Discussion of Spaces as Palimpsest Through an Architectural Design Competition Project: The Case of Student City Complex in New Belgrade

Abstract

Since their foundation, cities have been in constant change as physical spaces that directly reflect the lives of their inhabitants. The numerous layerings that urban spaces have undergone throughout their history and the continuity of this layering in a space has a palimpsest quality. This study discusses the spatial dimension of the palimpsest concept through the winning project from an international architectural design competition. In this competition, which created an international platform for discussion, the design approaches of the projects in the award group were comparatively evaluated within the framework of the palimpsest concept. As a result of the evaluation, it was concluded that using the palimpsest nature of cities, especially in historical areas, as an input is a design approach that produces holistic solutions in many aspects, such as protection of the space’s spirit, sustainability of collective memory and coexistence with the past. Keywords: Palimpsest, Belgrade, international architectural design competition, urban memory, adaptive reuse.