Erica Chladová is an Architect and Landscape Architect based in the Netherlands. Erica holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a Master’s degree from the Technical University Delft. After working for several prominent US, UK and Dutch studios including Koning Eizenberg Architecture, ZUS and LOLA landscape architects, she co-founded LMNL office [for architecture and landscape] with Robert van der Pol in 2017. Concerned by the hard line traditionally drawn between architects and landscape architects we seek the freedom to be able to work seamlessly across the two disciplines. LMNL designs naturalistic landscapes and architecture made of natural materials. Our practice focuses on sustainability, material research, climate adaptation and technical feasibility and hopes to inspire change in the industry. We take careful consideration of the fundamental elements of nature, light and air, and focus on how design can make more pleasant, livable spaces for the future. The work of the practice encompasses projects across several scales: the first being sustainable and healthy bespoke homes and gardens, the second being larger scale urban studies, and the third is being hands on in our experimental home base, where we are considering the future potentials of rural living and horticulture. In this way we can take lessons learned from one scale and carry them through to others. In addition to her interest in design, Erica is an avid gardener of both vegetables and flowers, and a beekeeper. The work of LMNL office has been featured in publications such as Europan 15: Productive Cities, Bouwwerld, Enki Magazine, Het Houtblad, and exhibited at International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Rotterdam Architecture Month and the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Robert van der Pol is a Dutch Landscape Architect. He holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the Technical University Delft. After working at ZUS – Zones Urbaines Sensibles in Rotterdam, Robert co-founded LMNL office [for architecture and landscape] in 2017 in order to explore alternate ways of working. LMNL designs buildings with biobased and vapour permeable materials, creates meaningful landscapes, and uses light, color and materialization to design sensory, healthy and tactile spaces that age gracefully. In our designs, large and small, we take the impact on both people and nature into account. We hope that sustainable and healthy living in a biodiverse landscape will become standard. In our work we strive for design excellence, without pretension. We focus on designing buildings that are rooted in their environment, and which treat the local, spatial, and natural context respectfully, while strengthening the identity of the place in which they are built. In 2022 LMNL left the city behind and relocated to the countryside. Grondvorm, a design, garden and landscape laboratory, was set up as the new headquarters of the practice. At grondvorm we work on transforming a two hectare former agricultural plot into a bio-diverse and climate proof cultural landscape and invite others to collaborate. In addition to design, Robert focuses on the creation of a diverse wildflower meadow, beekeeping, and the maintenance of the many (fruit) trees on site. Through LMNL and grondvorm we work both on design and the hands-on side of place-making.
About LMNL
LMNL office [for architecture and landscape] is a Dutch studio which specializes in the design of naturalistic landscapes and the architecture of natural materials. Founded in 2017 by Erica Chladová and Robert van der Pol – Erica (Architect and Landscape Architect) and Robert (Landscape Architect) met while completing their graduate studies at the Technical University Delft.
Our working method relies on experimentation with alternative building materials, technologies, form, and logic. We always seek to reconcile sustainable low-impact strategies with the specific needs and limitations of each project, so that the results are diverse and differ in methodological and technical approach.
LMNL works on commissions, competitions, and research studies that bridge the fields of architecture and landscape. Our work seeks to merge the building and the environment, focusing on the liminal space between inside and outside. Sustainability is a priority for us – all our built projects feature sustainable, biobased, and where possible, circular materials. We renovate historic buildings and build new buildings with natural materials that are fully vapor permeable and promote the best possible indoor air quality for their occupants.
Materials we favor include: wood (mass timber and wood frame), wood fibre insulation, hemp, clay and earth plasters, among others. We prefer to focus less on using mechanical installations in buildings and choose instead to rely on material technology. These materials help create and maintain a comfortable interior atmosphere, through their breath-ability and regulatory characteristics.
In addition to architecture we design naturalistic landscapes, large and small, which take the changing climate into consideration and respond as needed. Next to our design practice we are developing a garden, design and landscape laboratory named grond|vorm, where we invite colleagues to collaborate and test out ideas while we work to convert a two hectare disused mono-cultural agricultural landscape into a biodiverse culturally relevant landscape.
We believe in designs where the built form and living landscape benefit from and interact seamlessly with one other. Landscape isn’t subordinate to the structure – the structure however, is secondary to its surroundings. Our goal is to design that interaction between architecture and its landscape to create more playful, powerful and livable places with a look to the future. Our work is defined by a contemporary aesthetic that is rooted in the local vernacular, and is complemented by a strong commitment to sustainable and regenerative (landscape) architecture.
