PHD TALKS

2019

The seminar PhD Talks brings together PhD students in the final stage of doctoral studies. In a plenary discussion, students shall present their research and exchange their experience in shaping doctoral theses with colleagues from the country and the region. Furthermore, in the discussion with invited critics, they will gain one more and/or fresh insight into their research, with the goal of taking the right path towards the successful finalization of their doctoral theses.

This year’s invited critics are:

Jörg H. Gleiter, TU Berlin, Institute for Architecture

Luka Skansi, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Philosophy

Petar Bojanić, University of Belgrade - Institute for Architecture Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory; Center for Advanced Studies – SEE (CAS) at the University of Rijeka

Branko Pavić, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture

Anica DragutinovicFaculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Detmold School for Architecture and Interior Architecture, OWL University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Miloš Kostić

University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Borjan BrankovUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Dušan MilanovićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Hristina StojanovićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Dejan TodorovićUniversity of Novi Sad – Faculty of Technical Sciences, Serbia

Ivana LovrinčevićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Jovana StanišićUniversity of Novi Sad – Faculty of Technical Sciences, Serbia

PARTICIPANTS

Anica Dragutinovic Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, BelgiumDetmold School for Architecture and Interior Architecture, OWL University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Modern Movement buildings worldwide are decaying, being altered beyond recognition or even demolished, as they are an underrepresented heritage of the recent past. The

post-war large-scale housing is especially in danger, being threatened by a general lack of appreciation and recognition and pressures for redevelopment. The research focuses on housing blocks in New Belgrade, as part of this larger cultural phenomenon. It particularly contributes to the current knowledge of the modernist post-war residential areas in Eastern Europe, often forgotten outside of the region for which they were designed. Urban decay and obsolescence, as common attributes of these neighbourhoods, are being investigated, taking New Belgrade housing blocks as a case study. Although New Belgrade has undergone different levels of change after its construction, such as housing policy change and transformation of the urban landscape, the modernist housing blocks were excluded from the process of formal transformation and left to deteriorate. This research seeks to understand the contemporary phenomenon of their obsolescence, and is a precondition for further research on the potential of obsolete spaces for reuse and transformation of the complex socio-spatial setting of New Belgrade.

URBAN OBSOLESCENCE AND TRANSFORMABILITY: TOWARDS NEW MODERNITY OF NEW BELGRADE BLOCKS

The phenomenon of obsolescence is questioned twofold aiming to determine both the perceived level of obsolescence and to map the spatial practices and elements defining

it. Therefore the research applies multiple tactics: semi-structured interviews, systematic observation and mapping spatial practices. Through the semi-structured interviews (exploratory talks with residents and experts), different levels of obsolescence (technical, functional, social) are investigated in correlation with different factors: a) a sense of community/notion of home (willingness); b) housing policy and ownership (responsibility); c) the financial aspect (limitations); d) modernist design (adaptability). Using the other two research methods, the particular elements and spaces are identified and classified. The research reveals common spaces of the blocks as the key elements in managing the urban obsolescence and prompting adaptation. It concludes that strong polarisation of the urban landscape into private and public spaces is firmly influencing urban decay, and hence the adaptive reuse of the neglected common spaces and elements of architecture drives the transformation at macro level, improving both resilience and performance of the blocks.

Miloš KostićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

Can articulating the constructional detail embody a meaning beyond mere construction and ornamentation, and what are the levels of those references? The research aims

to define a theoretical standpoint for the reading of the autonomous narratives embodied in architectural details based on a critical analysis of the tectonic discourse. The varying concepts of details are closely related to the attitudes to their purpose, truth, and utility, but also to the attitudes to the meaning of architecture. The aim of the research is to broaden the notion of architectural details outside its conventional understanding of the constructional detail and style, defining it as an area of the dynamic tectonic actions at both micro and macro level of design.

