STAGING OHRID‘S LANDSCAPE

Architectural proposals for the city's cultural scenography

ОХРИД / OHRID Summer School of Architecture 2021
School of Architecture and Design, UACS Skopje
STAGING OHRID‘S LANDSCAPE
Architectural proposals for the city's cultural scenography
ОХРИД / OHRID Summer School of Architecture 2021
School of Architecture and Design, UACS Skopje

Skopje, 2022
Contrary to the concepts of modernity and its ethical influence on urban
planning, our thinking is based on Bernardo Secchi’s hermeneutic nature
of today's "urban project". Secchi calls for architecture and urban planning
to “move from the observation and explanation of the basic socio-economic
conditions to the description and interpretation of the 'physical conditions'
that have become problematic for our society. According to Secchi, the
'physical conditions' are the themes of architectural design.

Architecture in all its essence is a process of interaction: analysis of the

“physical condition”, urban interpretations, designing and building, recording
the objects, and examining the build. Projects objectively change the initial
state on which their design is based—andhence the process of analysis,
interpretation, and design must start from scratch. During that process,
new theoretical insights appear, which sometimes, but with great luck, are
concretized in physical states —buildings.

However, if an architectural project is to interpret “physical conditions”, then

analysis and design overlap. Aldo Rossi once said: "The architect does
not invent anything new, he tries to clarify the problems through form...”
When we design, we carry out a cognitive process; if we try to formulate a
theory of design, we also formulate a theory of architecture. In this sense,
architects have always developed analysis and design simultaneously in
their writings and designs.

Max Bosshard / Christoph Luchsinger

1995

< Ohrid in the mid XX. Photo source: Unknown

5
Contents

Preface 8
Охрид / Ohrid Summer School of Architecture 8
Ohrid - a Case Study 14
50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention 16
Introduction 22
Staging Ohrid’s Landscape 22
Inspiration: Lucerne and the Alps 24
Reference: Origen Festival of Culture 28
Research_Place tracing and location survey 34
Entrance plateau, Cultural center 36
Piazzetta, Main city promenade 37
Former school building St. Sava 38
Piazzetta, Beach Saraiste 39
Red cross facilities, Village of Velestovo 40
The stone - cliff site, Village of Velestovo 41
Vista Point, Beach Labino 42
Terrace stage, Dolni Saraj 43
Old swimming court, Plivaliste  44
Abandoned post-office resort, Poshtensko 45
Proscenium, Ancient theater 46
Open air stage, Samoil’s Fortress 47
Projects_Staging Ohrid's Landscape 48
Teraces on a promenade, St. Sava 52
Multipurpose spatial affordances, Labino 58
Sequential scenery, Dolni Saraj 64
Walkway pier, Plivaliste  70
Spatial unity, Ancient theater 76
Programatic wall, Samoil’s Fortress 80
Conclusion 84
Timeline of activities 88
Public lecture_Academia and practice 90
Study visit_to the city of Ohrid and its surrounding landscape 92
IX Summer School session_Staging Ohrid‘s landscape 94
Workshop lecture_A sentimental journey  98
Booklet_A personal collection of drawings 100
Impressum 105

7
 Preface
Охрид / Ohrid Summer School of Architecture
Jubilee 10th session
Celebrating anniversaries is pleasant, but also a nostalgic return to the
time that has gone. Facts testify that in 2006 we founded the School of
Interior Architecture, so that already in 2007 it grew into the School of
Architecture and Design (SAD), bachelor studies within the newly formed
University American College Skopje with three departments. For some it
was a brave decision, for others it was a suicidal choice. But there was no
going back, in fact, it is in the architect's blood to build, to create, and to
look forward, take all the necessary steps and start on the path from which
there was no return. After three years, in 2010, we also accredited the
master's study programs in the fields of architecture, interior architecture
and building heritage and it was (still is) the only faculty of architecture
with fields of study. Although we completed the formal education cycle,
the ex-cathedra curriculum was still missing. The Summer School of
Architecture and Design was exactly that, like that third pillar of stability.
Of course, we were also guided by our development strategy, which
outlined the concept of integrated architectural education as a modern
educational-methodological approach in creating professional staff for the
times to come.
Summer schools are actually places where certain gaps created during
the formal teaching cycle are filled, a time for different thoughts as a
result of intensive contacts with fellow students from different national
and cultural milieus, as well as mentors with various experiences and
approaches to existing problems. The city of Ohrid and its immediate
surroundings, due to the cultural ambience that has been built through
the centuries, was chosen as the "Place" to be under observation and
where the Summer School of Architecture and Design would take place.
Such a choice was certainly guided by the broader goal of this and
other sessions, which was defined as a way of raising awareness of the
importance of architecture in the context of the development of creative
industries as a specific potential, and through that, an incentive for the
international affirmation of multifaceted values of cultural heritage and
traditions. Hence, the theme of this first session of the Summer School
of Architecture and Design was "Architecture as Performance". This
concept of integrated architectural education did not apply exclusively
to the students, domestic or foreign, but certainly also to the teachers
and associates of our faculty as well as the guest mentors. Because in
such an informal school, everyone is both students and teachers at the
same time, so this concept is an indispensable segment of contemporary
architectural education.
8 9
Several institutions and individuals participated in the organization of the Summer School of
Architecture and Design in Ohrid. A partner in the organization that follows us at every edition of the
school is the NI Institute for Protection of Monuments of Culture and Museum - Ohrid, and we also
received support from the NI Ohrid Summer Festival and the Municipality of Ohrid. The first mentors
participating in the Summer School were architects Vinko Penezić and Krešimir Rogina from Zagreb,
who were also co-organizers because they selflessly shared decades of experience not only in
organizing this kind of events but also invested their rich research and project portfolio.
In the following 2014 and 2015 sessions, in addition to the architects Penezic and Rogina, (already
selected as visiting professors at FAD), the mentors were prof. Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and prof.
Momoyo Kaijima from Tokyo, otherwise known as BOW-WOW atelier. The topic of the second
session of the Summer School in Ohrid was Metabolism Revisited. At the same time, using the
example of the city of Ohrid, the students discovered the metabolic principles in the development of
cities. Behaviorology in Ohrid, was the topic of the third session of the Summer School. In doing so,
students, mentors and collaborators explored the connections between people, nature and objects
and how they influence human behavior. The team was the same as the previous year.
The fourth session in 2016 was chaired by architect Simon Hartmann, accompanied by his
colleagues Tilo Herlach and Simon Frommenviler, otherwise known as HHF Architects from Basel,
Switzerland. Krešimir Rogina participated as a co-mentor. The topic was titled SOFT SPACES,
and it covered the role of architecture in creating the cultural environment in the city, through the
interpretation of the existing and defining the future spaces in which this type of events will take
place.
Dean Lah, an architect and professor from Ljubljana, Slovenia, led the 5th session of the 2017
Summer School, NATURAL SYSTEMS, which aimed to explore the city environment to locate
the entanglement of new technologies and contemporary social organizations in order to propose
innovative solutions that would restore the connection of buildings with the environment that was lost
somewhere along the way of the divergence of the social and natural environment in conditions of
disproportionate and uncontrolled construction of the space that surrounds us.
In 2018, Mitesh Dixit, an Assistant Professor of architecture at Syracuse University, USA, mentored
the sixth session of the Summer School under the title "Material Contours". The students employed
forensics, analysis and physical documentation to develop a methodology to separate and examine
the elements which define the layers of multiple conditions of the town and its surroundings. This
session was joined by the writer and editor James Westcott in a role of a guest lecturer and critic.
Working with Rem Koolhaas and AMO, he was co-editor of Project Japan (2011), and editor of
Elements of Architecture (2014/2018).
"Platform tourism: The Ohrid Archipelago" is the theme of the seventh Summer School in Ohrid,
mentored by Prof. Harald Trapp, from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Vienna University
of Technology. The research focused on tourism concepts designed by digital platforms and their
repercussions on the architecture under pressure of such tourism infrastructure. The case study
explored the relationship between the aspects of housing and accommodation in the existing
architectural typology across different fragments in Ohrid.
The global developments with the Covid-19 pandemic shifted the routine of the Summer School.
Because of the impossibility of traveling, the eighth session of the Summer School took place online
in a reduced format from a program aspect. Mentors, i.e. lecturers, were professors Max Bosshard
and Stephan Mäder, architects from Zurich and Lucerne, Switzerland. The lecture was titled
Education, Practice, Academic. Specifically, the architects Bosshard and Mäder traveled to Ohrid
and, with the assistance of colleagues from our faculty, made an introductory survey in Ohrid and its
 surroundings, through which they defined the program of the next session
of the Summer School entitled Staging Ohrid's Landscape. You will learn
about the experiences of the ninth session from the material of this edition
presented in front of you.