Lecture Synopsis
Regenerative Practice(s): Alternate Ways of Working
The work of LMNL office [for architecture and landscape] is multifocal. Some would say we have a hard time focusing – or maybe we see inspiration and value all around us. As architects and landscape architects we are equally preoccupied with both the inside and the outside, the built and the natural environment, and the liminal space in between. Our creative position is one of outsiders, who feel inspired to find alternate ways of working.
The global emergencies of climate change and biodiversity collapse call for a paradigm shift in the design of the built environment. If we hope to mitigate the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change and restore habitats we must transition away from degenerative, destructive, and short sighted practices that perpetuate the planetary emergency, and towards a regenerative way of working that creates positive outcomes for people and the natural systems we live in.
Regenerative architecture promotes conservation and performance through a focused reduction of the environmental impacts of a building, while taking cues from nature. How can we renovate existing structures using healthy and natural materials in order to lengthen their life spans another century or more? How can we minimize the footprint of new buildings using bio and geo-based materials to reduce the global reliance on carbon-heavy materials like concrete and unhealthy petrochemical based insulations?
Regenerative landscape (architecture) is perhaps less complex. Nature has already shown us the way, and it has the power to heal itself. How can we improve marginalized open spaces in cities and bring people closer to nature? How can we regenerate landscapes outside of cities that have been impacted by industrial agriculture? And why, as designers, did we leave the city to live and work in the countryside? We will show some of our recent work and expand on these topics.
Architects hold the power to help shift the building industry, by carefully choosing the materials they wish to specify, guiding clients to make good decisions, and inspiring them to achieve more with their projects. Sustainable design has been a crucial step in creating green, environmentally conscious structures, but it is not enough to simply be “less bad”. We must now actively restore and replenish landscapes and resources devastated by outdated and destructive building practices.
LMNL’s lecture will be held on the 5th of July in Kino Armata as part of the evening public lectures starting from 18:45
The Keeping It Modern, New Perspectives for Modern Heritage in South-Eastern Europe program is finally announced today. Below is the full program of activities.
Ana, Vladimir & Jovan will be conducting the Tour of Modern Skopje and holding a lecture on their decade long study on the preservation & promotion of Skopje’s Modernism also exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Dr. Ana Ivanovska Deskova is an Associate Professor at the Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage, History of Architecture and Art at the Faculty of Architecture, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. She holds a Master of Science and PhD from the same institution. She teaches the History of Modern Architecture and courses related to the Protection and rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage. Her main research interest is the modern architecture in Skopje, especially the reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake in 1963. She is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). In 2008 and 2014 she was one of the authors of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 2016 to 2018, she was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Dr. Jovan Ivanovski is a Professor at the Department of Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. He finished his Master’s Studies at Dessau Institute of Architecture in Germany (DAAD Alumni) and holds a PhD from the Faculty of Architecture, UKIM, Skopje. Practiced architecture in offices in Switzerland and Germany. His main research interest is the spatial transformation of Skopje during the period of the post-socialist transition. He is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). He was curator of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and one of the authors in 2006 and 2008. From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Vladimir Deskov is a Teaching Assistant and Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design, University American College Skopje. He holds a Diploma in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius Skopje. Currently, he is a Dr. Sci. candidate at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, Croatia. His primary research focuses on the modernization of Skopje, examining how economic, political, and social transformations impact the city’s architecture and urban development. He is the author of numerous research projects and exhibitions on architecture. Among others: „Atlas of the Macedonian Modern Architecture”, held in 2022 at Youth Cultural Center in Skopje; “The Role of the Women Architects in the post-earthquake Renewal of Skopje” held in 2022 in the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje, “Future as a Project – Doxiadis in Skopje”, held in 2018 in Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, “Skopje – Architecture in the Macedonian Context”, held in Ringturm gallery, Vienna, Austria (2017), “Constructing a Modernist Utopia: The Architecture of The Post-Earthquake Renewal of Skopje, 1963-1981”, held in Gallery MC, New York City, USA (2017). In 2008 and 2014 he was one of the authors of the Macedonian National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the curatorial advisory board for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for the 2018 exhibition ‘Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980’.
