Daniel Libeskind, Jan Gel, Amanda Levitt, Sou Fujimoto, Wolfgang Chaperel, Amy Moore, Mark Fenwick, Stanislav Fiala, Niall Montgomery are some of the foreign architects currently designing Belgrade. There are more. All are engaged for capital facilities.
We tried to find out who invited them, and why, from the Office of the City Planner, but no one answered our inquiry.
Almighty investor
The Association of Architects of Belgrade and the Association of Architects of Serbia do not have such data, they say - it is unavailable to them. They only know that their foreign colleagues did not get those jobs through tenders, because the tenders were not even organized, regardless of the fact that capital facilities imply that kind of democracy.
Unofficially, they comment that if the investor is from abroad, according to some unwritten rule, he brings the designer he wants, that the same applies to local private individuals, but, and this is what bothers, the City of Belgrade also brings foreign architects at its own discretion. Without competition, tender, and without any consultation with the profession.
The visiting architects are innocent in this story, because they are only implementing the conditions given to them by the Secretariat for Urban Planning of Belgrade, and those conditions almost always respect the demands of investors who care about the dimensions and not about the aesthetics and physiognomy of the city.
The only competition
Of everything that is already being designed or is about to start, only one competition is known, and it is international, for the building of the Belgrade Philharmonic, which was organized by the City of Belgrade, and in which the British studio AL_A of Amanda Levet won the first prize. Local architects did not participate in that competition because they could not meet the given conditions, not because they had nothing to say about the future building of the Philharmonic.
Mark Fenwick
The biggest star among the visiting architects is Mark Fenwick, a Briton who made his career in Spain and who proved himself to be an expert on stadiums. He designed three stadiums for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, including the demountable "947" made from shipping containers.
With that reputation, someone invited him to Belgrade. He has received three jobs so far.
His first realized project is Sava Square - the pride and joy of the state and city authorities here. Sava Square looks like a tribune for political speeches, it is elevated, which is why the Railway Station building, a cultural monument, looks like it is in a hole. But who cares.
The other two – the National Stadium and the Expo 2027 are under construction.
Stadium and Expo
President Vučić said in the first half of last year that Surčin would get the National Stadium, "because we don't have stadiums, because people like to watch football." He did not elaborate.
Photo: Printscreen TV PinkPresident Vučić promotes the Stadium
Soon after that, in June, Serbia was chosen to organize Expo 2027. This success was achieved, the president said, thanks to the project of the architect Fenwick, with which Serbia competed, and thus made it known to the domestic public. He did not explain why the national colors, for which the government fights even with a two-letter keyboard, were not defended by one of our renowned architects, nor why Fenwick was chosen, especially since he showed how it works on Sava Square. And above all, why wasn't a competition organized for such an important job. He didn't even mention that Fenwick also operates the Stadium.
The next time he publicly mentioned it was on May 1 this year, on the occasion of the start of work on the National Stadium. He said the project was done by "Mark Fenwick, he's one of the best in the world, he did that container stadium in Qatar and the best ones we played in."
Then it became clear that Fenwick was invited to Belgrade primarily because of the Stadium, and that the Expo and the Sava Square were subsequently added jobs, which, we will never know why, suited both him and his employer.
And where is Serbia?
Mark Fenwick said of the Stadium that it will be "the first 'green' and the first sustainable stadium in the world, with trees forming the facade." Visitors will be able to walk through the greenery on its different levels. The tree facade will create additional beauty because it will change throughout the year through the seasons."
Photo: PromoExspo
And about the Expo, he explained that it is precisely the Expo that will present "modern Serbia". He said about himself that he is a man who "draws ideas for projects from tradition", which is why his project has a "reference to Tesla" and judging that the Expo is a specialized exhibition for sports and culture, he also refers "of course to athletes like Djokovic or basketball players ".
Expo is a series of uniform, rectangular, identical buildings resembling factory halls. Or to the barracks. It is not clear what Tesla is referring to here. The flat roof of the future facilities might remind Djokovic and the basketball players, because they play on a flat, rectangular court. To Serbia, but nothing at all: Fenwick's halls are impersonal and could be located in any country in the world.
Others
Let's also count the places in Belgrade where other visiting architects will, or have already, intervened.
Daniel Libeskind needs to reshape the part from Marina Dorćol to Ada Huja; Stanislav Fiala - the Dorćol marina is making a new Belgrade on the water; Jan Gel is in charge of Usce Park; "Skidmore, Owings and Merrill" (SOM) - Belgrade tower: Arup designed the interior of the Philharmonic building (technology, acoustics...); Sou Fujimoto is the author of Concrete Hall; Wolfgang Chaperel – of the New Belgrade block where the Center for the Promotion of Science is located; Amy Moore – Belgrade Sky; Callison, RTKL - shopping center "Big"; Promontorio - parts of Belgrade on the water; Niall Montgomery and partners - part of Belgrade on the water where the Belgrade Fair is now...
All of them impose an architecture on Belgrade that has nothing to do with it. It was as if they had never seen him.
