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FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE 20th CENTURY TO THE END OF THE 1980s.
The conversation with Dimitrije Mita Mladenović – Professor of Architecture

The mentioned period represents a time of a serious, responsible and countless search for the best solutions for the urban future of our towns, while Professor Mladenović, one ofthe most active participants of that process – which can be seen through his work at the Faculty of Architecture, many exhibitions, competitions and panel discussions.
By the way, you had the chance to catch Professor Mita at the Kolarac Concert Hall, where, in the company of his family, he attended concerts at the time of the Belgrade Music Festival.

Let’s start from your monograph, ’’Oblikovanje prostora’’(Shaping of Space), in which 55 years in the field of architecture settled in.
I suppose that you are satisfied with its impact on professional circles – the exhibitions that accompanied it were also representative,not only in our country, but in Poland as well.

In my monograph, 55 years in the field of architecture have been presented, up until its publication. Today, that is 60 years, because, in a certain way, I still operate in the field of architecture.
I owe a great amount of gratitude to my friend Slavomir Matejić, without whose support and active collaboration this monograph wouldn’t have been realized. The publication was also supported by many friends and institutions.
I suppose that there was a positive impact on the professional community, and it is still present today, because of the fact that in this monograph, apart from every other significant project and realization, a great number of graduation projects has been featured as well, along with the depiction of the most significant exhibitions on which the material of the monograph has been presented (Belgrade, Poznań, Warsaw, Szczecin, Bialystok,Bratislava…).

What is peculiar about this monograph is the fact that anenviable space has been given to young authors and their projects, not only as an illustration of a decades-long pedagogical and mentoring work, but also due to the promotion of the significance of the transfer of knowledge and ideas. How satisfied areyou with the achieved work?

I am very satisfied with the projects that have been built under my mentorship by the students of the Faculties of Architecture of Belgrade,Podgorica, Poznań and Novi Sad as their senior thesis. I’ve gone through very interesting urban solutions of attractive town spaces of various Polish, Montenegrin, Croatian and Serbian cities with those young colleagues. Some of the solutions were accepted for further development,and even awarded by professional institutes. I would especially like to point out the number of works from Posnanian graduate students, the themes of which dealt with the coastal area of Belgrade’s Sava River. They showed that confronting different ideas in the search of a final solution is very useful.

What is your opinion on the ranges of urbanism here in the period in which you actively participated in by entering many competitions and by creating urban development plans? We are talking about the end of the 20th century and the beginning ofthe 21st century. Are we nearing dusk or dawn?

During my active engagement in the creation of urbanism, I definitely deem ranges as interesting and in accordance with that time. It isa fact that, let’s say, the concept of New Belgrade (up to the 1990s) was considered a great success in European practice. In those years, Belgrade was opening international urban competitions, and it was show casingits solutions in other countries (Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic,Poland…).

The professional Association of Belgrade Architects kept opening competitions for significant parts and areas of Serbian towns,which were followed by realization. That situation changed after 2010.There are less of these confrontations today, even when it comes tothe most important unbuilt areas, especially in Belgrade. I think that weare currently nearing dawn, and that things will change in the future.

Capital projects – a term that doesn’t have the same meaning in architecture and economy. When it comes to our capital, do today’s capital projects follow world trends, or European, regarding cities like Belgrade?

It seems to me that capital projects in Belgrade follow neither world, nor European trends for different reasons. It is enough to observe cities similar to Belgrade (Warsaw, Helsinki, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava…) in order to realize that they are developing better and attractively, and they are more in sync with the tendency of a humane and natural area that is adapted for the citizens. Maybe what is appropriate for that is the solution for the development of the city of Novi Sad (as a positive example) and the solution for the coastal area of the Sava River (Belgrade Waterfront) as a negative example, though not entirely, but conceptually.

If, for a moment, we shut off the significance of the current pandemic, where do you see the greatest problem of contemporary architecture? And where do you see the signs of possible solutions?

I believe that the problem of contemporary architecture is, directly and indirectly, related to the current pandemic. The decades-long enormous construction in most world countries, defined by a maximum profit in the use of public buildable land, has been producing buildings with a high number of floors with a concentration of dwellers. As a result of the pandemic, and of the ever-present alienation of people as well, today, real estates in some suburban areas are being particularly activated (they are at a price), where the concept of the plot with a freestanding building is an answer to a preference of a life closer to nature, with a lesser concentration of people. This, of course, will not happen in countries with a huge number of citizens, which still solve the problem of housing with high-rise buildings, because of which such building in cities that don’t face those kinds of problems isinsufficiently justified, or in countries like our Serbia and our Belgrade.

When we take a look at the entire architectural experience of the previous century, what were, in your opinion, the golden moments?

The architectural experience of the previous century is different. It appears as if, in the middle of the previous century, theory and practice were directed towards the construction that was more fitting for human needs in every sense (theory of optimal city planning, construction of neighborhoods based on the principles of ‘’the community center’’, and so forth).

The 1980’s were also years of a high-quality urban practice when note worthy realizations were accomplished (Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, France…).
Architects-builders, however, didn’t often followt hose tendencies in a wish to fulfil, with the help of new technologies and new materials, their realizations as authors. Thus, the game of constructing a large number of extremely high buildings began, as asignificant contribution to architecture itself.

Also, following the context of the previous question, who were your role models in architecture – in world and in local architecture?

My role models were different builders. When it comes to architecture, my role model, and the role model of many of my colleagues of my generation, was indeed Frank Lloyd Wright.
My role model was also Alvar Aalto, with his realizations that are highly adapted to the natural environment of his Finland.
My role model was also Japanese architect Kenzō Tange with his realizations (his project for the city of Skopje after the earthquake), and especially in the last ten years, the unsurpassed giant, Santiago Calatrava.
From my many Polish architect friends, I would like to mention Marek Budzyńsky (he presented his inventiveness about ten years ago during an exhibition in Belgrade).
When it comes to architects in our surroundings, my significant role model in every sense is Professor Bogdan Bogdanović, with whom I had the luck to collaborate with for avery long time.

The conversation was held in Belgrade, in November 2020.

Conversation conducted by: Aleksandar Marković Arch., for the 12th issue of the magazine “Arhitekta”
Photography: Slavomir Matejić

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