Drawings of architectural details have been considered as more significant to the building process than to expressing ideas in architecture. The architectural aspect of the detail

is defined as an autonomous area for articulating the disciplinary knowledge through cooperation, appropriation and adaptation. Consequently, it integrates and transforms building as a coherent whole at a conceptual, perceptual and constructional level.

The main case study of the research is the Sava Center building, built in New Belgrade during the late phase of Yugoslavian modernism, through which a narrative on the

modernisation of society in general can be traced. Drawings of details are regarded as a disciplinary instrument, which is normative and illustrative at the same time. As a means of meticulously controlling the design process, construction of a building and its significance by the architect, drawings represent images of situated practices and techniques closely related to the wider notion of modernity. At the same time, details in the design process represent the translation between drawing and building, uniting the theory, technique and the poetics of construction. In order to understand many layers behind the thinking and design of architectural details, the study limits itself to those details which can be explored based on their expressive capacity or the capacity to reveal meaning based on a design concept, scale, technology, and technique. What can be discovered from details as a method of research into the technological and aesthetic foundation of the realised work of architecture? How can the complex relationship between the concept as a whole and its parts be challenged with regard to the new methods of representation?

TECTONICS OF ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS IN THE THEMATISATION OF MODERNITY

Tectonic diagram

Borjan BrankovUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

The proposed research examines the potential and the role of temporariness as a way to improve the common areas of multi-family housing, created as a result of adapting to

the various and dynamic changes of the contemporary way of life and the development of a city. The research aims to determine modern models of temporariness and its application to the concept and design of the common areas of multi-family housing. Common areas are all those spaces that connect and establish order, and then organise multi-family building (indoor, semi-open, covered or open spaces). It is a space that is directly related to the private area of a dwelling in which one enters voluntarily, involuntarily or spontaneously. Previous research, especially in Serbia, insufficiently explore the potential of common areas and their role in multi-family housing. Temporariness is defined as the condition of what is inevitable to change, a state that easily and quickly changes its characteristics, properties, intensity and character.

The task of the research is to create a model of temporariness that adequately articulates and integrates different programme and spatial principles, thereby raising the quality and

possibilities of use in the future residential space of multi-family housing. The intention is to recognise and perceive the use of temporariness in architectural design during the twentieth century with a special emphasis on the second half of the century, and to see the relationship between the common areas of the housing complex and the dynamics of change through a better understanding of everyday life in contemporary society.

The focus of the research is how to define a programme and spatial framework through the definition of the phenomenon of temporariness, which can accommodate various events

in everyday life, created by the transformation of the traditional way of family life. Changes in certain relations in the space are particularly observed through their dependence on one another. The expected scientific contribution of the research is reflected in the formation of a new, different set of elements needed for the design and exploration of architectural space.

DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MODELS OF TEMPORARINESS IN FORMING COMMON AREAS IN MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING

In the first part, the research focuses on the analysis of theoretical directions, concepts and ideas that contain the characteristics of temporariness. A historical-interpretative method

is used, with correlational research, especially when establishing connections between the periods and specific principles that contain temporal characteristics. In the second part of the research, a comparative analysis of examples of good practice is carried out and their selection and systematisation is performed, which leads to establishing synthetic observation of possible characteristics of temporariness. This is folowed by the analysis of selected examples with a comparative analysis, which takes place at several levels, provides a comparison between the application of temporariness, the use of tools, positioning and closer definition of the models within which they are used. The analysis is carried out in two ways: through programme-spatial diagram and the comparative analysis.

Section

Dušan MilanovićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

The concept of reconstruction, revival or evoking the past styles in art and architecture takes place during different historical periods. Much like a Renaissance revival and John

Ruskin’s revival of medieval, Gothic architecture, in XIX century, revival in Serbia took place in the second half of XX century. At the 1984 Venice Biennale’s theme exhibition entitled “Art in the Mirror”, Maurizio Calvesi, the curator of the show, represents themes from Jorge Luis Borges’s “Library of Babel” as a kind of manifesto of revival, which were also used by Umberto Eco. Revival as a way of raising awareness of that which already exists in the consciousness of the people in Serbian architecture in the second half of XX century is in this paper interpreted through the genealogy, context and contemporary practices within three frameworks: (a) the medieval-Byzantine, (b) cosmological, and (c) folk fantasy.

