Ksenija Đorđević: Responsible Architecture means Building what Deserved to remain

Psychiatrists often emphasize that comparing emotional and physical pain is ultimately futile — both are experienced with equal intensity. In the context of ongoing global conflicts and the increasingly fragile state of international peace, architecture, as the physical body of society, visibly suffers, while culture, as the soul of a nation, gradually begins to lose its authentic identity.

On the subject of contemporary architecture, global instability, and the values shaping the world today, we speak with renowned architect Ksenija Đorđević.

CDH Talks: Dear Ksenija, it is a great pleasure to sit here in your studio and speak with you today. Reflecting on our introduction, it seems to me that you witness these circumstances firsthand. The market in which you work and create is also feeling the consequences itself. Am I right?

Ksenija Đorđević: Yes, absolutely. First of all, thank you for such a thoughtful introduction. I truly believe that the global question of peace is both deeply frustrating and extraordinarily complex. At the same time, on a personal level, it is intellectually fascinating to observe the current geopolitical landscape and the way it reflects onto our immediate environment.The entire system that has existed for decades — a system built upon rather fragile foundations such as the constant pursuit of “growth,” “progress,” and “development” — is beginning to collapse. I genuinely believe that a new paradigm is already emerging, one based on values fundamentally different from those we have known so far.

What I am certain of is that this linear system of domination will gradually be replaced by co-creative systems founded on collaboration, connectivity, and shared responsibility. In such a framework, amateur politicians will inevitably give way to professionals and experts. The true drivers of change must be creators — people capable of generating real value. I deeply believe in that.

At the same time, I strongly believe we are moving toward the empowerment of the feminine principle of leadership. I do not mean replacing a male-dominated society with a female-dominated one, but rather transitioning away from an extreme system of power and control — conditioned primarily by money — toward a model shaped by empathy, sensitivity, and deeper human understanding.

It is a way of moving in the diametrically opposite direction - of breaking away from subservience and creating a profound spirituality. It is a somewhat higher layer of life, where more refined values prevail. In that sense, I believe architecture holds one of the ley roles. I will quote Heri Lefebvre, with whom I deeply agree: architecture is an event, design is an event.

CDH Talks: Could you elaborate on the essence of that idea?

Ksenija Đorđević: The principle that has guided me since the beginning of my career — and which largely stems from my background in ballet and choreography — is that whenever I enter a space, I first close my eyes and imagine not how the space should look, but what should happen within it. Only then do I begin shaping a space capable of initiating and encouraging that particular experience or interaction.

In his book The Urban Revolution, Lefebvre writes: “Space is creation. Whoever creates space also shapes what will happen within that space. Good spaces generate good energy.”

In that sense, I believe architecture and urbanism will eventually play a crucial role once humanity begins redefining its priorities. We will have to think carefully about creating environments that encourage precisely the kinds of people and values I mentioned earlier.

CDH Talks: When you close your eyes now, how do you envision the future unfolding?

Ksenija Đorđević: All of these models of extreme urbanization and architecture — long subordinate to real estate development — are now being fundamentally redefined. The imperative of constant expansion and capital generation, is gradually being replaced by a new priority that places the human being at the center.

Interior design is already returning to a kind of “back to basics” philosophy, and I believe the same transformation will inevitably take place in architecture and urbanism as well.

CDH Talks: When did the problem actually begin? What were the underlying causes?

Ksenija Đorđević: The turning point came with the emergence of a post-ideological society. Architecture is always a manifestation of social structures. We can clearly observe this through the example of American “New Urbanism”: the model of the house with front and back yards, the narrative of the “happy family” — all of which represented an ultimately unsuccessful response to broader societal problems the United States faced at the time.

It was an attempt to say: “Let us redefine life,” and suddenly everyone began living according to a pre-drawn model, almost like in The Truman Show.

Architecture is, in essence, a framework for a particular lifestyle, but it is also a silent language through which political elites express what they cannot openly articulate.

CDH Talks: Do you mean that it shapes all the other manners of the so-called ''post-ideological society''?

