Resonating Optimism: Gradski Trgovski Ventar (GTC), Designed by Zivko Popovski

In 1965, now sixty years ago, the architect of the Gradski Trgovski Centar in Skopje, Živko Popovski, travelled to Rotterdam to work at the famed office of Van den Broek and Bakema for about half a year. I spoke with a former employee, Frans Hooykaas, who worked as a direct assistant to Jaap Bakema including numerous competitions and public presentations. He is now 86 years old: do you remember him? Yes! He was full of energy and enthusiasm. I see his photo on the internet now, and recognize his grey mustache, at the time a well-groomed black line in a very lively face. He moved around as if his limbs, legs and arms were all connected by elastics. But sorry, not so much more. Did he work on the Skopje project? On the design that the Van den Broek and Bakema office submitted to the UN competition after the city was hit by an earthquake? Not sure... But it seems likely since he came from Skopje? Also handy in terms of language. If so, he must have worked with the group of Stokla in the office, who did most of the competitions. We were doing so many competitions in those years, big city schemes: Tel Aviv and Ashdod in Israel, the Pampus plan for Amsterdam, Frankfurt am Main in Germany, the university buildings in Bochum, Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Zurich... The special aspect of Skopje was to work with existing buildings, the remaining constructions after the disaster of the earthquake had to be spared and included. [...]