The second edition of Prishtina ARCHITECTURE WEEK came to a successful end after its six days run held between 30th June and 6th July. In which one of the most famous world architects, Sir Peter Cook read a charming lecture about his works and his approach to architecture.
After a very characteristic exhibit on the 13’ Architecture Biennale in Venice, Kosova’s Pavilion was entitled as one of the most photographed pavilion among the national pavilions. Now returning for the second time to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, local architect Gezim Pacarizi has been chosen to curate this year’s Pavilion.
Pacarizi responds to Rem Koolhas theme with the project “Visibility (Imposed Modernism)”, unveiling a circular tower built by traditional chairs, reflecting on the cultural qualities and socio-economic challenges of our country, specifically the old city of Prizren.
The full brief and more information by the author, after the break…
Famous Kosovar architect, Gëzim Paçarizi, shall be the...
Famous Kosovar architect, Gëzi...
Welcome to URBAN Wellness! by architects Estudio Lunar has been selected as the only runner up for the Europan 12 Kosovo. The jury of Europan decided to not choose any winner and only one runner-up to work for the future of Gjilan.
Ron Arad, one of the most influential designers of our time, has been appointed special adviser of Kosova’s Pavilion for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. The decision for his selection was made by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Memli Krasniqi.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Kosova has announced that Kosova once again will be part of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Responding to this year’s director Rem Koolhaas’ theme, titled “Fundamentals”, Minister Krasniqi has appointed an Advisory Board, which will propose 3 to 5 potential candidates for curating this edition’s Pavilion of Kosova.
It’s December, and we want to thank all of our visitors, contributors and partners on collaborating with us on increasing awareness of the architectural culture in Kosovo, followed by publications of local projects, architect profiles, and various architectural events!
Over the past 12 months we’ve introduced some awesome projects accomplished by the architectural practices in Kosovo, thus we would like to present a Top 10 of the most popular projects of 2013 assembled by the reactions and the shares of our visitors.
Until 2014, we wish you a Happy New Year full of love and lots of inspiration. Thank you!
So we’re back with another Prishtina Architecture Week 2013 lecture. Presenting Lulzim Kabashi, the Kosovan-born architect from Ivanisin. Kabashi. Arhitekti practice, headquartered in Croatia. Kabashi walked the audience through their studio design projects, and the new developing project of “The New Prishtina” – West Zone regulatory plan.
Prishtina capital is starting to flow and projects keep up going, with once again Urban Plus on the spotlight. Bringing a big focus on reusable and adaptable structures with the Green School project, Urban Plus is yet again laying their ambition of creating a school that raises the level of educational facilities in Kosova, providing a beautiful environment for the cultivation of culture, knowledge, art and ethics.
EUROPAN KOSOVA has just published the results for Europan 12 Competition, taking site in Gjilan. Out of 35 projects submitted by young architects that we’re in the look of a more innovative result of urban solutions, with the theme “The Adaptable City”.
The jury of international architects has unanimously announced their verdict of no first prize winner, announcing the runner up entry with code XX634 and a special mention to the entry with code AH655.
Prishtina Architecture Week 2013 hosted a lecture by the respected architect Enric Ruiz-Geli, the founder of Cloud 9. Presenting his practice works, Enric Ruiz-Geli explained to the Kosovarian audience their office commitment to the use of new technological development and the perfomative dimension of architecture, creating smart structures mimicking nature. A great example of his work is Media –TIC an innovative building project with a net-like steel structure, awarder by WAF 2011 World’s Building of the Year.
INNARCH designed the DON Café interiors in Prishtina, Peja and Belgrade around organically shaped wooden elements. The repeated wooden profiles establish the character of the interiors.
During the awards ceremony at the Saatchi Gallery London, on 28 November 2013, World Interiors News Annual Awards 2013 have announced the 2013 winners of the bars category, awarding London/Prishtina based firm 4M Group for their design excellence on Hamam Jazz Lounge.
Above is the video lecture of Asa Bruno, the directing architect at Ron Arad Architects which highlights their unique philosophy that challenges the relationship between form and function. The video is part of Prishtina Architecture Week 2013, organized from the 1’st to the 6’th of July unfolding theories from around the world with its lectures and events.
A few weeks back ReThink Space and Studio Snøhetta a world famous practice of urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, and interior architecture office based in Oslo, Norway and New York, USA challenged the young architects in Prishtina organizing a workshop from September 18-19, to design possible interventions in the city’s public spaces.
The following article, by Cristina Marí elaborates the creative solutions to the respond of city’s public spaces, originally appeared in KOSOVO 2.0 as “Playing with the dark corners of Prishtina”.