The tenth session of the Summer School of Architecture is significant for

the very fact that we have come this far, and now the question is what and
how to proceed? That's why the title can be the same as the announced
lecture of guest lecturers Bosshard and Mäder: How to make Architects?
After 15 years of existence of the School of Architecture and Design, and 10
sessions of the Summer School of Architecture, it is time to rethink the past
and trace the directions we will follow in the future.

This entire journey would not have happened without the extraordinary
effort of the organizers and participants from the School of Architecture
and Design: Professor Viktorija Eremeeva, as the first dean of SAD under
whose leadership the Summer School was established; Professor Kokan
Grchev as the founder of the Summer School and its first program director;
Vladimir Deskov as program director of the second to the fifth session,
Maksim Naumovski as program director of the sixth to the tenth session of
the Summer School; assistants Elena Pazardzhievska and Pavel Veljanoski
as secretaries and tutors of the Summer School; associate prof. Ljupco
Jovanov, assistants Branislava Djordjevic, Nina Karangelska, Paolina
Miluseva, Martin Delovski, Ivan Nikolovski and Ana Velinova as tutors of the
Summer School; prof. Violeta Bakalcev and prof. Martin Guleski as guest
lecturers and critics of the Summer School. Of course, the Rector of the
University Prof. Dr. Marjan Bojadziev and the Vice-Rector for Extramural
Teaching Prof. Dr. Venera Krliu had a significant role in the organization of
the school, as well as the employees of the university's administration. We
expand the list with the colleagues from the NU Institute for the Protection
of Cultural Monuments and Ohrid Museum, Tanja Paskali Buntasheska and
Goran Patchev, without whose participation we would not have celebrated
this significant anniversary.

See you at some new Summer School.

Prof. Dr. Mishko Ralev

Dean of School for Architecture and Design, UACS

Poster preview of the OHRID Summer School of Architecture 2013-2021

10 11
 Ohrid

Source: Map data @ 2022 Google

12 13

Ohrid - a Case Study
Ohrid, a city in the south-western part of North Macedonia on the north
shore of Lake Ohrid (Lychnidos) is one of the oldest cities in Europe. On
the east slope, the Ohrid hill in the city plane beside the lake, rich material
culture remains exist, namely a large pile house settlement which lived
continually from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age. The settlement was
erected on a swamp terrain and today the prehistoric remains are covered
with a 4 meters thick layer of clay and soil, the plane section of the city of
Ohrid stretching above it. Towards the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron
Age, the dwellers slowly settled on the hill, the higher west slope where
the old town core of Ohrid remains until today, more precisely the area
from Samuel’s fortress and the site Plaošnik.
Modern Ohrid is the successor of the ancient Lychnidos. According to
the data1, the city was first mentioned 2400 BC. Lychnidos was located
on the Via Egnatia, the oldest and most important Roman road in the
Balkans. Via Egnatia is known as a significant Antiquity regional road
that connected the Roman imperial center with the Balkan Peninsula
hinterland and Asia Minor, i.e. it connected the city of Rome with
Constantinople. On the territory of the Ohrid region, part of this road has
been preserved on the hilly part west of the village of Radožda, on the
west coast of Ohrid Lake, 2.50 m wide. The road was built of amorphous
stones with various dimensions, made smooth from usage, and at times
there are remains of the edges made of larger stone slabs. Near the last
village houses of Radozda, the road is lost, but it is assumed that it went
towards the lake, along the very coast of the lake (now under the water
level), and that it connected Lychnidos (nowadays Ohrid) to the rest of the
world then.
Via egnatia / Lychnidos - Ohrid
1
Serafimovska. A., et. al., Ohrid. World Heritage site. Skopje 2009
14
The territory of Ohrid is one of only 28 sites across the world that UNESCO
has named a world heritage site in both the culture and nature categories.
One of the defining characteristics of the World Heritage Convention is the
governance of both natural and cultural values of Outstanding Universal
Value2. In 2019, UNESCO threatened to reclassify the lakeside town of
Ohrid as an “endangered heritage site”, mainly citing persistent problems
with unrestrained urbanization.
In a time when the appearance and the permanence of architecture in
the Ohrid landscape are put under considerable pressure, we want to test
another presence, that of an architecture that is ephemeral, architecture
that lasts for a very short time. The ephemeral is fragile yet powerful for
its ability to raise the experiences above the duration of the medium/
architecture. A building can emerge and vanish, but it forms a sign that we
associate with the place. The place possesses traces of both human and
natural history, and therefore these mediums have the potential to make a
direct connection with the elements of the landscape. To understand the
potential this interlinkage offers, we address culture and nature with the
introduction of three approaches to the city: landscape, adaptive reuse,
Sebastian Serlio’s
satirical, tragical and and urban voids in the territory of the city of Ohrid where we can test this
comical scenes overlap as a function in the life of the community.
Landscape
The environment offers possibilities for action and observation. This allows
us to treat architecture and the processes of making an integral element of
this system. By using architecture to create this medium between culture
and nature, we can offer new approaches for interlinking these important
categories.
Adaptive reuse
The attention on the adaptive reuse of existing buildings (rather than new-
built construction) can symbolize a clear paradigm shift in thinking about the
historical context and existing structure and the commencement of adaptive
reuse as an eligible strategy for sustainable urban renewal.
Urban voids
In the absence of construction, open spaces, residual plots, and marginal
spaces operate as the background of the city. They can stimulate a more
flexible and effective treatment and an instrumentalization of the landscape,
not so much as an isolated exceptional event, but rather as an operating
system associated with the movement of people.
These three approaches represent a feature of the heterogeneity of the
landscape and as such are considered first in identifying places that
form an important reference network in the city, in the selection and
contextualization of reference directions and examples, and finally in the
characterization of the potential of the spatially architectural intervention.
Maksim Naumovski, Pavel Veljanoski, Paolina Miluseva, Martin Delovski
Academic staff and tutors of the ОХРИД Summer School of Architecture /
Session 2021
2
https://whc.unesco.org/en/review/75/
15

