lectures ex cathedra, and accompanying exhibitions, forums, workshops, competitions and a movie marathon dedicated to the genre of architectural films. Detailed programme of the conference and a list of guest lecturers are available at the Conference Web site.

Admission to the discussion Women in architecture is free for registered visitors.

The global architectural community has been discussing the topic of Women in Architecture for quite some time. From research on the status of women in the architectural practice, discussions on Architect Barbie, through features focusing on forgotten women of the architectural past, up to the activities of specialized professional associations, this topic has become a serious movement which aims to draws focus and create change in the way the architectural professions works, and to turn the hermetic architectural community into a contemporary and lively profession which is enriched and improved by the diversity of its members.

Centre for Architecture Belgrade would like to contribute to the discussion on women and their influence on architecture through a view at the local architectural history and contemporary practice. Women architects in Serbia have been active since the beginning of the 20^th century, and some of them have, albeit sometimes from the shadow, left an important and visible trace on our built environment. Starting with Jelisaveta Načić, through architects of the Modernist movement, to successful architects and urban desingers working today, women have succeeded in playing a key role in almost all phases of development of Serbian architecture.

Regardless of today’s equality in architecture as well as other professions, the fact remains that women have entered and were recognized in the architectural profession much later than men, and we still don’t appreciate enough the work and opus of the women in our architectural history. We believe this topic to be significant and exciting to all who love and work in architecture, and above all to women in architecture who are today actively designing our built environment. Additionaly, a review of the feminine side of Serbian architecture could allow young members of our profession to find role models and examples with whose sensibility they can more easily identify.

This is why in September we are starting the initiative Women in architecture. During 5 weeks Centre for Architecture Belgrade will present some of the influential women of our architectural history and contemporary practice through a series of articles and interviews on our website, as well as features on social networks. In an attempt to find answers to questions such as whether there is a female principle in architecture and what makes the female contribution to architecture special, we hope to draw attention to the rich opus and important contribution, independent as well as in teamwork, of women architects to our cities and built environment.

The Centre for architecture Belgrade submitted two entries for this years Ranko Radović Awards – in cathegory of realized architecture works the project for Juvenile Detention Facility at Kruševac, and in cathegory of TV, exhibitions and multimedia the CAB integrated information system.

The exhibition of works was held at Kolarac Foundation in Belgrade, and the exibition at the Department for architecture of the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad will follow.

Preliminary and final design of new housing units at the Juvenile Detention Facility in Kruševac, Serbia, whose authors are members of the Centre for Architecture Belgrade, is nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2013. The project is part of the Programme for the improvement of conditions at the Juvenile detention facility in Kruševac, financed by the European Commision.

The Juvenile Detention Facility in Kruševac is a famous institution, depicted in several movies and TV-series produced in the period of former Yugoslavia. It gained the nickname “Gray Home (Sivi dom)” from an iconic TV-series from the 1980′s, dealing with hard times of imprisoned juvenile delinquents.

The life of problematic kids growing up in this reform school did not change much over time. One of the principal reasons is that the whole detention facility was very old and in poor condition, with inadequate security capacities. Deteriorated and overcrowded spaces for lectures, work and sleeping, poor hygiene and mixing of different age groups all proved to be inadequate for the XXI century.

The European Commission provided funding for new buildings, that would essentially improve the overall conditions at the facility. Eight new housing units, an infirmary and an isolation building were designed and built, with accompanying infrastructure.

New housing units have rooms with two and three beds and a bathroom for every room. At the ground floor level of each unit, there is a large space for dining and other activities. The conditions in these units do not differ much from standard student homes.

Two smaller buildings (infirmary and isolation) are specific, with higher security measures and appropriate finishing, installations and equipment.

The biggest architectural challenge  was to reconcile the impression of austerity that architecture should leave on its users and the need for them to identify with the space where they spend most of their time. This was accomplished by using a simple architectural language based on archetype forms.

Visual concept of the facade is the repetition of a small number of strictly defined elements. The way these elements are distributed on the facades reflects the dynamic character of young people who spend their time in this facility.

The whole complex achieves a harmonic relationship with its surrounding, primarily because brick is the dominant material. This relationship with the natural surrounding is additionally emphasized in the way the disposition of buildings makes the most of the natural potentials on site.

Buildings were completed in September 2012. The design and supervision of works was carried out by SAFEGE. Authors of the architectural design are Goran Petrović and Vanja Petrović (Centre for Architecture Belgrade). Project manager was Jaša Preger.

Photo: Miroslava Andrić