Hotel Pošta in Belgrade

The famous Hotel Post (Хотел Пошта) projected by famous Belgrade architect Branislav Kojic in 1931 is undergoing remodeling works and will open again later in 2011. The building is at Savska Nr.3 near the Main Train Station. 

Belgrade based architect Mustafa Musić from "Zenit inženjering" Office made an interesting project for this transformation in a new 4-stars Hotel with 4'000m2.

The old Hotel was build in the modern style architecture that was popular between the two Worldwars. Branislav Kojic was one of the architects that didn't follow just follow modernist principles, he found also inspiration in academism and national style. Hotel Post was built on the property of the hotelier Đura Ninković which bought it in 1927 and removed the existing buildings from the property.
Kojic was conditioned by the shape of the lot when he planned the Hotel, so it got an irregular, almost rectangular shape. This three-floor building with attic, has only one facade, although originally it stood freely and could be seen from each side. This facade treatment is typical for Kojić’s architectural expression. 

The new project by Mustafa Musić expands the Hotel with a new building in the yard and with adding some more floors on the existing part of the building. 

The 3,3Mio Project, with 66 rooms, 4 luxury apartments, wellness center and a big Restaurant keeps the modernist between Worldwars Style but with a contemporary, even futuristic spirit.

 Like Branislav Kojic who added some folkloristic details to his facades, Musić made a modern facade but with some sophisticated details, like the coloured bow-windows.

Mustafa Musić was born in 1949 in Belgrade where he graduated in 1975 at the architectural faculty. He runs "Zenit inženjering" since 1990. He was also guest professor at the architectural faculty in Belgrade and realized more than 50 projects.

His website: http://www.mustafamusic.net

Block 23 in New Belgrade

Blok 23 in New Belgrade is just around the corner of Blok 28 (my usual residence when I'm in Belgrade) and a couple of weeks ago I made a walk through the blocks to take some pictures.
The project was made by Bozidar Jankovic (1931), Branislav Karadzic (1929) and Aleksandar Stjepanovic (1931) a team that planned several housing projects with accompanying buildings and constructed the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. They valorised architecture with expressive materials (rough concrete, brick, dyed linen).

I like the combination of residential blocks in the background and the red-orange school in the middle of the block.

The buildings of block 23 were constructed  from 1968 to 1974. The buildings are organized along two circulation corridors; narrow courtyards are located between the circulation cores. The buildings are constructed of prefabricated concrete elements.
More on blocks of New Belgrade in my posts here (Block70) and here(the future of New Belgrade).

Apartments are open to two sides, while the kitchen and dining area look onto the courtyard. Balconies are located on both sides and are often built out into a loggia or used as additional storage space.

The apartments have intelligent floor layouts, most of the flats can be divided into private zones for the family and zones for social contact. 
A lot of apartments are very flexible and the layout can be easily adapted to the request of the owners.

The yards are a little scary...just a minimum of designing makes it a rather sad place to be

Facade of the school building

 The ground floor facades are mostly full of graffiti, a rather typical thing in the blocks.

 The head of the long 10-storey building

 Building types:

The first type are the residential Towers with groundfloor plus 16 floors, the second type of building has a groundfloor plus ten upper floors and then there are two buildings about 280m long, the third type of building is a meander type with a groundfloor plus four floors and they are located on the east and west border of this block.
.

The pinwheel-like floorplans of the residential towers

 

The school with sport facilities in the middle of the block

The urban strategy of a long, protective volume, large green spaces, and some residential towers as an eye-catcher is enhanced with the use of varied architectural forms.

 

The new built Verano Building in the northwest corner of the block

(more information here at beobuild)