Baroque
in the Fourth Dimension
Interview with Milan Mijalkovic
Baroque
in the Fourth Dimension
Interview with Milan MijalkovicShifting
the perspective and interpreting the wish for ornamentation without
the use of banalities, this architect captured the attention of both
home and worldwide public.
Milan
Mijalkovic’s architectural design located on Sts. Cyril and
Methodius St. in Skopje has recently caught the attention of the
worldwide public. In fact, the facade of the parking garage, rewarded
the prize for best architectural project at the traditional event
“Architecture of the City of Skopje – ASK” 2013, gained even
further recognition in the competition for the most prestigious
“Architizer A+” awards, the so-called Oscars of Architecture, in
the transportation structures category.
The facade, which meets the
requirements for the baroque in a very specific way, has also
appeared in a number of major and world-acclaimed architecture and
design media, such as the ArchDaily, DesignBoom, Frameweb, Fuzzbiz,
+Mood, etc. Skopje native, Milan Mijalkovic, is currently living in
Vienna. He says that it is not by mere accident that he has been
building a career in both cities simultaneously and was very pleased
to respond to our questions about the architectural piece that has
sparked a lot of interest with the particularity of its appearance.
The
competition called for a facade design in a “baroque, classical,
neoclassical, romantic or neo-romantic style”. Instead, you created
a provocative and contemporary piece. How did you accomplish this?
“Historicism
was one of the architectural styles that encompassed most of the
requirements. The rest of the styles were literary. In fact, all we
did was shift the perspective. Copying was modified. We interpreted
the wish for ornamentation, but avoided using explicitly and banally
the language of the abovementioned styles. The starting point for the
facade was an amateur photograph showing residential buildings in a
Viennese street from a street, i.e. a tourist’s perspective. This
perspective was then multiplied and dissolved into several layers to
obtain a surface with a completely undefined boundary. What could
have been simply a tourist photo became a facade.”
Opinions
on your facade vary. What is the aim of the provocative and specific
dynamics of the design, raising questions or making a statement?
“Creating
space that gives birth to new perceptions is one of my key tasks.
Questions and statements come second. If you can explain
architecture, then why build it?“
Who
did you collaborate with on the project? Did you engage the local
architectural milieu or did creative minds from other countries also
provide their input?
“In
collaboration with PPAG Architects from Vienna, we handed in a design
for a parking garage on a different plot located near the City Post
Office. After receiving only a purchase prize, we were offered to
build the facade of our proposal on another parking garage that was
already in the stage of planning undertaken by “Gorichanka”, a
firm made up of professors from the Faculty of Architecture and their
teaching assistants: Minas Bakalchev, Mitko Hadji-Pulja, Sasha
Tasikj, Aleksandar Radevski, Nikola Strezovski and Damjan
Momirovski.”
Your
book, boldly titled “Skopje, The World’s Bastard: Architecture of
the Divided City”, that you co-wrote with Katharina Urbanek, deals
with the building continuity in our city. How do you feel about
continuity in architecture and do you think that architects are
really those who map out the cities?
“Continuity
is the defining feature of time and space in the Western world. In
the Eastern world, however, continuity is the key aspect of evil,
that which does not die or change. It is no coincidence that the
founders or builders of the cities throughout history and mythology
were predominantly murderers, tyrants, evil folk. Take Romulus for
example, the founder of Rome who murders his own brother, then
Phalaris, the tyrant architect in Greek mythology, the labyrinth
serving as the Minotaur’s prison, or just think about Sodom and
Gomorrah. Even in our legends, and the legends of our neighbors, the
building of monasteries, cities or forts is very often associated
with the laying of sacrifice in the cornerstone as a promise of
strong foundations, and eventually, continuity. Today, public spaces
designed by architects, as paradoxical as it may seem, must
constantly struggle with continuity.”
Nevertheless,
continuity is important for the growth of the creative individual.
Since you have been brought up by creative individuals yourself, and
architects no less, how has it reflected on your work?
“My
parents are architects, and my brother is a sculptor. Their influence
has been enormous, but I can truly say that my son Vito has
influenced me far more. As I mentioned before, continuity is
important to the extent that a person must constantly defy it.
Totalitarianism is also a form of continuity, but thank God, so is
winter and the sunrise.”
Captions:
Before
winning popularity at the “Architizer A+” competition, the
remarkable building received the prize for best architectural design
at the “Architecture of the City of Skopje – ASK” 2013 event.
The
distinctively dissolved surface plays with the light and shadows
inside the building.
The
texture of the facade is in fact a stylized replica of an amateur
photograph showing a perspective view of residential buildings in a
Viennese street.
Copyright: Milan Mijalkovic, 2020