SHARE Summer Series | Remembering SHARE Skopje 2019
Let us go back a few months and remember all the great things that happened at SHARE Skopje 2019, on February 19, the first of the 7 sequence of planned events for SPRING at SHARE Architects across Central Eastern Europe. This year’s 2nd edition of SHARE Skopje brought together principal and senior architects, constructors, urban planners, designers, and international speakers from countries like North Macedonia, Austria, Turkey, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Slovenia. In this article we will provide you with some insights into how things unfolded throughout the day.
Official Opening Session
We kicked off the day with a welcoming message from our organizers and guests: Florin Mindirigiu, President of ProEvent Association – ROMANIA, Professor Misko Ralev, Dean at the University of Architecture and Design at UACS – NORTH MACEDONIA, Martin Panovski, President of the Association of Architects of North Macedonia – NORTH MACEDONIA, Viorel Stănilă, Ambassador at the Embassy of Romania in North Macedonia, Blerta Vula, Executive Director of the Association of Architects (AAK), architect Tomaž Krištof, President, at the Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia – SLOVENIA, Rudolf Staricky, General Manager at Zumtobel Group – AUSTRIA, Esra Aydinoglu, Product Manager at Şişecam Flat Glass – TURKEY.
A warm welcome to our newest SHARE Society members!
SHARE SOCIETY is as an exclusive group that has made its MISSION to UNITE THE ARCHITECTURE WORLD within a framework through which architects can confront ideas and conceptions, acting as a catalyst for debates and actions; a closed community access based on recognized membership granted by excellence.
The purposes of SHARE SOCIETY are: to find ways to communicate, share and exchange values, know-how and examples of good practices between East and West with the idea in mind of an inclusive, free and conscious professional environment to work in, to represent architectural excellency in our built environment and to open the possibility to work and create better in a context that benefits from administrative, political and investor’s support.
At this year’s edition of SHARE Skopje, the following speakers joined SHARE Society:
- Martin Panovschi, President of the Association of Architects of North Macedonia – NORTH MACEDONIA
- Esra Aydinoglu, Product Manager at Şişecam Flat Glass – TURKEY
- Tomaž Krištof, President, at the Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia – SLOVENIA
- Rudolf Staricky, General Manager at Zumtobel Group – AUSTRIA
- Besian Mehmeti, Founder at BMA – NORTH MACEDONIA
- Bujar Mucha, partner at Megaron Engineering Studio – NORTH MACEDONIA
- Martin Hristov, founder and director at E-Arch Studio – BULGARIA
- Pako Radovanovic, CEO at Rado Engineering – NORTH MACEDONIA
- Hui-Hsin Liao, senior project lead at MVRDV – NETHERLANDS
- Përparim Rama, Founder and CEO at 4M GROUP – UNITED KINGDOM
Skopje Tomorrow – Large Scale Projects
Skopje East Gate
The Official Plenary Session included Skopje Tomorrow, a sequence of presentations of future large scale projects that hopefully will someday change and improve the city landscape. We welcomed on stage Igor Davkov, CEO at Skopje East Gate – NORTH MACEDONIA, who introduced us to one of Skopje’s most ambitious projects, “East Gate”; a €350 million commercial center with 250 shops, 10 residential complexes and 5 housing residences, which together will create over 2,000 jobs.
Diamond Skopje
A secondary project presented during this session was “Diamond Skopje”; yet another ambitious architectural project that aims to become the perfect balance between the ultimate comfort, commodity, peace and the integrity of the personal space and the vast variety of facilities that will meet every single one of people’s needs. Presented by Ali Osman Ozturk, architect at Limak – NORTH MACEDONIA, the Diamond is located in the heart of Skopje.
“Diamond of Skopje is not just designed as a space. It can rather be defined with the word ‘Aura’, which is the unique existence of an object at a particular time and space. This is what Diamond is about. It is not the space. It is the aura. One of its kind. Will never be duplicated…”
Following an insightful Q&A session with our speakers, the conference continued with a Special Lighting Session by Zumtobel Group.
Special Lighting Session by Zumtobel Group
Rudolf Staricky, General Manager at Zumtobel Group – AUSTRIA took the stage to share more insights into Zumtobel, a leading provider of lighting and related services. The session continued with a special presentation lighting design with Mark Sutton Vane, lighting designer & architect at Sutton Vane Associates – UK.
Mark Sutton Vane has been working in the field of lighting design for most of life, and is well-known among the “top 10 lighting designers of the world”. His presentation covered essential elements of light revealing the true nature of architecture. According to Mark, “the future of good lighting design lies in marrying sustainability to the needs and perceptions of the people using the spaces”.
