The first breakthrough of radical Brutalism in Skopje was the iconic City Archive Building. It was designed by Georgi Konstantinovski, who completed his master studies at Yale with Paul Rudolph and Serge Chermayeff, thanks to another form of aid to the post-earthquake Skopje—a US government grant—and he later worked with Ieoh Ming Pei. Those experiences, as well as the influence of Louis Kahn, are synthesized in the City Archive Building, situated in the undeveloped part of the city. The “servant” entrance portion of the building and the “served” silo containing the archive are reigned in by the strict bi-axial symmetry, emphasized by massive load-bearing pillars placed at the volumes’ cut-off corners. Both the interior and exterior finishes are executed in bush-hammered concrete; a direct appropriation from Paul Rudolph’s Yale Art & Architecture Building. The function and the scale of the introverted building are difficult to read due to the lack of conventional architectural elements. The sculptural City Archive Building attracted critical attention in Yugoslavia and set the tone for further research into memorable urban forms.

Excerpt from Maroje Mrduljaš and Ana Ivanovska’s article in: SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey. Catalog DAM + Wüstenrot Foundation, Zurich (Park Books) 2017

Heavily damaged in a fire in 2017.