COMPETITION ENTRY FOR UNIVERSAL HALL SKOPJE

The Universal Hall is one of the most iconic and sentimentally significant buildings for the city of Skopje. The reason for its occurrence is a memorable artifact for the post-earthquake history of the city as well as a direct evidence of human solidarity. Applying the concept of abstraction / subtraction of the old volume off the offered capacity of the building location, a new typology is made defining the building as a public structure and urban space that celebrates and remembers a past time , still focusing on the future and the needs of the contemporary city . This internal void represents a monument of the old building as well as an internal plaza made for gatherings and celebrations. The inner square is the womb of the new facility , the main venue for communication, as well as an urban element for collecting and attracting visitors and passers-by. By setting a ramp as the main pedestrian street witch circles the internal plaza, an easy access is made to all the program entities inside the building.