Taking place at the Kosovo’s National Museum in Prishtina, on Sunday 10th of November starting from 18:00, Archis Intervention_Prishtina will be presenting their workshop works of the theme “Dynamic City Prishtina”. As a collaboration of Archis Interventions, SEE, Kai Vöckler / Archis Interventions, Prishtina, Florina Jerliu, Visar Geci, Vlora Navakazi and Wilfried Hackenbroich. The exhibition reflects typologies facilitating exchanges and relationships among youth, history, national identity, education, and economy.
Prishtina based architecture studio LSN Architects newest task, the Arting LLC – Lakrishte Complex, is a new commercial and residential highrise building project in the major area of the city’s downtown. Sited in Lakrishte district, this project is a continuation of the zone’s heavy development of multistory buildings, nearby to the Kosova’s tallest under-construction projects the ENK Complex and WTC Complex.
We’ll keep you updated with more images and information as the project continues.
Rethink Space foundation recently announced their upcoming lecture and workshop of Snøhetta Studio, an award-winning international architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design firm based in Oslo Norway, which will be giving a lecture to the audience of Prishtina, at the Modelarium of FCEA Dept. of Architecture, during September 18th – 19th.
Further lecture information and the posters after the break.
Earlier this year, we publicized the Europan 12 Kosova Competetion taking site in Gjilan with the theme “The Adaptable City”, tempting young architects on improving the cultural life in the city and provide new facilities for municipal administration, and changing the image of the center with new civic buildings and public spaces.
EUROPAN KOSOVA invites you into emerging architect’s universe, on the EUROPAN KOSOVA 12 exhibit, which will be on display at the City Gallery (Theater Building) in Gjilan on the 6th of September, presenting and analyzing innovattive design strategies of Gjilan’s city center, provided by more than 35 international and national participants.
World Architecture News Competition has chosen Hamam Jazz Bar Prishtina as one of the “Top Best Bar Designs in the World”, putting it together on a list with competitors from Paris, Barcelona, London, NYC, Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc.
An extensive group of excellent designers and architects were part of the judges’ panel, which achieved to put a short list of entries based on different categories, among which in the category of bars competing with hundreds of top-quality entries from around the world, Hamam has achieved to attract their attention and be shortlisted together with other projects from companies like Pinkeye, Minarc or ATP Sphere GmbH.
By ONUP™
by Attila Beksac
Prishtina seems too hasty these days. The city, which is the youngest capital of both Balkans and Europe has lots of problems to solve while ‘turbo-urbanism’ has taken effect in whole its distritcs .
It can be said, this experience that Prishtina has been tasting since the end of Kosovo War is familiar and has taken its roots from the ex-memories of territory’s rich historical cities. ‘Identity crisis’ seems obviously the most suitable topic to call this developments.
Besa Group HQ and apartments tower, designed by the young local architects of archlab, is an under construction project planned to be finished with the end of this year.
Situated in Prishtina, in Kalabria district, this ten storey (G+9) building is a mixed-use building which will house Besa Group HQ offices and residential apartments on the above floors. The area where the building is situated borders Dardania, a highly inhabited district in Prishtina, where the tangent street to the block “Lidhja e Pejës” plays a strategic importance by connecting two different areas of the city. On the other hand, the block targeted by the project is dense, comprising mostly of residential buildings and apartments which have been built recently.
Last week during Prishtina Architecture Week, Urban Plus held an open studio session welcoming students and freelancers of the profession to their working environments, to see what’s been happening by looking around the studios and talking to each of the staff personally about their work. Check for more photos after the break.
Most of us might of noticed the cartoon-colored sidewalk concrete protectors on the narrow street by the Swiss Diamond Hotel, or the colored sidewalk across from the Prishtina`s newly built Cathedral, and wondered whether this street art was vandalism or legal art pieces. Fortunately, these art pieces were the winners of an EU-funded project called Culture for All. Managed by the European Union Office in Kosovo and implemented by ARS PROGETTI SpA (Italy) in July 2012, this competition called young artists and artists’ groups from all over Kosovo to participate in a visual arts prize competition for street art, mural paintings, applied arts, photography and/or installations in urban space. On September of 2012 the jury declared the winner artists, among which was Senat Haliti, an architect from the old city of Prizren who authored the “EU Pavilion”.
After a numerous events in Prishtina Archtitecture Week which included many interesting lectures, screenings and exhibitions, this year’s edition of Prishtina Architecture Week ended with different exhibitions and an architectural tour in Prishtina. This time, the open studio was held in Përparim Rama’s 4M office in Prishtina.