50th anniversary of the World Heritage
Convention
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the World
Heritage Convention by UNESCO’s General Conference on November
16, 1972. With near universal ratification by 194 States Parties, the
World Heritage Convention is now one of the most ratified international
conventions in history. The 1,154 cultural and natural World Heritage
properties located in 167 countries across the globe testify at once to its
diversity and to the power of heritage to unite people around common
values and aspirations.
The theme for the anniversary year is “The Next 50: World Heritage as a
source of resilience, humanity, and innovation”. Five key areas will orient
the reflection on the Next 50: Climate Change and Heritage Conservation;
Balanced Representation of the Inscribed Sites; Sustainable Tourism;
Digital Transformation; and Post-COVID-19 Recovery.
In close partnership with the NI Institute for protection of monuments of
culture and Museum – Ohrid, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture
of North Macedonia and the National Commission for UNESCO, we are
highly motivated to mark this anniversary. Through a reflection on the
results produced in the frame of the 2021 session of OHRID Summer
School of Architecture in a form of architectural projects for places
established as a crucial heritage site on a national level, we give our point
of view on two key areas stated in the Next 50:
1/ Balanced Representation of the Inscribed Sites
Promote a method of observation [elaborated in the preface] through
which a selection of essential sites could be performed. Crucial for this
type of site identification are the contextual aspects through which the
sites are observed as an integral part of their surroundings, not only with
the built aspect of the place but more significantly with the state of the
social and cultural needs of the society existing around and in that sense
re-establish an identity with the place.
2/ Sustanable tourism / Sustainable heritage
Reflect on how it can best evolve to meet the challenges facing heritage
preservation today and in the future by actively protecting and learning
about the world’s cultural and natural heritage with a renewed sense of
purpose. To enhance the protection of the national cultural and natural
heritage by proposing sustainable development which includes new built
subtle intervention or program adaptation on the formally protected sites
and places.
16
CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD
CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
extract from the Preamble
The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization meeting in Paris from 17 October to 21 November 1972, at its seventeenth
session,
Noting that the cultural heritage and the natural heritage are increasingly threatened with
destruction not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and
economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of
damage or destruction,
Considering that deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage
constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world,
Considering that protection of this heritage at the national level often remains incomplete
because of the scale of the resources which it requires and of the insufficient economic,
scientific, and technological resources of the country where the property to be protected is
situated,
Recalling that the Constitution of the Organization provides that it will maintain, increase,
and diffuse knowledge by assuring the conservation and protection of the world's heritage,
and recommending to the nations concerned the necessary international conventions,
Considering that the existing international conventions, recommendations and resolutions
concerning cultural and natural property demonstrate the importance, for all the peoples of
the world, of safeguarding this unique and irreplaceable property, to whatever people it may
belong,
Considering that parts of the cultural or natural heritage are of outstanding interest and
therefore need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of mankind as a whole,
Considering that, in view of the magnitude and gravity of the new dangers threatening them,
it is incumbent on the international community as a whole to participate in the protection of
the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value, by the granting of collective
assistance which, although not taking the place of action by the State concerned, will serve as
an efficient complement thereto,
Considering that it is essential for this purpose to adopt new provisions in the form of a
convention establishing an effective system of collective protection of the cultural and
natural heritage of outstanding universal value, organized on a permanent basis and in
accordance with modern scientific methods
Having decided, at its sixteenth session, that this question should be made the subject of an
international convention,
Adopts this sixteenth day of November 1972 this Convention.
17
 Ohrid - 1965

Source: Corona Atlas & Referencing System @ CAST

18 19
 Ohrid - 2020

Source: Corona Atlas & Referencing System @ CAST

20 21
 Introduction
First approach

Staging Ohrid’s Landscape

In front of us were scenarios of the city of Ohrid and its surrounding area.
Historical and contemporary, impressive landscape panoramas, scenes
of everyday life, spaces that inspire by their extraordinary location or
their historical narratives, some full of people, others empty, full of life,
ready to be programmed. These were pictures that showed the places in
their interaction with the magnificent wide landscape: the terrace of Dolni
Saraj, on a rock high above the lake, at which foot a jetty leads us across
the water. The vast space of Samoil’s fortress on the top of Gorni Saraj
eagerly waiting to be brought to life. The facilities of the Red Cross or
the natural terrace where readings occur during the festival, both in the
village of Velestovo with a fantastic vista of the city and the lake. An old
photograph shows us leisure activities in the bay below the church of St.
Jovan Kaneo, which stands exposed on a rocky spur; children playing on
the wooden deck of the former swimming pool and young people lying in
the sun. In today’s pictures, the stone pier seems to be ready for future
events.
For us, the pictures represent a first approach to the city. On the spot we
went on a journey of discovery, we explored the city off the beaten track,
with the focus on capturing latent, perhaps inconspicuous, or hidden
landscape phenomena. At the same time, detecting potentials for the
location and spatialization of the imagined and its scenography.
The aim was to create temporary installations or permanent buildings that
support or make possible the author’s experience of these events. Open or
transparent spatial installations, platforms, bridges for performative events,
simultaneous stages, and station paths that tell a story in the form of a
theatre. From art actions to dioramas involving the real landscape should
help create a diverse sensation of the location, whereas the shape and
cultural fund of Ohrid should be visible beyond the obvious thus increasing
its experience value.

We saw the urban landscape of Ohrid as a stage for the everyday life
of the residents and the wandering of the tourists. Furthermore, as a Max Bosshard and Stephan Mäder
stage for actors and spectators, who at the same time become actors. Mentors of the ОХРИД Summer School of Architecture / Session 2021
A labyrinth for the perception of the landscape. In addition to staging a
work, for example within the framework of the Ohrid Summer Festival,
the public display of action, a performance, and elements of everyday
life can also be staged, for example, weddings and tourist activities.
Theatre productions, concerts, games, and actions take place in a room,
in the “theatrical space”, understood as a meeting place, which has a
wide range of secondary meanings besides its pure functionality.1 In the
case of street actions, happenings, and stand-up comedies, this space
is the real cityscape. In the case of theatrical performances, rather a
deliberately created, designed space, with more or less flexible stage
platforms and technical facilities, is transformed into a scenic space. We
were interested in the other meanings of the “theatrical spaces”, which
we saw in particular in the location of the city and the landscape. These,
as impressive as they are initially, must be made to speak and must be
transformed into experienced and tangible spaces. The program is the
haptic of the place with the help of all kinds of buildings, installations, and
apparatuses for the perception of the landscape.

