The Intimate City: Skopje

Abstract

A city is not a single entity. It is a vast collection of intimate narratives, crisscrossing and connecting in an ever-changing tapestry of movement and activity. Supporting this colourful and complex ecosystem in the most effective way is an ongoing challenge for governments, planners and architects.

An approach which can be seen in recent urban developments around the globe has been to impose a single, overarching narrative on a city centre, in the hope that it will compel the many individual narratives to align with the master plan. Some critics describe this as a ‘theme park’ approach, encouraging uniformity rather than supporting a diversity of intimate and daily activities. The research challenges the veracity of the theme park approach to city centre development and proposes an alternative 'open' architectural approach that encourages countless personal narratives to flourish.

'Open' architecture approaches have been tested by Modernist architects such as Herman Hertzberger to allow people to interpretative and appropriate objects and buildings in accordance with their individual social and cultural needs. This project builds upon the use of 'open' architecture techniques not only in the design but also the process of design. To create a collaborative research and design process, this research has been produced through collective research, workshops, exhibitions, design competitions and collective investigations. This collaborative process ensures the proposed design intervention is underpinned by a broad and deep set of values, strong enough to support the city’s multitude of everyday intimate narratives.

This research demonstrates the value of a collective approach utilising collaboration and interpretation in concepts such as 'open' architecture. It has pushed the academic framework past research and education and into the realms of valorisation, testing the project within the public realm, through collaboration and collective feedback.