Project name: Macedonia Fight Museum
Client: Macedonian Ministry of Culture
Object: historical museum
Size: 5100sqm
Stage: concluded international competition
Team: Joakim Kaminsky, Fredrik Kjellgren
Model: Maria Poll
Visualization: Laban Dahlgren, Peter Alsterholm

Slideshow

The Macedonian fight for independence has been a journey lasting many centuries. At times the future has seemed hopeless, but the Macedonian people have always struggled forward towards the hopeful light of freedom. Inspired by this journey the museum consists of a chronological walk through Macedonian history, covered in the soft light filtrated by Macedonian marble.

IN DIALOG WITH SKOPJE

The new museum both adapts to its surroundings and interprets them in new ways. Filling out the whole volume of the site it complies with the scale of the surrounding blocks. Using thin sheets of "Bianco Sivec" marble as façade material it connects to the stone architecture in the surroundings and shows on a new modern way to treat this ancient Macedonian material. Carefully chosen outlooks connect the visitor visually with historical places in Skopje. The existing qualities in the surroundings are enhanced with new additions. Benches are added to the walk along the river and a new ramp connects it more closely to the museum. A new paving defines the Karpos square and connects it with the museum foyer, making it part of the public room. Like rings on the water the Karpos square spreads out to define the ground treatment outside the Old theatre.

THE WALK

Visitors enter the museum from the Karpos square. Arriving in an entrance room with double roof height they are welcomed by the tickets and information office. From here there are three ways of walking through the museum; only visiting the VRMO museum, only visiting the museum of the victims of communism or walking through both. Stairs or elevators takes the visitors to the starting point of each exhibition, from there one strolls down the slightly angled ramps through just one or both the museums. The walk is completed with a store and a café. The low inclination of the ramps together with the elevators makes all parts of the museum accessible for disabled persons.

BUILDING ELEMENTS

Architectonically the building is made up of only a few strong elements; the transparent façade, the ramps and the central wall. The façade is made up of thin sheets of marble filtering the natural light. On certain carefully chosen spots the façade is punctuated by transparent glass offering views of important historical places in the surrounding. The ramps let the visitor comfortably stroll through the exhibitions circling around the central wall.

THE EXHIBITION

The central wall constitutes the bulk of the exhibition and here one may follow the chronology of events illustrated by pictures and movies projected on the wall. Along the façade smaller rooms contain more specialized exhibitions concerning certain events, with a view of historical areas of Skopje as a backdrop. Left is a generous flexible area, which can be arranged in different ways depending on the type of material being exhibited. Between the two exhibitions is a common room that can host joint activities and functions as electronic information centre.

CONSTRUCTION

The building is constructed with concrete slabs held up by pillars along the facades. The slabs span 12 meters from the central wall to the facades. The heavy central wall together with the slabs and pillars gives the building seismic stability. The stone slab façade is constructed as a curtain wall façade.

THREE OLD FRIENDS

It is a sunny day. Three old friends are on the way to the "Macedonian fight museum". They have lived most of there life under communist oppression. Their gray hair and walking sticks tell their age but the vitality of their eyes says something else. They stand in front of the museum with a proud look. The walls made of Macedonian marble makes a great impression on them and for a moment they just stand there looking at the bright white facade. As they enter the building they find themselves overwhelmed by the grandiose two stories high entrance room. The marble facade lets the sun partly into the room like old church or mosque windows. Arriving to the welcoming desk they get information from two hosts that explain how the two museums can be explored. The three excited old men decide to take the whole tour and walks towards the elevator. In the exhibition memories come to life and in the "Memorial hall" they devote a silent minute to friends that can no longer be with them.

THE YOUNG DREAMER

Gjorgji is eleven years old. He has heard a lot of stories told from his grandparents about the history of Macedonia. Now for the first time he can see for himself. He is at the museum with his school class and today a guide is going to show them an exciting history of past time. But first he and his friends takes the stairs up to the top floor window that he could see when he looked at the museum from the square. It is a magnificent room he walks into. The walls are painted red just like the Macedonian flag he waves with during celebration days. The window looks like it has been carved out or maybe like a piece of broken glass. It has etched pictures from the Macedonian history. He can see Selim Giray throwing his lances at Karposh. And now he discovers it. If you stand on the red dot on the floor the etched illustrations on the window fits into the real bridge outside the museum, the images come to life when past and present are mixed. He understands that this is no ordinary bridge, but one that has stories to tell.
The guide takes them to the beginning of the exhibition. The floor slowly leans down with a slight angle. On the right hand side the marble facade lets through diffused daylight that gives the room a magic touch. On the left hand side there is an intricate asymmetric wall on which parts of the exhibition are displayed. The guide starts talking and Gjorji's imagination takes off.

WALKING ALONG THE RIVER

She is in love with him. They have had a great day walking along the Vardar River, eating, kissing and talking about life, their life. Now the sun starts to move down below the buildings in the Skopje skyline. A few hundred meters from the stone bridge they stop and sit down at a bench. They look up at the new Macedonian Fight Museum. Yellow light pours out from the white marble façade and red light pours out from the big asymmetric windows. They move closer and talk about happy moments they will share in the future. The sun has set but red and yellow reflections still floats in the river. One Macedonian sun is replaced by another.