1
Kristina Laudenberg on the relationship between spectators, actor, and
space...) Drawing: Stephan Mäder, 2021

22 23
 Inspiration: Lucerne and the Alps

A fruitful source of inspiration for developing and formulating the theme

of the Summer School were the wondrous buildings and apparatus of
early tourism in Switzerland, especially around Lucerne. Around 1900
panoramas, dioramas, adventure parks (glacier garden), cogwheel
railways, lifts, and other things were built to enable the arriving tourists to
experience the sublime landscape of the Alps from a most comfortable
position.

More recent facilities and installations resume the tradition of bringing

impressive landscapes to life but are associated with physical exertion,
for example, hiking routes with spectacular pathways, footbridges, and
viewing platforms in the Ruinaulta or the Trutg dil Flem, a path that leads
from the Source of the Flem in the middle of the UNESCO World Heritage
Sardona leads through gorges along the watercourse and over several
bridges to the village of Flims.

Hammetschwand Elevator, 1904, Franz-Joseph Buch-Durrer,

Löhle & Kern, Eisenbaufirma Zürich, Wüst & Cie., Elektrofirma Seebach

24 25
 Observation tower of the Photo World Exhibition, 1952,
Architect: August Boyer, Engineer: Rudolf Dick

26 27
 Reference: Origen Festival of Culture

The most inspiring reference for the topic posed is the installations and
buildings of the Origen cultural institution, the temporary performance
venues for theatre, dance, and music along the Julierpassstrasse that
have been created over 10 years, and the headquarters in the village
of Riom, Switzerland. In them, scenic performances combine with the
architecture and the landscape to create a unique, fascinating event.

The architecture stages the impressive alpine landscape, makes it

visible and legible through its presence, and fills it with meaning by
including its specific properties in the scenic space. In contrast to the
widespread execution rooms in the form of a black box, in which the
scenic performances are protected from all undesirable, uncontrollable
influences, the theatrical space of Origen’s installations also includes
the surrounding landscape and its changing atmospheric conditions in
different ways. In addition to the artificial light dramaturgy, surprising light
and weather influences from outside can help shape the scene.
Photo source:
Even the arrival and departure of spectators, the trip up the Julier or walk
through the village Riom, lingering on the terrace in front overlooking the
valley, the walk through the sequence of spaces up to the performance
room, and the other way around with changing weather and light
conditions can be understood as the beginning and end of the scenic
experience.

Photos courtesy: Origen Festival Cultural [http://www.origen.ch]

28 29
 11

#landscape

Juliertheatre

The tower, erected as a temporary structure on the Julier pass, 2284

meters above sea level, is, on the one hand, a landmark that announces
and marks the pass height to the traveller, on the other hand, it can be
understood as a perception apparatus. The openings on the different levels
of the centrally symmetrical tower reveal directed views of the surrounding
landscape. With an earlier installation on the Julier Pass, a performance
space in the shape of a modern temple was created. The unpredictable
nature of the mountains with rapidly changing weather and atmospheric
conditions were essential elements of the scenic experience.

ORIGEN
FESTIVAL
CULTURAL
CUNTER

6
5 SAVOGNIN

3
TINIZONG
4

7
RONA

RIOM
2

1
8

9
10

MULEGNS

1 ALTE KANZLEI 5 CLAVADEIRA

Atelier Pôss Wintertheater

MARMORERA
JULIERPASS

2 HAUS FRISCH 6 SCHULHAUS

Sommerhotel | Vinothek Produktionsbüro
11
BIVIO

3 VILLA CARISCH 7 USTAREIA TARATSCH

Café Carisch Restaurant

4 STALL LORENZ 8 BURG RIOM 9 WEISSE VILLA 10 HOTEL LÖWE 11 JULIERTURM

«Sängersaal»

30 31
 8 5
#adaptive reuse
Burg Riom
The medieval castle in Riom, standing on a small spur, towers over the
valley and can be seen from afar. The performance location is reached
via a small course that leads from a terrace with a view of the valley
and the mountain massifs via a slip, a narrow, inconspicuous entrance
in the mighty outer walls into a small anteroom, from there up a flight of
stairs into a neat cabinet that serves as a checkout room and foyer, and
finally, via another staircase, that leads into the room with its impressive
dimensions enclosed by bare stone walls.
32
#urban voids
Clavadeira
Wintertheater
The barn and the associated patrician house, which serves as a cultural
center with a cafe, border a small public square. In the new, large-scale
glazing of the barn, which looks like huge screens, the facades of the
neighboring houses and the nearby church tower of the village are reflected
and doubled. For everyday events or performative actions on the square,
a backdrop is created that develops surprising relationships between the
objects in the village and gives the place a multi-layered dimension.
33
 Research_Place tracing and location survey
Second approach

12
07 11 03
02
Before the trip to Ohrid in July 2021 through the monastery of St. Jovan
Bigorski and the village of Janche, Maxim Naumovski, Paolina Miluseva
and Pavel Veljanoski indicated possible scenographies for design research. 04 01
We approached the problem of the city, the environment and the workshop 08
in its entirety by looking at historical photos from the first half of the 20th 09
century as well as the time before mass tourism took off. These are photos 10
of spectacular landscapes, historical places and significant monuments.
Other photos convey scenes from the everyday life of the locals, their
connection with the lake, which is on the one hand a source of livelihood
and on the other hand a space for recreation.

The team from the University American College Skopje - School of

Architecture and Design (UACS-SAD) team organized extensive visits
and walks through the center of Ohrid, the historical places, the places of
everyday life as well as the locations where the Ohrid Summer Festival
is held. Meandering everywhere, we subtly entered the cityscape of
Ohrid. The scenery of the city hill that we observed while sailing along
the lakeshore served us to explore the context more closely. We were
impressed by the surprising landscape scenarios that were in constant flux.
The initial approach to the city, as well as the subject of the workshop, was
expanded through photographs by colleagues indicating specific angles of
observation. By moving, instead of through photographs of fixed points in
space, various sequences of the city center appeared.