In Serbia, the medieval-Byzantine framework (a) is interpreted as the period preceding the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages in general, with a particular

reference to the works of Victor Bychkov and their use in Serbian architecture in tXIX and the first half of XX centuries. From 1950, this paper examines the context and impact of the Yugoslavian medieval art exhibition at Palais Chaillot, Paris, Aleksandar Deroko’s body of work and conferences on the topic of the Middle Ages held in Kruševac through to the present day and modern Byzantine art. The cosmological framework (b) interprets aesthetics and symbolic motifs in the field of astronomy, along with the attitudes to outer space expressed in architecture, observatories and contemporary art dealing with these topics (Ouranopolis, 1995, Anne & Patrick Poirier). In the second half of XX century, Bogdan Bogdanović was the main protagonist of architectural fantasy in the region (pioneered by Étienne-Louis Boullée, Otto Rieth et al.), and his book The Circle on Four Corners (Krug na četiri ćoska) is discussed in this paper. References are also made to fictional, fantasy cities in literature and new media art – cartoons, comic books and virtual reality games.

REVIVALISM IN SERBIAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATTER HALF OF XX CENTURY: The Medieval-Byzantine, Cosmological and Fantasy Motifs

The aforementioned influences on Serbian architecture in the latter half of XX century can be detected in the use of (1) architectural ornaments, (2) construction of churches, (3)

towers, and (4) memorials.

Typologically, the ornament in XIX century is a Gesamtkunstwerk or “all-embracing art form”: it combines structures, paintings and sculptures in a single artwork. The

ornament-cosmos relationship is also established through the texts of architectural theory. The genealogy of formalised flower motif – rosette – is used as a case study, ranging from the Morava rosette of XIX and the first half of XX centuries (Branko Tanazević), the “Sun” (six-petal) rosette on the building of Belgrade Youth Centre (Dom omladine) dating back to 1967, to the Bele Vode rosette. Murals, techniques used in sgraffito art, mosaics and frescoes find their place in the work of Nikolay Krasnov, Mladen Srbinović (the ceremonial hall of the Kruševac municipal assembly), and the work of the Belgrade-based December Group (1955-1960) and Ametist grupa (founded in 2001). Construction of churches was resumed only in the 1980s with the Saint Sava Church in Belgrade’s Vračar, the Saint Basil of Ostrog Church in Bežanijska Kosa and the Saint Demetrius Church in New Belgrade, all of which were built using the spatial matrix of a Byzantine church. The same method is applied to towers and memorials typology.

A common denominator in the themes and motifs of the “Sun” and the “Circle” is sought through a comparative study of similar characteristics found in visual arts and literature

(Vasko Popa) and practices from neighbouring countries (Nesim Tahirović and Dimitrije Kondivski).

Hristina StojanovićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

The research aims to identify and define drawings as the subject of study in contemporary architectural practice and to recognise their potential in order to create a new field of

knowledge in architecture and in the methodology of architectural design process. The main issues addressed in this paper are: a) the already recognised potential of drawings, and b) exploring further possibilities of drawings as a research tool in the modern context of architectural design process.

If we assume that drawings are not the final product of research, this paper recognises the significance of drawings in architectural education, competitions, and lastly as the only

visual measurement of every aspect of architecture as a whole. The research then goes on to attempt to define the terms on the given subject, a theoretical framework and a case study. More specifically, the research involves defining the terms for architectural drawings in the context of contemporary architectural practice, putting in place research models of modern architectural practice, analysing the already recognised potential of drawings in architectural education and their reach in architectural competitions.