Ksenija Đorđević: Architecture has increasingly become subservient to the real estate industry, which has generated a demand for hyper-production.

When we speak about sustainability, I truly believe that beyond green building practices and construction technologies, the most sustainable form of architecture — the one we genuinely want to preserve — is the architecture that possesses intrinsic value.

When designing spaces, we must constantly ask ourselves a fundamental question: Is what we are creating worthy of remaining once we are no longer here? That is responsible design, and I consider it the foundation of sustainability.

CDH Talks: Who are the professionals who subservient?

Ksenija Đorđević: I would return to the exhibition held at the Venice Architecture Biennale about ten years ago, Reporting from the Front. Alejandro Aravena, who served as curator, established a very clear brief: ''let us stop focusing on extraordinarily sculptural, deconstructivist, high-tech, formally spectacular buildings. Instead, let us identify the real problems society faces, and consider how architecture and urbanism might respond meaningfully.''

Each participating country was tasked with identifying the most pressing challenges within its society and demonstrating how architecture could contribute to addressing them.

What we are discsing today is ultimately a consequence of the fact that we often fail to approach our work with the understanding that our primary responsibility is to recognize the needs of both individuals and society — and then formulate meaningful responses through architecture and design.

Too often, we fail to identify problems properly, to ask the essential questions, or to offer solutions through architectural practice. If we succeeded in doing so, these fragmented and discontinuous spatial conditions would no longer exist.

As creators, we must think from the perspective of the user and remain aware that our role is not to add surplus value for its own sake, but rather to create real value — in other words, to solve problems.

CDH Talks: Where does architecture set the bar when the question of responsibility comes up?

Ksenija Đorđević: As Alejandro Aravena himself demonstrated when addressing teh issue of favelas, the central question was: can the problem be solved? No. Can we attempt to address it? Yes.

His intervention was as follows: from that point on, if we are to build a house anywhere within the favelas, with a capped fund budget of a maximum of ten thousand dollars, it is clear that we cannot construct a complete dwelling. Instead, we bulid half a house. We provide basic infrastructure connections and establish the foundations, the slab, and the staircase, while the rest is completed by the people who will live there. In this way, we gradually introduce order and system into what is otherwise chaos. The criteria become focused on human needs, and within the limits of available resources, one does the best possible - bringing creative intelligence to the resolution of a concrete problem.

CDH Talks: In all these reflections, I find in you a considerable amount of optimism. Where does that link between reality and optimism lie?

Ksenija Đorđević: Absolutely—and always—in creation. That is completely clear in my profession. Anyone who is inclined to love working with ideas and concepts can easily handle them. Those who think conceptually know how rewarding—and at the same time exciting—it is when you have a certain idea.

An idea becomes a sketch, a sketch becomes a project, a project becomes space—and this materialization, this act of creation from what is essentially nothing but an idea, results in space, a hotel, a complex. That transformation is a source of immense satisfaction.

On the other hand, we are witnessing a global collapse of values. Entire regions are being levelled in order to announce large real estate developments—not urban interventions, but real estate developments. It is absolutely appalling. That system is not sustainable; at some point it will inevitably collapse. And then… then comes creation.

CDH Talks: All this time I have been trying to understand what your faith in goodness is grounded in?

Ksenija Đorđević: There must always exist an impermeable membrane composed of individuals who are self-referential—who are able to hold their ground long enough not to collapse. I believe this is, in my case, both a personal and professional responsibility. Additionally, it is a responsibility I feel toward my ancestors, to whom I am deeply connected, and toward certain future generations.

CDH Talks: Who are those individuals in their essence?

Ksenija Đorđević: People who truly believe in the principles of empathy, networking, and creation. Creators who possess a level of deep spirituality and a connection to their own being, to their context, and to their country.

CDH Talks: It seems to me that in the sea of all available offerings—values, information, “spiritual awakening,” and maturation—we are, unfortunately, getting an even more problematic society, even more stupidity. How can we distinguish and recognize that authentic act of creation, and separate it from empty phrases? Where can we even recognize quality and the potential for change?