06

05
01 / Entrance plateau, Cultural center UV
02 / Stage promenade UV
03 / Former school building st.Sava UV / AR
04 / Piazzetta, Beach Saraiste UV / LA
05 / Red cross facilities, Village of Velestovo LA / AR
06 / The stone - cilff site, Village of Velestovo LA
07 / Vista Point, Beach Labino LA
08 / Stage terrace, Dolni Saraj LA / UV
09 / Old Swimming Court, Plivaliste LA / AR
10 / Abandoned post-office resort AR
11 / Ancient theater AR / UV
12 / Open air stage, Samoil’s Fortress AR

34 35
 01
#urban voids
Entrance plateau, Cultural center
Plateau in front of the building - Plateau in front
of the lake.
Contemporary building in which the main cultural
city events are held.
Withdrawal from the front line of the coast
creates a public space with the potential to
receive planned and unplanned activities.
The facade plasticity and all the constituent
elements in front of the building create the
scenery of the public space and are the basis for
further upgrading.
36
02
#urban voids
Piazzetta, Main city promenade
Spatial addition of the linear type of bazaar.
Interruption in the dense old city core, which
attaches to the main pedestrian axial. A gap with
a capacity to receive a public program.
Upgrading the active front on the ground floor in
the bazaar line with a program of the auditorium,
stage, and mature greenery.
37
 03
#urban voids
#adaptive reuse
Former school building St. Sava
Building and a toponym.
It raises from its surroundings and can be seen
from the city coast.
Cascading platforms and stairs are the main
elements of the yard. The building and its
surroundings are, at the same time, a city
promenade to the top of the hill.
38
04
#urban voids
#landscape
Piazzetta, Beach Saraiste
Piazza in direct relation to the lake formed by the
position of the houses that surround it.
City Square: Due to the current activities related
to the plateau program (mainly in the summer).
Summer view of the lake.
Void: Common area for activities related to the
lake (fishery, boating, reeds, swimming..).
39
 05 06

#landscape #landscape
#adaptive reuse

Red cross facilities, Village of The stone - cliff site, Village of

Velestovo Velestovo
Village in topography; A place in nature predetermined by a natural
Building in topography; element - Stone.
Plateau in topography;
Already recognized by cultural workers.
Building as infrastructure;
Plateau as a stage; The stone as a scene - rock formation;
Lake and the city as background; Plain geometry of topography provides space for
the viewer to the stage;
Giving ambiguity to existing places with a
specific purpose. A place with the strongest views on the lake.

40 41
 07
#landscape
Vista Point, Beach Labino
Plateaus with a special attitude towards the lake.
The beach in direct relation to the water; Events
are monitored by water and land;
- Vista point: A place of isolation from the
background (nature and fortress). Strong
relationship with the lake between the density of
trees.
- Street: A key part of the fortification trail system.
42
08
#landscape
#urban voids
Terrace stage, Dolni Saraj
Structure in the landscape that supports the
procession of certain cultural habits of the past -
night swimming.
Adapted to the landscape. The staircase in
the terrain creates a connection between the
upper plateau’s surface and the coast. With
that, it provides a connection between the
summer scene of Dolni Saraj and the lake as an
opportunity for a secret evening swim.
43
 09 10

#landscape #adaptive reuse

#adaptive reuse

Old swimming court, Plivaliste Abandoned post-office resort,

Island (scene) in the lakeeds, swimming..)
- Capacity of culture:
Scenery in the lake - the town as a background.
- Port - stopping point:
Land access through connecting bridge; Water
access by boat.
Poshtensko
Re-adapting the accommodation capacity and
the spatial qualities it possesses. Potential
administrative and artist and residence facility.
A void in front of the abandoned resort builds a
relationship with the guests (artists) who would
stay in it—the workshop area (painting, orchestra
rehearsals, theatre rehearsals ...)

44 45
 11 12

#adaptive reuse #adaptive reuse

#urban voids

Proscenium, Ancient theater Open air stage, Samoil’s Fortress

Square: Introverted space (no relationship with city/lake).

Emptiness in the densest part of the city;
The need for upgrading to the existing ambiance/
Street: memory is ubiquitous in the stone fortification
Inclusion of flow of people and movements; that surrounds the scene.

Scene: Traces of objects in fortification, together with

Positioned with the intention of the city and the topographic features, indicate favorable positions
distant landscape as a background; for scenic events.

46 47
 Projects_Staging Ohrid's Landscape
Third approach

In an exchange with the SAD team, which Martin Delovski had now
joined, we finally selected six locations whose architectural traces tell us
moments from Ohrid's past, but whose functional and design potential
also promise a future potential. With the participants in the workshop, we
resumed the walks, back and forth, up and down, through the city. Freely
based on Karl Schlögel’s method,1 we understand this walking around
not only as a way of movement but rather as a way of perception and
knowledge. The physical nature of the urban landscape is revealed to the
seeker and researcher through movement, searching, walking through the
sites, through on-site work.
03 / Former school building st.Sava UV / AR
07 / Vista Point, Beach Labino LA
08 / Terrace stega, Dolni Saraj LA / UV
09 / Old Swimming Court, Plivaliste LA / AR
11 / Proscenium, Ancient theater, Old town AR / UV
12 / Open air stage, Samoil’s Fortress AR

12

11

07 03

08

09

1
Schlögel, Karl, and Gerrit Jackson. 2016. In space we read time: on the
history of civilization and geopolitics.
48 49
 03

Former school building St. Sava

The former St. Sava school building, which is now empty, is a simple
square building with a hipped roof. It lies directly below the formerly
walled hilltop Deboj (Novi Saraj) and stands out in the cityscape for its
powerful appearance. From the Nada Fileva Street, a staircase leads from
a terrace to a terrace to the basement entrance of the building. Looking
back, the lake becomes visible between narrow gaps in the surrounding
buildings. On the side of the building, another staircase leads to access
to the ground floor. From this forecourt, new perspectives of the lake now
open up. A walk through the rooms of the building becomes an event
of landscape perception that culminates on the top floor. The windows
provide changing views of the city and the lake. Another approach to
Ohrid's landscape is the narrow path leading to the new schoolhouse and
the crest of the hill.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder

50 51
 03

#urban voids
#adaptive reuse

Teraces on a promenade, St. Sava

Angela Gjorgjieva / Marija Pecalevska Visual refference from the lake

Based on a precise reading of the place, Angela Gjorgjieva and Marija

Pecalevska propose a careful upgrade of the building. With small
corrections to the boundary walls and stairs, the installation of seating, the
repair, and introduction of new floor coverings as well as the installation of
a projection screen, the terraces are differentiated in terms of architectural
expression and relation to the landscape. The open space thus forms
a sequence of different stages for future use of the facility as a school
for art, dance, or gastronomy, which also includes people from outside,
spectators, and local guests or visitors to the city.

Low entrance: Gastronomy / Vine bar Main entrance: School for art

52 53
 Tracing the elements: 1platforms, 2promenade, 3greenery

First floor: School for art Programatic section Dealing with the view

54 55
 07

Vista Point, Beach Labino

Vista Point and Labino beach are two places that are next to each other
on a topographical map, but in reality are separated by a large rock drop.
One site lies high above the water, on gently sloping terrain, the other, as
the name suggests, is down by the water. They are connected by a path
that is part of the extensive network of paths on the southern edge of
Gorni Saraj, which is designed as a park-like landscape.