THE POTENTIAL OF DRAWINGS IN THE DESIGN OF ARCHITECTURAL SPACE

The theoretical framework focuses on architectural drawings in the contemporary context of architectural design process aimed at defining the position from which drawings

are perceived and understood, as well as their origin in the humanities. Radical changes in architectural reflection directly influenced the use and ways in which architectural drawings are understood in the design process. Today, drawings have several positions and can be seen by following two parallel lines of development, whose theoretical assumptions are still topical and relevant today, and both of which are rooted in Ferdinand de Saussure’s linguistic theory from the late XIX century.

The case study involves establishing a critical apparatus for carrying out the analysis, and defining the terms and criteria for this analysis. The case study applies equally to

architectural education and competitions with the aim to evaluate and compare its results.

Dejan TodorovićUniversity of Novi Sad – Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Serbia

The research that will be presented is carried out with the aim of finalising the procedure of applying for a doctoral thesis in the field of scenic design under the working title

Landscapes of a Moment: Segregation of the Space of Recollection.

Henri Bergson’s perception of the concept of temporality (perception of time) is established as a theoretical starting point, dealing with the incorporation of time in both space and

being. It deals with a possibility through the concept of multilayered time to create the frames for segregation of the current moment (into separate sequences) through the creative act into which both recollection and imagination, namely the past and the future, have been simultaneously recorded. Such a thesis creates a possibility for establishing almost an archaeological approach in the process of reading and rationalizing individual steps of a creative act through the process of segregation and individual reading of separate layered time frames.

The research is positioned within a broader scope of activity of architecture, scenic and visual arts, namely in the overlapping of their boundary fields of activity, both mutually

and with other related discourses as well, while special attention is paid to mechanisms of creative methods of the disciplines. Investigating the possibility of interdisciplinary exchange, i.e. the issue of establishing relations among creative mechanisms of the said disciplines, methods of segregation of creative processes, extraction of their single elements and the process of mutual combining, appears as one of the key research motives.

At this moment, it is assumed that the outcome of the research is the realisation of an artistic work in the form of a multimedia landscape, using the method of research

by design, which will be supplemented by a critical review and a comparative analysis of reference transdisciplinary works as the primary means of expression, which is precisely the space of the landscape. Since the landscape represents a sum of single elements creating a unique view, this research looks into the methods of its resegregation and reading of time frames in which the recollection and imagination are recorded.

LANDSCAPES OF A MOMENT: SEGREGATION OF THE SPACE OF RECOLLECTION

The focus of this research is on liminal character of architectural hybrids and their dynamics in the context of constant processes, or the possibilities for these processes,

of transformation or permutation of the architectural programme and/or form. In this context, the topic of this research is the existential framework of a hybrid object within architecture and urbanism, more specifically in the field of architectural practice. Firstly, the concept is discussed within the framework of philosophy and cultural studies, and then within architectural theoretical discourse. In an attempt to keep the research in the field of architecture and urbanism, this paper locates and discusses hybridity in the contemporary architectural discourse on the basis of etymological and connotative characteristics established through the architectural theory and other relevant disciplines in social and humanistic sciences. Furthermore, the problem of hybridity is deliberated through the analysis of case studies that point to the development path of a hybrid object with the purpose of observing the elements and the principle of hybridisation. Particular attention is paid to the design and establishing a methodological analysis apparatus. This calls for a specific analytical method through a graphical and textual representation. Furthermore, the established analysis is carried out on selected cases, examining the liminal character of the hybrid through its previous manifestations, but also taking into account new ones.

The hypothesis is that the hybridity is the state of an architectural object in a programme or in a formal manner, and it is demonstrated through the concept of liminality and

constant transformations as opposed to the finiteness of any kind. Hybridity is determined by the rhizomatic inner state of constant possibilities to become something else in the context of the programme, as well as in the context of formal features. The principles of hybridisation represent the elementary apparatus for the design of hybrid objects, which form through their own combinations general and particular methodological formation through different styles and frameworks. Therefore, the hybrid as such, is variable entity and has a tendency towards transformation. The process of hybridisation manifests itself through various areas, generating new cultural and social orders, new architectural and urban, programme and shape formation, as well as a hybrid reality in general.