The fifth day of Prishtina Architecture Week, started as usual with the workshops underway, trailed up with the exhibitions held at the Modelarium of FCEA Department of Architecture and at Kosovo’s Academy of Science and Arts. Continuing to the open studio of one of the biggest architectural practices in Prishtina – ANARCH.
Yesterday, July 4th, the Architects Association of Kosova held an emergency meeting at the amphitheater of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of Kosova. This meeting was called in Prishtina upon the disapointment that a large number of architects, engineers and planners had on the 2011-2014 leadership of this association. According to them, besides the fact that this association has collected membership money each and every year, there hasnt been one single activity organized by them since late 2011, not even membership confirmations via emial or mail (association’s website confirms these allegations).
On its fourth day, the Prishtina Architecture week stayed true to the planned schedule, starting with workshops, exhibits, open studios, and closing the day with lectures and screenings.
The Prishtina based architecture company ArchiEdu presented Graphisoft ArchiCad 17 to the audience, showing the program’s new platform and advanced features which make it a more reliable tool for architects to use.
The third day of Prishtina Architecture Week followed with a rich programme including exhibitions and lectures. Today’s event started off with workshops in the morning, following through different exhibitions and a presentation by Kosovo Architecture Association.
The Prishtina Architecture Week moved into its second and busiest day yet.
It started off with exhibits, student reviews, open studio in the morning and afternoon and concluded with lectures and screening late this evening at Modelarium – FCAE Department of Architecture. The “prime time” of today`s events started with the lecture of Bujar Nrecaj from bnarchitects on his firm`s past and present projects.
The inaugural of Prishtina Architecture Week took place this afternoon to a capacity crowd at Modelarium – FCAE Department of Architecture. Ila Beka & Louise Lemoine engaged in with “Koolhaas Houselife” – a documentary from the Living Architecture Series, following after by an inspiring conversation touching on cinematographic architecture. Part of today’s event as well was the “swiss-kosovan” based practice MORKOTE, chaired by Arbnor Murati which gave an insight into their past and current workings of his practice.
Staring from July 1st through the 6th, the city of Prishtina is hosting the “Prishtina Architecture Week”, the first of its kind in Kosova in an effort of exchanging experiences, methodologies, architectural and urban experiments and theories form around the world.
Located close to the new roundabout that is being built in the direction of the road exiting Prishtina towards Skopje, the RIERA complex is the latest project by Lesna Construction to join a busy under construction area of capital of Kosovo.
Here’s another proposal from the many entries of the Central Mosque of Prishtina International Competiton, by Portuguese practice OODA studio in collaboration with AND-re. This proposal illustrates the glowing strength of the Islamic religious architecture embraced in architecture and the instant significance to the current state of architectural philosophy in Kosovo. Project description from the architects, after the break…
The proposal submitted by Dafina Muriqi, Shpat Pozhegu and Besmir Hasi is one of the total two submissions for the “Campus Design Competition of the University of Gjakova”. Although the competition was cancelled in absence of more than three participants, the proposal of these young architects deserves to be part of our website architectural proposals. More details about the project, after the break…
Over the past few days, we have featured several entries by different practices to the competition of the Central Mosque of Prishtina. The young Albanian architecture practice X-Plan Studio, were also participants to this international competition held in January to April, by the Islamic community of Kosovo. Explore more of their competition proposal after the break…
Our friends from Albanian architecture studio MetroPOLIS, just published their proposal in collaboration with makeLAB (us) and 3Ti_LAB (ita) for the Central Mosque of Prishtina International Competition. This proposal, has succeeded in creating a modern form within the volumes of the mosque. Other images of the entire complex and architects’ description, after the break…
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.
bustler.net publishes another entry of the Central Mosque of Prishtina International Competition. This entry proposal by Iranian architecture practice TAHR O AMAYESH, shows an unusual use of mosque form, developed vertically emphasizing the Islamic identity with a simple and yet unexpected architecture. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In an article originally published on bustler.net, APTUM Architecture has shared their design proposal to the Central Mosque of Prishtina. This proposal titled MI’RAJ, offers both a change of scale and of atmosphere as compared to the surrounding architecture. More on the author’s description, read after the break.
Why not take advantage of local architects, as they seem to have engaged themselves to design great buildings. Being no inferior to the foreign colleges, Pacarizi and Sadiku pointed the strengths of local architecture. See below the description and other details of their Central Mosque of Prishtina International Competition proposal.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
The public exhibition for the “Central Mosque Competition” proposals will open to the public between Thursday 27th of March 2013 to 31st of March 2013 in Grand Hotel Prishtina. The exhibition invites the public to vote for their favorite proposal, which holds 15% of the total voting.
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.
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.
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”.