Vista Point was originally a fortified site on the edge of the city wall belt,
now planted with a sparse stand of light-flooded trees as an expected filter
that appears to wanderers after passing the grove. From the open edge of
the spur, the hiker is offered a unique panoramic view of the lake and the
mountain ranges opposite.

Beach Labino, a narrow, gently sloping, rocky, and tree-shaded stretch of

coast, lies at the foot of the steeply sloping terrain. It is very popular with
the residents of Ohrid and is also accessed by small boats across the
water. The rock face behind you and the protective canopy of the treetops
draw your attention to the nearby shore area covered with boulders, to the
happenings in the water, the stand-up paddlers gliding past, or the arriving
taxi boats.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder

56 57
 07

#landscape

Multipurpose spatial affordances, Labino

Sara Nichota / Zorica Stavrova

After a long, doubtful search, Sara Nichota and Zorica Stavrova decide
on a few small, conservative interventions. Above the cliff, on the spur,
stone blocks mark the course of the former city fortifications. Wooden
platforms on the bank and in the water can be used in different ways, as a
dock for boats, as a stage for a spontaneous performance, as a deck for
sunbathing.

Atmospheres of the place Contextual drawings: Pathways in a relation with the topography

58 59
 Three levels of interventions: 1by the path, 2on the vista point, 3in the lake. Staging the elements

60 61
 08

Terrace stage, Dolni Saraj

The former position of the palace of "Dzeladin beg", on the flank of the
Deboy, is today a natural terrace with an impressive position high above
the water. The approach from the city via the Tsar Samoil Street, a walk
through the complex of Dolni Saraj offers a series of surprising spatial
events. The first part of the terrain terrace comprises a square that is
framed on the hillside by a rock face with trees and bushes in front of
it and ends on the opposite side at the terrain step to the much lower
spectator ramps in front of the west facade of the church St. Sofia.
Unfortunately, it is almost completely overtaken by cars. Towards the lake,
the square is closed off by the unsightly rear of a grandstand with built-in
garages. Access to the event area leads through a side gate and further
in an S-shaped movement between a low and a higher brick grandstand
platform to the platform open to the lake with a stage. The final element
of the spatial sequence is a slightly lower terrace with a polygonal finish
in the form of a stone balustrade. It offers an impressive view of the lake.
The important vertical connection to the water and jetty to Kaneo is no
longer in service.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder >

62 63
 08

#landscape
#urban voids

Sequential scenery, Dolni Saraj

Angela Banchotova / Jana Gochevska / Emilija Lazareska

The potential of this unique place for urban life does not seem to have
been exhausted. Angela Banchotova, Jana Gochevska and Emilija
Lazareska propose sharpening the architectural and spatial qualities of
the individual parts of the spatial sequence, upgrading the complex as a
whole with various other measures and opening it to the public even when
there are no events. The facility should be understood as part of the public
space of the city. To create a quality stay, the forecourt will be partially
cleared of cars, planted with trees, and a café with seats will be set up
in place of the garages along the railing to the St. Sophia Church. An
attractive roof as well as a service facility in the context of the complete
architecture were envisaged. An additional terrace over the foundations
of the former palace completes the space for rest and relaxation. With the
restoration of the ascent from the Board Walk over the water, the terraces
of Dolni Saraj could be integrated into the urban network of paths and
alleys and thus become an attraction for residents and visitors of the city,
even when there are no events.

Contextual drawing: Connection and circulation Concept drawing: Section and plan

64 65
 Forecourt: Curret parking space adapted for a new public place

Main stage: Architectualy appropriate roof covering and service buildings

Pathway: Restoration of the staircase with a new pedestrian connection

66 67
 09

Old Swimming Court, Plivaliste

From the quay in front of the vacant Hotel Palace, a peer leads to the
open "inner" lake and at the very end, through a 90-degree turn, it forms
a remnant of the former swimming pool, which we recognize through the
forgotten starting platforms. Initially, the view is directed at the far horizon
of the distant coast, then after changing direction it focuses on the old
town, the old citadel, the former school building and finally back on the
quay. As old photos indicate, the complex used to be more extensive and
spatially more complex. It consisted of a meandering sequence of jetties
and platforms. The pictures also document the importance of the place for
the lives of the residents. In the warm season, the complex was a place
where mainly young people met to sunbathe, swim, chat, play and pose,
in short, a place for role-playing.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder >

68 69
 09

#landscape
#adaptive reuse

Walkway pier, Plivaliste

Angela Burova / Nikolina Kolevska

Angela Burova and Nikolina Kolevska continued the former importance

of the jetty. Their proposal comprises a walkway installation with various
changes of direction, tangentially arranged extensions and a raised
platform with a walkable roof as a conclusion. In doing so, they not only
create a device for perceiving the impressive Ohrid landscape but also a
stage for a diverse urban life. The project idea has the potential to create
a unique place that invites you to linger, drink a cup of coffee or a glass
of wine by the water, look at the lake and the surrounding hills or the city,
take a break, cool off in the water or experience theatrical and musical
scenography.

Concept and contextual drawings

70 71
 Comic drawings Atmospheric drawings

Programatic section

72 73
 11

Proscenium, Ancient theater

Access to the ancient theater is either from Gorna Porta via the upper
section of Ilindenska Street or from below via an unattractive installation
site and a wooden stairway up the 'diázoma', the upper gallery, which
offers an unobstructed view over the neighboring houses to the lake.
The rebuilt and partially supplemented remains of the ancient theater are
only very weakly able to convey the spatial impressions and sensations
that were originally characteristic of such a facility. The 'Skene', the stage
building, and thus the spatial boundary to the valley, and the lower steps
of the 'Theatron' are missing. The spatial unity and density inherent in this
type of building, which unites audience, choir and actors in a common
event, is no longer noticeable.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder

74 75
 11

#adaptive reuse
#urban voids

Spatial unity, Ancient theater

Sergej Poposki / Eva Shabanova

Conceptually, Sergej Poposki and Eva Shabanova are consistent with

the spatial (model or type) of Greek theatre: the 'Proskenion' becomes a
covered stage, the 'Skené' a low service building that closes off the stage
towards the valley. On both sides of the stage, the 'Orchestra' and the
hollow in the terrain of the 'Theatron' are bounded by expansive walls.
With this approach, it could be possible to strengthen the theater in its
specific geometric form, to grasp the interior spatially without blocking the
view from the terraces to the open landscape.
Access from below via a new staircase to be designed was to be staged
as a 'promenade architecturale', leading the audience in a direction-
changing movement from the entrance to the upper gallery of the
'Theatron' and the seating or further to the upper access, the architecture
of the theater in their relationship to topography and landscape. In further
planning developments, the Ancient Theater could be seen as an integral
part of the building layers of the city.

Staging the view

Contextual drawing: Positions and forms of interventions Volumetrical coexistence of the ancient and contemporary

76 77
 12

Open air stage, Samoil’s Fortress

The bell-shaped citadel of the former fortification sits like a crown on the
Gorni Saraj hill above the city and the lake. It consists of two parts, one
open to visitors, occupies the crest, the other the sloping ground to the
east. The enclosing walls now delimit a large empty space. From the
previous buildings, we recognize only foundations, fragments of walls
and arched forms. Another structural element in the middle of the space
contains a water tank and is hidden behind a small elevation on the side
of which is a natural stone stage with a small tribune.