LIMINALITY OF HYBRID ARCHITECTURE – PRINCIPLES OF HYBRIDIZATION

Ivana LovrinčevićUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture, Serbia

The research focuses on development of operational knowledge and skills of architectural work with the aim of defining architectural hybrids. The secondary goal is to create

conditions for developing new methods in the design process. Considering the aims and goals, the most important tasks of this research are: to establish criteria for determining hybrid objects, a platform for analysing selected case studies, and tools for defining the hybridisation principles. Lastly, the task is to define architectural hybrids through the methodological apparatus of the established platform.

The universality of hybrids, created by liminality, is its characteristic that allows it to move from one scientific area to another, to flow from field to field, while remaining very liminal

and elusive at any given moment. Hybrids in architecture are distinguished by liminal character and non-finiteness, which is why we can compare them to rhizome – a multilayered entity with the characteristics of hierarchy elements absence. This architectural object represents a set of elements with a changing or multiple connotations, and it refers to the statement about the absence of hierarchy, but causes liminality. Hybridity in architecture is the condition constructed from the multiplicity and designed through different methodological formations based on reinterpretation and emanation of the elements of various orders, depending on the time.

Altes Museum, Karl Friedrich Schinkel

As a logical consequence of increasing depopulation of villages in Vojvodina, we are facing the degradation of traditional rural houses. Although many of them represent

cultural monuments for this region, they have not been adequatelly preserved. Examining the authenticity and values of Vojvodina villages, the research concludes that, together with their unique rural architecture, they represent the identity of the area whose disappearance would lead to the loss of the identity of Vojvodina. In addition, this research investigates the problem of constant increase in energy costs, its irrational consumption and inappropriate use of modern technology in the reconstruction of the existing and the construction of modern residential architecture. Comparing the principles of traditional rural construction with modern solutions, it can be concluded that architecture today is not sustainable as how it used to be.

These considerations lead to the need for establishing a unique strategy that would enable the reconciliation of traditional and modern in rural areas. It is necessary to reconsider

the old principles and building technologies of traditional Vojvodina architecture and to apply them to modern solutions, which would allow us to see the old architecture in a new light. The research aims to evaluate the urban and architectural principles of energy efficiency of traditional houses in Vojvodina, improve them and assimilate to modern principles in order to apply them to the renovation of the existing, as well as to new solutions of residential rural architecture. Also, the aim is to establish a new typology of residential rural Vojvodina architecture based on measuring their energy efficiency and sustainability.

The research process is divided into three phases (Figure 1). The first phase includes the research of rural settlements and rural residental architecture in Vojvodina, classification

of all registered types and typologies of rural houses, as well as the analysis of specific relation between the house and the plot, the basic typology characteristic through which the research will be carried out. The interaction between architecture, urbanism and their impact on building energy efficiency will also be analysed and, based on that, criteria for valorisation and classification will be defined. The second phase involves the valorisation and measurement of energy efficiency of traditional Vojvodina houses and examples of contemporary projects based on the same, previously defined, criteria.

URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF TRADITIONAL VOJVODINA HOUSES – APPLICATION IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

Jovana StanišićUniversity of Novi Sad – Faculty of Technical Sciences, Serbia

A new typology of residential rural architecture in Vojvodina, depending on their energy efficiency, will be formed as a first result of the research. Ways to improve them will

be put forward by comparing the analysed principles of traditional Vojvodina houses with the principles of modern architecture. The third phase of the research includes defining strategies for application of improved principles of traditional Vojvodina houses construction in the reconstruction of the existing architecture in Vojvodina, but also in future, contemporary solutions.

Due to the complexity of the issues and tasks of the doctoral dissertation, different scientific methodologies will be used in the research: a critical analysis, comparative

method, historical scientific method, classification method, methods of valorisation and measurement and case study methods.

Schematic view of the doctoral dissertation research process.

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