The voice of functional design sobriety and classic innovation in the face of voracious investors and ever-shifting standards.

MK Post-socialist and post-conflict transformation in Serbian society take place in parallel. How do these schizophrenic political atmospheres reflect on architectural practice, the built environment and new visual identity?
DM&JM The problem of the architecture practice here is the short historical memory which results in the impossibility of learning from our own experiences and mistakes. The long process of transition has created an environment that sends very different and, more often than not, contradictory signals.
The effect of attacking the façade (with extensions) and public surfaces (with kiosks and makeshift structures) gained impetus during the 90s. Flat rooftops, attics, parks and squares became fertile ground for occupation by aesthetically unacceptable structures built with or without a license – but definitely outside the boundaries of appropriate standards and regulations.
A special and complex phenomenon is the explosion of the urban fabric, the uncontrolled and uncoordinated “spilling over” of the city without an appropriate infrastructural base, which is consequentially reflected in an inadequate traffic network, underdeveloped public transport, lack of connection between some parts of the city due to a lack of bridges and a non-harmonized system of buildings.

In the architectural development of this region, the discontinuity of ideas, trends and movements play a crucial role. What is the outcome of such an up-and-down situation?
Our architecture practice lags behind contemporary global events thanks to the rigidity of the bureaucratic system. It’s exactly this discontinuity of construction and design habits that make us engage in projects that are inappropriate, megalomaniac, out of any space and time context.
Our view of the transformation, which has new modernism as its aesthetic output, is the realization of unpretentious and fine architecture – even with modest means.

Your residential project at Dedinje (Belgrade) represents something of a new way of collective housing. How do the users interact with these sophisticated concepts? And what are the new standards today?
Designing and building this house was something of a pioneering project. The structure is comprised of five units, three of them typical, together with a rooftop terrace unit and one a penthouse. The luxury of this space was achieved in volume, with quality lighting and very contemporary technical solutions. The structure was built without expensive and unnecessary materials, almost in the manner of classic building practices. The users here are largely foreigners, who bring to it their own standards and lend a new quality to living in this space.

The reconstruction of the JDP (The Yugoslav Drama Theatre) demonstrates the increasing role of new media both in the anatomy of a building and its presentation. How did you manage to strike a balance between the monumental character of the previous building and the needs of new technologies?
The Drama Theatre project was developed together with the architect Zoran Radojčić. We placed special emphasis on the façade and technological and functional modernization. Conservation of the historical aspect by interpreting the wall as something constant and unchangeable confronts the contemporary aspect through applications that announce theatre performances and which are also part of the façade, but a changeable, mobile, temporary part.
The main starting point in designing the theatre auditorium was an emphasis on good visibility and acoustics. In the interior of the object the expression is reduced, with no decoration; instead the technical and technological components were stressed. Such an approach invokes the view that the entire complex mechanism of the theatre is an intricacy of complex technologies.

The transformation of professional organizations illustrates the efforts of architects and urban planners in the decision-making process. How we can defend the profession from the over-scaled appetites of investors and create a safe and professional environment?
We see a special role in the promotion of new spatial values by a branch organization such as urban ecology. A strategy of activism should come to the fore, instead of a passive protectionism through documents, and not through a method of limitation, but via the stimulation of good projects.
Author: Miodrag Kuč, with architects Dejan Miljković & Jovan Mitrović, Belgrade
Photos: Miljković Mitrović Architects