CMPR: Maden Group & Co

The organizer of the Central Mosque of Prishtina competition, the Islamic Community of the Republic of Kosovo, announced that 136 freelance and companies were registered for the competition, from which 81 submitted their projects on time. Out of those who submitted, surprisingly, only a quarter were local studios. Prishtina-based architecture practice Maden Group, in collaboration with Rron Tresi arch. and Marsida Musta arch., were among the few local practices and who`s design was praised by many as “fusion of modern Islamic and European architecture in the modern-day Europe.” Featured below is the studio`s exclusive proposal for the competition.

CMPR: Taller 301 & L+CC

Recently the Islamic Community of the Republic of Kosova announced the three winners of the Central Mosque of Prishtina International Competition, with no first prize winners announcing Sadarvuga and a Turkish practice as runner offs competitors, for the final design improvments in accordance with further suggestions from the Islamic Community.

However, other competitors shared their entry proposals with the public. Referring to bustler.net publication, see the brief proposal by Colombian practice Taller 301 and Dutch practice L+CC.

Europan 12 Kosova: Team Up!

EUROPAN is a call for projects of ideas at the urban and architectural scale, addressed to young architects under 40 years of age, which look for innovative housing solutions in different urban sites in European towns.

Following a successful first-time organization of the Europan 11 competition, Europan Kosova is participating also this year’s Europan 12 competition, among the 15 other participating countries on the theme The Adaptable City with the project site in Gjilan. For further information on the competition and participating details, read after the break.

Peja Bazaar: A Winning Collaboration

Finalizing the series of winners of the competition on revisioning the Peja city centre, the winning proposal from architects Fatlum Radoniqi, Arben Verzivolli and Kastriot Jaka was highly regarded for the “simplicity and neutrality” of their approach. Among 14 proposals that were submitted, this winning collaboration struck the jury with a design that was “as much pragmatic as it was poetic and artistic”-city officials have cited. Below find the exclusive images and description as submitted by the architects.

Central Mosque – Competition Winners

The winners of the international design competition for the Central Mosque of Prishtina were recently announced by the organizer, the Islamic Community of the Republic of Kosova. The competition had invited freelancers from around the world to design a place of worship, a place of multidimensional functions, a landmark of Kosova.

The announced results for the CMPR design competition draws with NO first place winner!

PEJA BAZAAR by Urban Plus

On the competition Peja Bazaar, features as spatial development, functionality and practicability were taken much into consideration. Therefore the second winning proposal by Urban PLUS presented a variety of a combined appearance transferring the plot to the required number of units resulting on mosaic architecture of eight different cubes, providing commonly accessible spaces, with an inner square that would satisfy the needs of the shop owners and meanwhile provide a better access to the riverfront.

Continue after the break for more images and description by the project authors.

Locus: Proposal by Maden Group

On the recent publication from the Department of Urbanism and Environmental Protection of the Municipality of Peja on the winners of the competition Peja City Center, Maden Creative Studio held the third place. This studio`s design approach named Locus, or the center of activities or power, not only merges the architecture with the overwhelming natural beauties the city of Peja hosts, but also redefines this part of the city as the center of all future activities. Below you may find the studio`s design description and exclusive presentation renderings.

Peja Bazaar proposal by Prima&Rebus

The proposal submitted by PRIMA Engineering in collaboration with REBUS from Tirana for revisioning the Peja City, was among the the four finalists entries of the Peja Bazaar Competition. The aim of this competition proposal was to create a new type of the Traditional Albanian Bazaar’s, with a more sustainable approach.

The video animation, more images and authors description after the break.

Peja: A city seeking European trends

A city of 96,000, home of the White Drin River and the picturesque Rugova Canyon, Peja is undergoing vast urban developments. Recently, the Department of Urbanism and Environmental Protection of the Municipality of Peja held a competition on revisioning the center of the city, as per the Urban Regulatory Plan “Centre, Kapeshnica and Karagaqi”.

Swiss Diamond Hotel

by Boriana KLLOGJERI

It has been a month since I visit Prishtina for my first time. I spend there only one day but I really liked the city. Every single time I was comparing it with Tirana and the greatest advantage of Prishtina is the “quality”. It is clear that Prishtina`s “outfit” is the industrial one, but if you look carefully on the city`s streets you can find some real architectural “gems” like coffee shops, restaurants and hotels.

EUROPAN 12 Presentation

The 2nd edition of the EUROPAN KOSOVA, a biennial competition asking architects for innovative housing solutions on Kosovan sites, is organizing an event presentation of the new competition for this year’s Europan Kosova 2012.

This event will be held at the Modelarium – FCAE Department of Architecture, University of Prishtina on the 15th of March 2013 at 18:00.

EASA Reaction 2013

EASA (European Architecture Students Assembly) është një platformë për shkëmbimin e ideve dhe njohurive te studenteve te arkitekturës nga Evropa. E nisur në vitin 1981 kur studentët e arkitekturës nga Liverpooli, ftuan kolegët e tyre nga Evropa të vinin për të diskutuar dhe propozuar zgjidhjet për problemet e qytetit të tyre.

Që atëherë, çdo vit, studentët evropianë të arkitekturës takohen në një qytet tjetër me qëllimin e shkëmbimit të ideve dhe vizioneve në arkitekturë. Kështu dhe ketë vjet organizohet “EASA Reaction 2013”, në  Zuzemberk, Sloveni.

Për pjesëmarrje të studenteve të arkitekturës nga Kosova në ketë eveniment, EASA KOSOVA ka shpallur konkurs për aplikim.  Në vijim gjeni kushtet:

Lectures: the art of extra credit

Scholars are not only defined by acquiring academic knowledge, rather by sharing the social responsibility that derives from that knowledge, for they need to be as much active inside their academic curriculum as outside of it. As today`s trends have shifted from emphasizing “star architects” to raising consciousness on the social responsibility of their architecture, students as future urban shapers need to welcome the idea of participating on public discourses and debates even if there is no extra credit involved. Despite the lack of international speakers and substandard education practices in our universities, public lectures and workshops host fairly large amount of audience, an occurrence which is to venerate and gives hope that things are changing for good.

Archis public lectures and debate

Archis Intervention in collaboration with University of Prishtina continues the series of public lectures and discussions. At this free event, being held at the Modelarium – Faculty of Architecture, University of Prishtina, Andres Lepik  of Technical University Munich and Vedran Mimica of IIT College of Architecture, USA will give a forum talk on February 22, on “Perspectives of urban development“.

Kosova mountain resort development

The Republic of Kosovo will soon be initiating investor consultations for exclusive development rights to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Brezovica Mountain Resort in the Sharr Mountain National Park in Shtërpcë/Strpce municipality of southern Kosovo.