Architecture of the Utopian City: The Case of Skopje
Skopje is a city situated on a geopolitical crossroad, amidst cultural influences produced and overlapped by rising and declining civilizations. Over the course of history, the city – like the Balkans in general – has been subjected to irregular intervals of (unfinished) urban transformations. These circumstances created very dynamic socio-spatial landscape, rich of contradictory realities, which played a central role in the historic transformation of the city and its architecture.
The built heritage of Skopje is a vivid example of how diverse political concepts, different stages of economic and social development, international architectural movements and technological progress can influence the development of city’s architecture and urban landscape. At the same time, Skopje is an example how a certain historical event – the catastrophic earthquake of 1963 – can become a possibility for the future; interrupting the rapid pace of post WW2 development, this instant natural act of hasty violence on the one hand destroyed nearly 80% of the city, but on the other, became a trigger for new, even more radical type of modernization.
The UN led post-earthquake reconstruction, propelled unprecedented international solidarity and was high in ambition – to promote Skopje as an exemplary global city. At the peak of the Cold War, at a time when the polarization between the two conflicting political blocks was at its highest, Skopje’s post-earthquake renewal process defined solidarity and cooperation as its leading principal. Previously local and unknown Skopje, suddenly became a field of international collaboration, where world’s prominent architects and planners (Van den Broek and Bakema, Kenzo Tange, Konstantinos Doxiadis, Adolf Ciborowski etc.) worked in parallel with authors from Macedonia and other parts of Yugoslavia. The city became a laboratory experimenting with the latest urban forms and architectural paradigms; consequently, the architectural output was not defined by a single style or aesthetic. It rather presented a vibrant pluralism of influences coming from around the world – Japanese metabolism, Dutch Structuralism, Brutalism, together with the continuation of the well-established modernist principles – all appropriated, digested and creating quite unique architectural identity. Built with high architectural ambition, introducing higher standard of culture, education and living, the buildings of the post-earthquake reconstruction of Skopje still remain to be the undoubtedly most powerful segment within its recent architectural history.
The tour as well as the lecture will be held on the 3rd of July 2024 in Skopje, Macedonia
César Bargues Ballester is an Associate Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, USA. He is involved in several projects, including research, publications, and training activities, working towards the goals of the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI). His work on material conservation involves a study of the infill panels, a significant component of the Eames House building envelope, which is a continuation of the on-site investigations and assessments conducted by a multidisciplinary group of consultants and GCI staff members to inform the development of a conservation management plan for the site. Prior to joining the GCI in 2018, he was a Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania, conducting research and managing multi-phase projects. Besides formal training in business disciplines, César holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of various professional associations and serves on the SAH Strategic Planning Committee.
As part of the Keeping It Modern seminar and the Kosovo Architecture Festival Cesar will be holding several lectures on the Getty Initiatives and Conservation & Management Plans. For full details check the KIM & KAFx12 program.
Blerta Kambo is an Albanian artist, activist, photographer and film maker based in Tirana.
Her personal projects follow a conceptual approach, hinged around themes of social and environmental justice, archive, fiction/multiple truths, ecofeminism, and architecture embedded in space, expressing the underlying narrative in their social contexts. Her 16-year commercial experience as a photographer includes documentary, architecture and politics (as photographer for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama) also advertising, corporate and fashion. In 2019 she studied filmmaking at the London Film School (UK) and is currently working more with the moving image, both in documentary/ narrative -fiction and video art.
In 2023 she was a finalist for the Circa Prize, London, UK with her performance-video “Heavy stone”. Her latest project ‘Man of the castle’, a contemporary allegory of gender justice, of feminism in defence of men, was exhibited twice in Tirana, to positive reviews. She is a Member of AWA (Albanian women in audio-visual) and the Feminist Collective (Albania)
She is a 2024 LINA fellow with the Kosovo Architecture Foundation. Her object of visual research and artistic intervention is the ‘Palace of Youth’ in Prishtina.
Her lecture will be held Friday July 5th from 18.45 at Kino Armata.
Tinatin Gurgenitdze lives and works between Berlin and Tbilisi. Trained as an architect and urban designer, Tinatin is involved in research and curatorial work regarding critical urban issues. Tinatin is one of the founders of the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial and was the curator of the Georgian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021. Tinatin is also an author of several publications and articles in journals as “Architectural review” and “Failed Architecture”.
Her lecture will be held at Kino Armata on 3rd of July 2024 from 19.15
Ana Dana Beros is an architect with a ‘critical spatial practice’ that encompasses artistic research, documentary filmmaking, curating, publishing/broadcasting, and exhibition design. She is based between Zagreb, Graz and Trieste.
