Contemporary Serbian Orthodox church architecture: Architectural competitions since 1990

Abstract

This paper focuses on the architectural competitions for Orthodox Christian churches in Serbia since 1990, both on the analysis of the designs submitted and the competition requirements. The first competition for an Orthodox church in Serbia after World War II was announced for Pristina in 1991. After that, competitions for the temple in Cukarica, Novi Beograd, Nis, Aleksinac and Krusevac were conducted. Thanks to the fact that architectural competitions allow a greater degree of creative freedom to the architects than regular practice, various solutions were offered, from replicas of models from architectural history and tradition to fully non-traditional proposals. Depending on the relationship to tradition, architectural design approaches can be classified into three main groups: radically modernizing, conservatively traditionalist, and compromising. Of the six competitions conducted, four churches were built, which are among the most architecturally successful newer churches in Serbia. This points to the importance of the implementation of the architectural competition in this field of architecture. The diversity of the award-winning projects shows that there is awareness of the possibility for the further development of church architecture, favouring a moderate approach. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TP 36036: Sustainable spatial development of the Danube area in Serbia]

Contemporary architecture of Serbian Orthodox temples: Improving the institution of the student architectural competition for a temple through pre-defined evaluation criteria

“…Interest in research on the topics of the modern Serbian Orthodox temple is evident in the scientific literature at the end of the XX and the beginning of the XXI century [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Within this important architectural and social phenomenon, the role of student competitions has only just opened with a few papers [15].…”

Triangular Proportional Scheme and Concept of the Two Serbian Medieval Churches

“…There is a logical reason for such opinion, because Cesariano investigated proportions of Gothic cathedrals by applying ad triangulum principles [5]. However, geometricarchitectural reasoning which highlights regular triangular scheme in Christian Orthodox churches design has survived up today [6], hence attributing its overarching character. This paper investigates proportions of two Serbian medieval churches, which are related to the so-called Raška architectural school, by using two geometric means: regular geometric shapes -circle and equilateral triangle, and classical proportioning that included proportional roots, golden section and numeric ratios.…”

Храм Светог Спаса (1991–1999) У Приштини Архитекте Спасоја Крунића — Недовршено Остварење Српског Црквеног Градитељства

“…5 народни посланик у Скупштини СР Југославије (2000-2004). 5 О животу и делу архитекте Спасоја Крунића видети: Ivica Mlađenović, Arhitektura i njeni privrženici (Rijeka: Izdavački centar Rijeka, 1982), 51, 166, 175, 183;Дарко Поповић, "Вредност наслеђа", НИН, 2. јануар 1983, 32-33;Дарко Поповић, "Испред времена", НИН, 16. октобар 1983, 37-38;Aleksandar Milenković, Arhitektura horizonti vrednovanja (Beograd: Naučna knjiga 1988), 117, 121;Ivan Štraus, Arhitektura Jugoslavije 1945-1990(Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1991Branislav Mitrović et al, "Building in 2003), 200, 204-209, 224, 226, 228, 240-253;Slobodan Jovanović, "Tabakovićeva nagrada arhitekture za 2003. Arhitekt Milorad Berbakov", DaNS 44 (2003 Крунићево стваралаштво се у почетку развијало у маниру позне модерне, а затим постмодерне, хај-тека и неомодерне архитектуре, интерпретиране на ауторски начин.…”