Plenary Session I – Architecture & Facades
Moderated by architect Besian Mehmeti, Founder at BMA – NORTH MACEDONIA, the session covered several insightful presentations on all things architecture-related. Architect Bujar Mucha, partner at Megaron Engineering Studio – NORTH MACEDONIA, talked about “Design for Reconstruction and Adaptation of National Institution – Albanian theater in Skopje”.
Afterwards, Martin Hristov, founder and director at E-Arch Studio – BULGARIA, took the stage to present several eclectic projects of the studio, mostly residential buildings in Varna; rather different, yet visually appealing, the architectural edifices stood out through their graphical facades, geometric design, and 3D effects.
To brighten our day and make architecture even more intricate and puzzling for our attendees, Victor Kerchev, Project Lead at Sisecam Flat Glass, covered a speech on “New Technologies in Façade Design”; the presentation introduced some of the company’s innovative approaches of using glass in designing different architectural projects.
Founder at Yazgan Design Architecture – TURKEY, architect Kerem Yazgan, kept the audience hooked on architecture with a subject of great interest among our participants: sustainability. His presentation, “Green Interfaces & City in a City” covered useful insights into the perfect combination between city environment and nature. Kerem brought into discussion several of his office’s most successful projects, including Gallery of Modsim, YDA Centre, Volkswagen Arena Istanbul, Ankara Arena, ONS Incec Residences.
Plenary Session II – Architecture & Facades
Moderated by architect Pako Radovanovic, CEO at Rado Engineering – NORTH MACEDONIA, our Plenary Session II on architecture & facades kicked off with a presentation given by architect Bekir Ademi – founder at BINA [bureau of inventive architecture] – NORTH MACEDONIA. The speech was centered at “House 2B”, one of the office’s most successful architectural projects. The approach for House 2B, located in Skopje, was to bring it back to life; restore it and reanimate it without causing any damage to the structural logic of the house. Through this project, the end goal of the bureau was find the perfect recipe to revitalize Skopje’s architectural heritage.
Next on the SHARE stage, were Marko Kermichiev, technical and commercial support at ALMAKOS, who introduced us to “Daikin Design” and architect Përparim Rama, Founder and CEO at 4M GROUP – UNITED KINGDOM, with a presentation on “Feel Architecture”.
Last but not least, one of the most awaited presentations of SHARE Skopje 2019, “Taipei Twin Towers & Tianjin Binhai Library” with keynote speaker, Architect Hui-Hsin Liao, senior project lead at MVRDV – NETHERLANDS.
Special Presentation & Debate
After a well-deserved break and debate, we moved on a much-awaited special session of the evening. It all started with a brief speech from our chairman for SHARE Skopje 2019, architect Martin Panovski, President of the Association of Architects of North Macedonia – NORTH MACEDONIA. Next on stage was architect Tomaž Krištof, Founder of Studio Kristof – SLOVENIA, who spoke about “Architecture as deer antlers of societies”.
Following an emotional speech from architect Mimoza Nestorova Tomic – NORTH MACEDONIA (who was also awarded the SHARE Opera Omnia Certificate for noteworthy results in architecture throughout her career), the SHARE stage welcomed Fernando Menis, founder at Menis Arquitectos – SPAIN, who covered a presentation titled “CKK Jordanki: Backstage”; a cultural project in Torun, Poland, that “establishes a harmonious relationship with the natural and built environment”.
Wrapping up SHARE Skopje 2019!
The 2nd edition of SHARE Skopje 2019 was truly memorable. Once again, we would like to express our gratitude to all of our speakers and attendees for helping us fulfill our mission at SHARE – to connect people and build excellence through architecture. It was a long day filled with amazing presentations, debates, workshops, and memorable speeches.
According to architect Mimoza Nestorova Tomic, our honorary guest, North Macedonia abounds of young, professionals architects. What they must to drive the city to change is to respect each other, collaborate, and create an atmosphere of mutual admiration so that the profession can thrive.
“Young people should fight for their idea, not with force to impose it, but to be functionalists, rationalists and good constructors. Do not be afraid of innovation, because the idea is important for the architect. Who has no idea goes back, who has an idea moves forward” said Mimoza Nestorova-Tomic.
Last but not least, a big “Thank you” to all of our partners for helping us put together a memorable event in Skopje: The Association of Architects of North Macedonia, Şişecam Flat Glass, Zumtobel, Daikin, Smart Solution, Chamber of Certified Architects and Certified Engineers of the Republic of North Macedonia, University American College Skopje, Porta3, Marh, Build.mk.
Stay tuned as FALL season at SHARE Architects kickstarts this October! We’re preparing 4 more events and we cannot wait to meet you in Prague (October 3), Krakow (October 22), Bucharest – SHAREX (November 14), and Athens (November 24).
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