40^th SALON OF ARCHITECTURE

Jury of the 40^th Salon of Architecture, consisting of:

• Snežana Ristić, Chairperson
• Branko Belaćević
• Ružica Bogdanović
• Predrag Milutinović
• Veljko Radulović

Hereby notes that there were 180 works nominated for this year’s Salon within all the categories. The Jury has decided that 106 works deserved to be included in the official selection, and that 75 works from 7 categories: architecture, urban planning, interior design, experiment and research, publications, architectural review, and architectural photography, were eligible for awards. Competition and students’ works were not eligible for awards.

The Jury concludes that the works harvested this year have generally been of higher quality than those in the past years. It was not easy to decide the winners of prizes, acknowledgements and honours, so all the awards were decided upon by majority of votes.

In today’s world, the positions of architects are unstable, values are ruined, social responsibility is almost not talked about at all. At that moment what we are witnessing is the birth of groups and individuals who respond to large changes – unfavourable to the city and society as a whole. This happens identically in both rich and poor areas of our planet. In our country, as well as in the world, there are more and more alternative, atypical architectural practices and initiatives, so we suggest that the Salon of Architecture Council introduce a new category – activism in architecture.

Grand Prix of the 40^th Salon of Architecture

for the realised Project of Adaptation, Reconstruction and Extension of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade

This is an important facility for our culture. We have been waiting for the Museum to be reopened for ten years. Dejan Todorović accepted a difficult and sensitive task – the adaptation, reconstruction and extension of an iconic building of our modernism, a masterpiece by Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović. Much had to be done in order to adapt the building to modern needs, to make it a contemporary museum. Much had to be changed, something was even extended, and everything needed to be carried out so that it was almost invisible. Dejan Todorović, along with his team, has done this job heroically, in a very short time, dedicatedly, elegantly and with great respect for the building of the Museum of Contemporary Art and its authors… The more invisible, the better. To repeat once again, such an approach to solving the issue of reconstruction of important, public buildings is useful and significant for our architectural practice, and it is a good example of how such complicated topics need to be addressed. And a lot more renovations and reconstructions of large and important, modernist buildings need to expected, for more than half a century has passed since the first ones were built.

Award within the Category Architecture

for the realised project Business-Commercial and Hotel Centre Rajićeva, Belgrade

Not even the story about this building is easy. Eighteen years have passed from the competition until its realisation. And during that time, investors, political circumstances, programmes, ownership rights, laws were changing… The project was changing in such a rhythm as well. Architects were negotiating, they were adapting to new demands, increasing square metres, fighting for the dignity of their profession. The result of this story lies at the heart of the old city centre, at the end of Knez Mihajlova Street, on the border with Kalemegdan. It is a modern facility with a façade overlooking four streets, a shopping mall with a hotel and a multi-level, underground car park, terraces that reveal completely new city vista, architecture that respects the city’s historical core, and does not copy it – but interprets it where it is necessary.

Award within the Category Guests of the Salon – a project realised abroad

for the realised project Hotel Kondo, Kamenovo, Montenegro

With this project, the multi-award-winning architect Branislav Mitrović, along with his team, maintains the continuity of fresh, modern, purified architecture – well-contextualised in the harsh, rocky, Montenegrin environment.

Award within the Category Interior Design

for the realised project Four Countries, One Language, Belgrade

Rarely do examples of ephemeral in architecture appear at the Salon. A stand for four German-speaking countries, realised at the International Belgrade Book Fair, represents a conceptually clear, subtly performed architecture in a closed space of the fair hall. It offered a multi-functional, visually attractive and simple, but still comfortable ambience to both visitors and those who worked there.

Acknowledgement within the Category Architecture

for the realised project Residential Building, Tetovska Street, Belgrade

The tandem of Miljković and Mitrović is well-known for their residential architecture. Even this time, it was necessary to construct the building in a not very simple context, and to turn limitations into advantages. Even this time, they did it.

Acknowledgement within the Category Interior Design

for the realised project FINOVINO Enotheque

Although usually an architectural path begins with interior design, and although those are most often its realisations, there are relatively few, quality, conceptually thought-out and equipped interiors. The interior is functional, purified, executed consistently and with a measure.

Acknowledgement within the Category Interior Design

for the realised project KM21

Although usually an architectural path begins with interior design, and although those are most often its realisations, there are relatively few, quality, conceptually thought-out and equipped interiors. The interior is functional, purified, executed consistently and with a measure.

Acknowledgement within the Category Publications

for the publication The Enthusiastic 1950’s Decade in the Serbian Architecture

It is a book about one of the crucial periods in our architecture and it deals with important architectural realisations in Serbia. The book considers the social and political context of former Yugoslavia, as an inseparable part of the historical, political, social and cultural circumstances in the world at the time. It analyses changes, influences, movements and authors. It is a comprehensive research on the development of the 1950s architecture and unavoidable material for all future researchers. It is an easy read and interesting book, so it can be appealing to a wide audience.

Honours within the Category Architecture

for the realised project River House, Progarska Ada

A simple, architecturally and functionally reduced and purified facility – well-integrated into its natural surroundings. It is a real rarity in this type of river facilities.

Honours within the Category Guests of the Salon – a project realised abroad

for the realised project House 4, Tuzlanska Street, Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Honours within the Category Interior Design

for the realised project Family House, Senjak, Belgrade

Simplicity, minimalism, functionality.

Honours within the Category Experiment and Research

for the project Stattwerk Offices

It is a boldly, unusually, effectively and functionally designed office space in the skeleton of the abandoned former building of Energoprojekt, by Milica Šterić, at Zeleni Venac. It attracts passers-by’s attention, it intrigues, and, at the same time, it warns us about the carelessness with which we behave towards houses that belong to the very top of the newer architectural heritage.

Honours within the Category Publications

for the publication Social Housing in Serbia: Alternative Models Available to the Most Vulnerable Families and Discriminated Women

It is a very useful publication on housing and residential architecture in our region.

Honours within the Category Publications

for the publication Juhani Pallasmaa: The Space of Time

It is good that the Faculty of Architecture continues its practice of publishing important theoretical texts.

Award within the Category Architectural Photography

An award within the category Architectural Photography has not been handed out. The Jury considers that it is necessary to draw attention to the high level of architecture photographs at the Salon, while, unfortunately, there were only three applicants within the category Architectural Photography, and the photographs they applied with were of lower quality than those displayed on the boards of realised facilities and interiors.