Towards a more “Non-violent” Architecture: The Redesigned Memorial House in Struganik

Abstract

Examining the concept behind the architectural design practice which emerged over a period of time with the aim to reflect Gandhian framework of social design, the paper expounds the redesigning process of the Živojin Mišić Memorial House in the village of Struganik, Western Serbia. With Gandhi’s economic and political thinking centred on the village and rural environment, urbanity and modern architecture are absent from his buildings. The author of the paper contextualizes the Memorial House within the Gandhi-inspired architectural design which is in modern architecture perceived as “non-violent”, meaning a traditional, rural, vernacular and eco-friendly structure designed to follow the principles of movement, hygiene, minimalism, efficiency, low cost, and just about the right amount of aesthetics. A particular emphasis in the paper is put on the principle of locality as local world-famous stone quarry along with the surrounding woods served as the basis for providing the materials applied in redesigning completed in 1987.

Predstavljajući i ispitujući koncepciju arhitektonskog projektovanja koja se pojavila u cilju da odrazi Gandijev filozofski i arhitektonski okvir društvenog dizajna, rad opisuje i objašnjava postupak obnove i prenamene Spomen-kuće Živojina Mišića u selu Struganik, u zapadnoj Srbiji. S obzirom da je Gandi ekonomsko i političko razmišljanje usredsredio na selo i ruralno okruženje, urbanost moderne arhitekture izostaje iz zgrada koje je projektovao. Autor rada kontekstualizuje Spomen-kuću u okviru nenasilnog arhitektonskog dizajna inspirisanog Gandijem, prikazujući je kao tradicionalnu, seosku i vernakularnu strukturu osmišljenu da sledi principe kretanja, higijene, minimalizma, efikasnosti, niske cene i tek dovoljne količine estetike. Poseban naglasak u radu stavljen je na Gandijevo načelo lokaliteta, jer je struganički svetski poznat kamenolom zajedno sa okolnim šumama poslužio kao izvor građevinskih materijala korišćenih tokom obnove objekta 1987. godine.