Critical regionalism in the work of architect Branislav Mitrovic

Abstract

In the Serbian architecture from the end of the twentieth and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Branislav Mitrovic (1948) distinguished himself as the most successful author of the whole orientation, as opponent of globalization uniformity and widespread conservatism. Overall, his work links the ideas of late modern and critical regionalism as the direction of the world postmodern architecture. Filled with historical reminiscences and complex meanings, rarely built out of context, it has a signified significance in contemporary post-Yugoslav architecture, derived from universalist sterility. Mitrovic's critical regionalism does not possess the eclectic features of fashionable regionalism, but is based on the selection of the best historical traits of the Balkan-Mediterranean climate and their transfer to modernity. Traditional classical and folklore motifs succesfully revives with new materials, while regulating the spatial matrix on the most functional principles.