Dr. Marko Icev is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the International Balkan University in Skopje, North Macedonia. He holds a PhD in Critical Studies in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Icev also earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Jefferson University and a Master of Science in Urban Design from the Pratt Institute.

His research focuses on modernity in the 19th and 20th centuries, architectural labor organization, and alternative models to capitalist frameworks. His dissertation, “Building Solidarity,” explores the post-earthquake reconstruction of Skopje in 1963, examining international collaborations and architectural labor as a form of solidarity.

Dr. Icev has published widely and contributed to both Macedonian and international architectural discourse. He has also been a recipient of the Mellon Foundation scholarship for the Urban Humanities, further supporting his interdisciplinary research approach.

Research Abstract: Historic Insights into Self-Management and Architecture

This project explores self-management in architecture as an alternative form of labor organization, comparing the pre-WWII period and the socialist era in Yugoslavia and the surrounding region. The primary goal is to highlight architectural projects and methods that are often overlooked in traditional historiography. By examining these often-neglected approaches, the project seeks to establish connections between the history of self-management in architecture and contemporary scholarship on alternative social organizations. Additionally, the project aims to uncover alternative models to the conventional narratives of architectural historiography and practice, offering new perspectives on the development of architecture during these periods.