Co-founder of ARCHIsquad – Division for Architecture with Conscience and its educational program UrgentArchitecture in Croatia (2006-2015). Her interest in architectural theory, experimental design, and publishing as a spatializing practice led her to co-found the international platforms Think Space (2010-2015) and Future Architecture (2016-2021), and she is currently involved with LINA (2022-2025). As a LINA member, she curates DAI-SAI projects From Care to Cure and Back and Architecture of Cure, which investigate the critical architectural heritage of The Children’s Maritime Health Resort of Military Insured Persons in Krvavica. These projects aim to transform both material and immaterial environments from “spaces of common disease” into places of “common healing.”
Her lecture will be held at Kino Armata on Wendnesday 3rd of July 2024 from 18.45.
Amin Taha was born in Berlin and is settled in London, after graduating from the University of Edinburgh he worked in the offices of Zaha Hadid before setting up in private practice. He is chairperson at GROUPWORK, teaches architecture at the Royal College of Art, GSD_Harvard and its cross over into engineering at University College London. He is also a trustee at the Sir John Soane Museum and chair of the annual Soane Medal jury.
GROUPWORK
GROUPWORK is an employee ownership trust of architects in which all are partners sharing responsibilities and income. This ethical foundation is followed through the work by understanding and apply structural, embodied carbon as well as lyrical properties of materials and broader social possibilities in architectural programs. Completed buildings going onto be three times selected and short-listed for the RIBA Stirling Prize and characterized by Rowan Moore, The Guardian and Observer architecture correspondent as “poetry through material assembly”.
Amin’s lecture will be held at Kino Armata on Wednesday 3rd of July 2024 from 20.00.
Cristina Steingräber, a historian of art and architecture based in Berlin, is the cofounder and CEO of ArchiTangle, an independent publisher and digital tech start-up dedicated to socially engaged architectural practice and urbanism. Her academic and professional efforts focus on interdisciplinary knowledge transfer on how architecture can engage with other disciplines in shaping the built environment.
Initially a curator at the National Gallery in Berlin (Nationalgalerie), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB), Steingräber was appointed head of the SMB’s publications department in 2004. Thereafter, Steingräber spent more than a decade as program director and CEO of Hatje Cantz, a leading global publisher in the visual arts, photography, and architecture (2006–17). She possesses deep industry expertise, and as an expert in architecture history, bookmaking, and a technology enthusiast, Steingräber, with her firm, is introducing the integration of traditional print and cutting-edge technology through blockchain-based digital book extensions, adding a new dimension to knowledge transfer in the field. She holds a PhD in art and architectural history from Kiel University (CAU) alongside an MBA in Economics, focusing on innovation and digital transformation, from the prestigious TUM School of Management at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In 2023, Steingräber established a foundation. The aim of the ArchiTangle Foundation is to improve living conditions globally through digital knowledge transfer in the built environment. The Foundation supports projects in the fields of architecture, urbanism, housing, and human rights. It carries out its own projects and supports charitable initiatives by other organizations. Steingräber is frequently engaged as an invited lecturer, critic, and jury member in the fields of art, architecture and business development.
ArchiTangle is an independent book publisher and tech start-up. By combining traditional print books with innovative digital formats, ArchiTangle aims to disseminate and preserve architectural knowledge, ensuring its accessibility for future generations.
The core of ArchiTangle’s program focuses on publishing books that highlight architectural projects with substantial social impact, thus upholding cultural and ethical values in architecture. These publications explore how architecture can address pressing issues—such as urban and rural development, social justice, community engagement, and responsible building practices—and shape the built environment. By partnering with renowned institutions, architects, and artists, ArchiTangle produces publications that showcase innovative design while provoking thoughtful discourse on the role of architecture in society.
A key feature of ArchiTangle’s offerings is the deep-tech innovation Book+, which provides additional digital content to complement traditional print publications. The content is stored using cutting-edge blockchain technology. This exceptional approach ensures that information remains tamper-proof and accessible for generations to come, adding a new dimension to architectural publishing. Book+ enriches the readers’ understanding of the context, scope, and significance of the featured projects, providing ongoing insights and preserving the integrity of the data like never before.
ArchiTangle’s commitment extends beyond the physical book, offering comprehensive publishing services that manage the entire process—from consulting, research, and content creation to graphic design, editing, and production. The goal is to make architectural publications cultural assets by maintaining the highest standards of quality in content and by focusing on sustainable material selection.