Drawing: Stephan Mäder

78 79
 12

#adaptive reuse

Programatic wall, Samoil’s Fortress

Marta Dimovska / Mehdi Mehdiju

Marta Dimovska and Mehdi Mehdiju propose various small facilities for a
festival, pavilions and open spaces, which they connect with a path. Like
in a station theater, this invites visitors to take a walk past various events.
A walkway over the excavation sites along the enclosing wall leads past
exhibits that explain the history of the citadel. Films and performances are
shown in a pavilion, and visitors have the opportunity to have coffee and
chat on a platform set into the ground and surrounded by benches. New
staircases make it easier to climb the enclosing wall. The tour of the wall
allows, on the one hand, to view what is happening inside the fortress
from above and, on the other hand, to capture the Ohrid landscape in a
360-degree panoramic view. Tracing: Movement and elements

Contextual drawing: Insertion of the new programme Concept image: Forms of interventions

80 81
82 83
 Conclusion

Reading urban landscapes, breaking down their historical layers,

understanding their morphological structure and recognizing potential for
its development represents a demanding challenge for everyone involved.
It can hardly be mastered within the limited time of a workshop. However,
we hope that the work of the students in the form of sketches will give
guidelines to the Municipality of Ohrid for the development of possibilities
that lie dormant in the selected topographically and historically important
focal points of urban life.

If the goal is to further develop the city socially, economically and

culturally, it must be about recognizing the promising qualities in
what is already there, in the local area, evaluating them in terms of
design and strengthening them.

Participants

Angela Gjorgjieva, Marija Pecalevska, Sara Nichota, Zorica Stavrova,

Angela Banchotova, Jana Gochevska, Emilija Lazareska,
Angela Burova, Nikolina Kolevska, Eva Shabanova, Sergej Poposki,
Marta Dimovska, Mehdi Mehdiju.

Mentors

Max Bosshard, Bosshard & Luchsinger Architects, Lucerne, CH

Stephan Mäder, Mäder + Mächler Architects, Zurich, CH

Academic Staff

Maksim Naumovski, programme director & tutor

Pavel Veljanoski, secretary & tutor
Paolina Miluseva, tutor
Martin Delovski, tutor

School of Architecture and Design, UACS

Mishko Ralev, dean

84 85
 Mentors biographies:

Max Bosshard

Max Bosshard (1949) is a Swiss architect. Bosshard graduated in

architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH
Zurich) with Aldo Rossi and Dolf Schnebli. After completing his studies,
Max Bosshard worked in Aldo Rossi’s office in Milan and as a research
assistant at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at
the ETHZ. Today he runs an architecture office in Luzerne. He is also a
lecturer and head of the Urban Landscape Center at the Zurich University
of Applied Sciences Winterthur (ZHAW). In his teaching and research
activities, he deals with the areas of urban development, the history of
urban development and the morphology of the urban landscape. He is the
author of articles on urban development and spatial research. Together with
Christoph Luchsinger, he is one of the first to address the phenomenon of
the expansion of settlement areas into the landscape - a phenomenon that
was later discussed under the name Zwischenstadt. He lives in Lucerne.

Stephan Mäder

Stephan Mäder (1951) is a Swiss architect. Mäder graduated in architecture

from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) with
Bernhard Hoesli, Franz Oswald, Luigi Snozzi and Aldo van Eyck. After
completing his studies, Stephan Mäder is an assistant lecturer at the ETHZ
with Prof. Gian-Carlo Durisch, Prof. Flora Ruchat and Prof. Ernst Studer.
Today he runs an architecture office in Zurich. He was dean and menaging
director of the School of Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering at the
Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur (ZHAW) from 1998-2017.
The studio Mäder+Mächler Architects, Zurich owned by Stephan Mäder and
Susanna Mächler are planning buildings, projects, competitons and urban
strategies, mostly in the field of higher education. He lives in Zurich.

86 87
 Timeline of activities

2020_08 November 2021_09-13 July 2021_24 September - 03 October 2021_28 September 2021_November
Public lecture Study visit IX Summer School session Workshop Lecture Booklet

_Academia and practice _Staging Ohrid‘s landscape _A sentimental journey _Personal collection of drawings

88 89
 2020
08 November
@ webex cisco platform (online streaming)

First approach

Public lecture_Academia and practice Staging of the Landscape

Max Bosshard and Stephan Mäder

The pandemic circumstances made us organize a modified session of the

2020 Ohrid Summer School for Architecture. It represented a preparatory
week in Ohrid, performing site observations, topic specifications, and
discussions between the mentors and the academic staff.

As part of this session, an online lecture was organized which was a

unique opportunity to hear about the shared professional and personal
experience of the tutors as well as the key aspects of the topic that
will be developed within the 2021 session of Ohrid Summer School of
Architecture.

Lecture available at facebook page @ohridss

90 91
 2021
09 - 13 July
@ Ohrid

Second approach

Study visit_to the city of Ohrid and its surrounding landscape

This study trip in July 2021 was organized as the first visit to Ohrid for the
mentors together with the academic staff from the School of Architecture
and Design. It was characterized by long walks, up and down, back
and forth, excursions along the lake, and a long boat trip in front of the
impressive silhouette of the city. An important trip which has become an
extended perception of the first approach to the city and the subject of the
workshop, which until then has been discussed only through individual
photographs, drawings, and maps. Instead of static images, constantly
changing image sequences became the focus of attention.

92 93
 2021
24 September - 03 October
@ conference room in Hotel Pela in Ohrid

Third approach

IX Summer School session_Staging Ohrid‘s landscape

with Max Bosshard and Stephan Mäder

AGENDA

Saturday
25.09.2021 19:00 Welcome & Introduction lecture
Sunday
26.09.2021 09:00 Site visit - All sites
13:00 Lunch & Meeting (Context discussions)
15:00 Individual site visit
20:00 Presentation - 3 images/frames
Monday
27.09.2021 09:00 Individual work / Site visit
13:00 Desk critics
20:00 Individual work
Tuesday
28.09.2021 09:00 Individual work
16:00 Mid-presentation:
Spatial structures / first proposals +
Referencing (30min/each)
19:00 Workshop lecture
Wednesday
29.09.2021 09:00 Individual work / Site visit / Models
13:00 Desk critics
20:00 Movie screening - Workshop room
Thursday
30.09.2021 09:00 Free afternoon / Social activities
20:00 Individual work / Models
Friday
01.10.2021 09:00 Pre-presentation (30min/each)
11:00 Desk critics
20:00 Individual work / Free time
Saturday
02.10.2021 09:00 Presentation – Final proposal + Models
12:00 Farewell lunch
14:00 Cleaning the workshop room
17:00 Departure

