Archinect - News

New map charts the radical and visionary Modernist architecture of Skopje

2018-09-07T13:58:00-04:00

A new map featuring the modernist architecture of Skopje has been released by Blue Crow Media, the publishing company behind a popular series of Brutalist architecture maps. Their latest release, the Modernist Skopje Map, graphs the radical and visionary architecture of the Macedonian capital, detailing over forty buildings and structures.

The city plays host to an abundance of Communist-era Brutalist and Modernist architecture. Rocked by a devastating earthquake in 1963, Skopje was largely built up by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, who won an international competition to lead the urban reconstruction of the city center. With a particular focus on concrete brutalism, Tange and his team of international architects masterplanned the rebuilt capital, their retro-futuristic influences still apparent today.

From the The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, to the Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, pockets of these original modernist buildings remain and are spotl...

Seized “Skopje 2014” documents could lead to criminal investigation

2016-10-20T14:36:00-04:00

Documents that Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO, seized on Tuesday with a court order from the Culture Ministry refer to a million-euros-worth tender to build the Museum of VMRO and Macedonian Struggle for Independence...The SJO [...] says it will reveal the start of two new investigations. If one refers to "Skopje 2014", it will be the first-ever serious criminal investigation into this costly project which, according to BIRN’s database, has cost 667 million euros already.

Balkan Insight reports that the hefty €667 million+ price tag (approx. $730 million+) of the grandiose revamp “was mainly due to the signing of 123 contracts with firms and individuals for its construction, many of which were annexes to the original contract.”

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network's database: Skopje 2014 Uncovered.

Previously on Archinect:

Macedonians protest to protect modernism

Macedonian Makeover: Europe's Flailing Capital of Kitsch

2013-11-21T19:17:00-05:00

The Macedonian government has spent huge sums turning its capital, Skopje, into a neo-baroque architectural nightmare. The project's gaudy excesses camouflage a disastrous economy and troubling record on human rights.