Dejan Todorović

What are the highlights of your career?
In Spain we did several social housing and housing projects, and recycling centers, but the main emphasis was on ephemeral architecture and temporary displays for museums, exhibitions and commercial centers. Once back in Belgrade I founded NOOTO, an architectural design studio and worked on the reconstruction of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade (MoCAB). In Serbia, my other most important works are the Bregalnicka St. housing project, family houses in Bregovita St. and Kosmaj, a kindergarten in Pregrevica St., hotels in Visegrad and Sokolac, and the Marina Dorcol mixed use complex.

What were your sources of inspiration for MoCAB?
My inspiration for the design was to recreate the main values that were within the Museum in 1965 when it opened – and at the same time to recreate it in a new manner so that it can accept new forms of arts and function with new kinds of expressions of art. I wanted to overlap the old design with new tendencies, to achieve a different and innovative design for the museum, whose look hadn't changed in 50 years.

Why is light so important in architecture - what is its role?

Light is crucial in architecture – it’s always very important to find the truth about the light in architecture. You can't work with materials without knowing how each works in different types of light – natural or artificial. You need to have an understanding of light and how to design good artificial lighting – and not just take into account the building material. Otherwise, all your hard work will have been for nothing if the lighting isn't well done.