99FILES, OPERATIVE ATLAS_devices for the contemporary Balkan City

Abstract

In the recent architectural debate, there has been a renewed interest on the topic of brutalist architecture as a sign for a search of a different point of view and a necessity of filling the void in the architectural historiography. Striving to go beyond the conventional opinions on Brutalism, the two researchers presented in this paper are collocated in this context: 99FILES project, an open international call, promoted by the research Laboratory Landscape_inProgress, and OPERATIVE ATLAS of 15 case studies from Skopje. Both of the projects intend to become a device for re-thinking of Brutalism as well as to develop a reflection from which to learn how to deepen into the knowledge of the architectural production of the 60s and the 70s. This different vision becomes fundamental for Skopje, where the architectural and cultural heritage, built after the earthquake in 1963, has always been marginalized and is now in danger to be erased. By overcoming the ideological barriers, it is possible to re-read other modernities that have characterized the Balkan architecture, and reassign what is now perceived as an unloved heritage (Mrduljaš, M., Kulić, V. 2012), a familiarity in the urban physiognomy.