Ksenija Đorđević: We are subjects of an embedded value system. I was fortunate to function, in several situations, within a zero-level system. I will explain. At one point, I was involved in mountaineering. I spent several weeks in the Alps, surrounded by snow and ice, in a space where nothing is beautiful anymore, nothing is inspirational, nothing is poetic.

Nature itself is a zero-level system, where you can, in essence, if you choose, measure your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual capacities one-to-one. In that “context-less” space, it can be very frustrating. I am no longer Ksenija Đorđević, an architect from an old merchant family. Ultimately, it is also profoundly liberating. I have never before or since felt that kind of peace that comes from that form of self-measurement. Here I am—I am who I am.

CDH Talks: The interior of this studio comes after your mountaineering experience? The dominant tone is a very gentle white?

Ksenija Đorđević: It is my manifesto.

You know, I truly believe there are almost absolute values. That meta-layer of life is what actually interests me the most. The question of luxury and elite is, at this moment, one of the most repellent questions. If you can open a door for yourself to the meta-layer of life, you have opened the door to luxury. Whenever I can, I go to a concert by Martha Argerich.

Martha Argerich is, in my view, certainly the greatest living pianist, and when you listen to her play, you feel as if you are in the presence of something greater than yourself, greater than her, greater than everything. You find yourself in a situation that says: “This is something close to the absolute,” something greater than all of us present who are listening. Those are moments that tell you that, in this entire arrangement of things where values are at a rather low level, there exists proof of an absolute value.

I will also mention a memory from my early twenties. Year after year, I used to go to the Music Academy held in Studenica. Each year, around a hundred participants from different choirs across Serbia would gather there. We would listen to lectures by Dimitrije Stefanović and Professor Miloš Vesan. I especially remember one moment when about a hundred of us were singing in Radisavljeva’s narthex, which has exceptional acoustics. We sang Tchaikovsky’s “Svjati Bože,” a vast, powerful, monumental work. The conductors would be Darinka Matić Marković or Bojan Sučić. That sense of togetherness, collective energy, and connection to an absolute vertical that transcends even the religious moment—it was completely centered, when we collectively generated that kind of energy. That is the path.

It is very important that in a given society a certain group of people is formed who articulate values—values that will inevitably spill over into the rest of society. It does not have to be the majority. Think of figures like Miša Anastasijević, Kolarac, Kalemić, Luka Ćelović, Miloš Savčić, and the other fifty or so people who were at the time the most capable, the most educated. They resonated with a similar creative energy, ready to articulate values that later permeated the wider society.

CDH Talks: We can still, though rarely, encounter avant-garde individuals of exceptional behavior, reflected in their gestures, their perception of thought, values, spoken expression, and reasoning—thus, stable on a mental, emotional, intellectual, social, political, and economic level. When we take such people as examples, we can easily draw a clear distinction from an automatic adoption of today’s narrative filled with clichés like “work on yourself,” “thinking outside the box,” “move yourself out of the comfort zone.”

Ksenija Đorđević: One must create for oneself a zero-level system that clearly places one where one truly is. A higher layer of life: creation, deep grounding (for a higher layer of life and creation, deep grounding is necessary). A strong connection and anchoring in one’s own historical and cultural code.

CDH Talks: When you speak of grounding, I recognize in you, above all, a stable inner authority. A prerequisite for the development of identity, in order for one to act on a societal level.

Ksenija Đorđević: To have the potential to be self-referential in social interactions at any level. In simple terms, you are the point against which other things are measured or defined.

CDH Talks: In that way, in architecture, we would lose the need for grotesque projects and the creation of sculptural skyscrapers that stem from a need for, at the very least, grandiosity and narcissistic admiration.

Ksenija Đorđević: Absolutely. We would then focus on identities, on authentic and real human needs, on problem-solving, and we would derive feedback-based satisfaction. In that case, the myths about great leaders would also disappear.

CDH Talks: Thank you, it was a pleasure.

Ksenija Đorđević: Likewise, I enjoyed it.