94 95
a Sat, 25. Sept: Workshop room

a Tue, 28. Sept: Mid-presentation

a Sun, 26. Sept: Site visit a Sun, 26. Sept: Site visit

Fri, 01. Oct: Desk critics

a Sun, 26. Sept: Site visit a Sat, 02. Oct: Final presentation a Sat, 02. Oct: Final presentation

96 97
 2021
28 September
@ conference room in Hotel Pela in Ohrid

Workshop lecture_A sentimental journey
Max Bosshard and Stephan Mäder
Our presentation brings under the title ”A sentimental journey“ different
thematic threads and perspectives together: the topic of our workshop
”Staging the landscape“, the cultural position of Switzerland in Europe,
our education path as architects and also very personal experiencies. It’s
based on the framework, a very flexible framework, of an older lecture,
Max Bosshard and his former partner gave in 2007 in Dubrovnik.
Switzerland has since ever in its history been a transitional country
between north and south due to its location astride the alps, with the
Gotthard-pass as the main arteria of economical and cultural exchange,
but also during a long time as a very dangerous boundary, dangerous
because of its steep paths, of its rocky descents, of its wild waters and
heavy thunderstorms. The Gotthard-massif has been so terrifying that it
was considered as devil’s work and the key-bridge over the wild waters of
the Reuss-river was called ”devil’s-bridge“.
Under the scientific view of a hydrologist, the alps are nothing more than a
water-divide within the heart of Europe. The central massif of the alps with
Gotthard as its core is the surge tank of Europe, with its four rivers, a truly
lifeline of the continent. So, if you stand on top of the Gotthard-massif, you
feel to have north and south, east and west of Europe to your base, at a
single point, which is called Gotthard-Hospiz. It is therefore not a surprise
that this point has been a place of myths and legends and has fascinated
several generations of poets and challenged the engineers to plan and
realize amazing works of technical inventions. The Gotthard-railway-track
for instance, which has been realized more than 125 years ago, opened a
quick and efficient traffic-line between Germany and Italy with a series of
incredible tunnels and loops, and the new project for a fast-track railway
connection through the bottoms of the alps with a 57 kilometers tunnel is
another proof of the ambitious will to pierce the boundary of the alps and
to shorten the distance between north and south.
city again and the Ticino architects, with Luigi Snozzi, Flora Ruchat and Giancarlo Durisch we had
the chance to work with, have been dealing with the territory completely altered our generation’s
approach to architecture in the sense that the architectural project was considered as a cultural fact
instead of being a pure technical supply of a service. Of course, turning to southern culture and
habits was resulting in travelling to the accordant sites. So first the Ticino, the Italian speaking part of
Switzerland, then the Lombardia, the Piemont, Veneto and Liguria, finally the Adriatic Sea became
our preferred destinations for a series of a kind of intellectual journeys, which we combined with
the indulgence of Latin life. That opened the doors to the Mediterranean Sea like it is described in
the famous book of Fernand Braudel (La méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de
Philippe II. Armand Colin, Paris 1949).
At the end of the 1980s we adjusted our focus/view to the Iberian Peninsula, to Barcelona and
Madrid, Bilbao and Sevilla, Lissabon and Porto. The dynamic growth of relevance of the Iberian
architecture unfolded another way of southernness, much more hectic, much more fanciful, much
more lively and speedy. In the first decade of the 21st century we focused our attention to the
Western Balcans, we were selling with our students hoeopathic recipes against mass-tourism on the
islands of Vis and Hvar and the Vipava Valley. For us, the cultural treasures in the various regions
around the Mediterranean Sea are an enormous source for inspiration in the field of architecture in
practice, education and research, but also in daily life. And beyond all, it is an immeasurable value in
the coexistence of people.
... and now we are in Macedonia! Leaving the Via Appia behind, following the Via Egnatia, we reach
Ohrid. Ohrid and its lake as a world natural and cultural heritage in the inland that has a strong
connection with the sea.

However, the journey from north to south, has also and before all,
represented a journey of delight for enthusiasts in European cultures
and its contrasts and antagonisms, it has been the path to paradise for
numerous generations of Swiss people from the German-speaking part of
the country.

The main switch to southern culture in Swiss architecture was elaborated

by the ”Tendenza“ of the Venice-Milano-connection and the Ticino School
in the 1970s and 80s, when we did our studies and worked as assistant
professors at the ETH in Zurich. Aldo Rossi who was focussing on the

98 99
 2021
November
@ Mäder + Mächler Architekten. Zurich

Booklet_A personal collection of drawings

Stephan Mäder

Back home after the workshop in Ohrid, it was time for us to draw up the
balance between the study week and the work done by the students. We
did that through a small booklet, where we tried to catch the essence
of each of the student’s proposals through a small sketch. To make it
easy and understandable, we used the technique of isometric projection
drawings. Important for us was that these sketches should tell something
about the spatial qualities of the context (place and path) and also invite
inhabitants and guests for a promenade through the town and landscape
of Ohrid. With ink on tracing paper, we drew the projects in plan and
combined them with the elevation. These sketches we colored with a
rendering program. Other sketches from a Moleskine notebook and a text
complete the short field report.

100 101
 Ohrid, view from the lake

102 103
 Impressum

Publisher:
University American College Skopje,
School of Architecture and Desing

For the publisher:

Prof. Dr. Mishko Ralev,
dean of School of Architecture and Design, UACS

Editors:
Max Bosshard
Stephan Mäder
Maksim Naumovski
Pavel Veljanoski
Paolina Miluseva
Martin Delovski

Layout and graphic design:

Pavel Veljanoski

Cover page drawing:

Stephan Mäder
CIP - Каталогизација во публикација
Национална и универзитетска библиотека "Св. Климент Охридски", Photo coutesy:
Скопје Unspecified photos are courtesy of the editors.
72.012:904(497.781)(062) Proofreading:
Aneta Trpkovska
STAGING Ohrid‘s landscape : architectural proposals for the city's
cultural scenography Охрид / Ohrid summer school of architecture 2021 Printed by:
/ [editors Max Bosshard ... и др.]. - Skopje : University American College, Royal Art - Skopje, 100 copies
2022. - 103 стр. : илустр. ; 21 см
Published:
Други уредници: Stephan Mäder, Maksim Naumovski, Pavel Veljanoski, Skopje 2022
Paolina Miluseva, Martin Delovski

ISBN 978-608-4607-55-7

а) Архитектонски решенија -- Културно-историски објекти -- Охрид --

Собири

COBISS.MK-ID 58324229

This publication is for academic purposes only and will not gain any
economic benefit for the publisher. Every effort has been made to trace the
copyright holders of the materials used, but if any have been inadvertently
overlooked the necessary arrangements will be made at the first
opportunity.
Supported by:

NI Institute for protection of monuments of culture and Museum - Ohrid

Financed by:

Ministry of Culture, Annual program for financing projects of national

interest for 2022

Sponsors:
ISBN 978-608-4607-55-7