The official database of buildings, new facades, sculptures, monuments, fountains and other structures which are components of Skopje’s makeover financed by public funds
According to the plans announced in 2013, the inclusion of one of Skopje’s Modernist landmarks, the iconic City Shopping Mall (Gradski Trgovski Centar, GTC) in the concept of “Skopje 2014”, was to involve its conversion into a completely enclosed space with a new façade, the construction of an additional floor and domes and sculptures on the roof.
The construction project was prepared on the basis of a conceptual design by Zarko Causevski and Filip Bogatinov.
The plan to alter the design of an architectural marvel widely recognised as a symbol of the city united professionals and the general public into a series of protests and continual resistance towards the entire idea of a neo-Baroque Skopje.
The City Shopping Mall – GTC in its original form was a monument to Modernism. With its functionality and pure shape, it was a successful solution for one of the biggest challenges in architecture – designing a building of 38,000 square metres that does not dominate its surroundings but blends in. Built in 1971, it followed the ideas of Kenzo Tange for an urban plan for post-earthquake Skopje, not only by envisaging a shopping mall on the location but also by having roof terraces, ready for the future implementation of an idea to connect the mall to the City Gate and the railway station via a pedestrian bridge. The announced plan to change and dress it up in a Baroque façade caused an avalanche of negative reactions, united in the informal movement “I love the GTC”. This group organised many actions, including a referendum to stop the change of the building. The referendum was unsuccessful but the architects, activists and citizens united in the action have not given up resistance to the intention to change a building they see as an indivisible part of Skopje’s identity.