Usce Tower - soon ready!

Not long time ago I wrote about the USCE Tower in Novi Beograd and showed here the new project for a second tower and a big Shopping Center.
In the meantime, the planned project changed, and should now look like the visualisation above.

The tower is ready and in use and the shopping center is taking shape. This it's like it looks in November 2008 (pictures from beobuilt).

Just in April 2007 the site looked lik this.


The reconstruction is made by: Dejan Sokolov and Đorđe Bobić of Slavija Biro and Branislav Redžić, Dragan Ivanović and Zoran Đorović of ARCVS, Belgrade

For the first tower, which is now ready, 30 Mio. Euro were invested. For the second tower (which is already aproved but it's still not known when realisation will start) it's estimated that 60 Mio. Euro will be invested.
USCE-tower transfomed itself from a symbol of communism (when it's still was called CK-Building from Centralni Komitet) to one of the most modern and elite business center of the balkans, though the complete oposite!

Even a comparison with the WTC in New York comes in my mind, when looking at the planned project.
USCE was attacked by NATO in 1999, it burned for several hours, but the structure didn't give up and the building was still standing.
Only 2 years later the WTC in New York was hit by a similar destiny.
What else they have in common: they were both civil building and got attacked because of their symbolic meaning.


What I particularly like about the USCE building is, when they put messges with lights on the fasade. It looks amazing how the building disapears and the sings glow in the dark.

Hotel Avala near Belgrade

Around the Avala Region there are a few landmarks that are worth visiting: the Avala Tower that will be soon ready again after NATO bombed and destroyed the tower in 1999 (I wrote about it here) the Unknown Soldier Monument dedicated to Serbian heroes fallen in World War I (described below) and the Hotel Avala an building in modern "Bauhaus"-like style.

Placed on less then 15 minutes of driving from the center of Belgrade and only 50 meters from the top of mountain Avala, which is protected natural zone, this hotel was built in 1928 on demand of King Alexandar Karađorđević for the purposes of ministry of forestry & waterpower engineering of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was projected by Russian architect Viktor Lukomski

The Unknown Soldier Monument

dedicated to Serbian heroes fallen in World War I
(designed by sculptor Ivan Meštrović , erected in 1938)

The Avala is a low, type of the Pannonian island mountain, though it is actually the northernmost mountain in Šumadija. Until 600,000 years ago, when the surrounding low areas were flooded by the inner Pannonian Sea, the Avala was an island, just as the neighboring mountains (Kosmaj, Fruška Gora) , thus earning its geographical classification.

Lot of events of national importance are related with this building. One of them took place here in 1929 when the First Ski Championship of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia started from today's parking lot. Also the first Ski Championship of Serbia after World War II started from here. In may 1957 the first TV signal in Yugoslavia was sent from the roof of the hotel.

Today it's working as hotel and restaurant. Here is the website.

VMA Building in Belgrade

The Vojnomedicinska akademija (Military Medical Academy) of Belgrade is a massive, modern building constructed in 1980 on top of the Banjica hill, thus visible from many lower parts of the city. It is the largest single hospital in Serbia (1500 bed, 1 medical faculty, 40 clinics and 22 operating theatres)


It is a part of the military of Serbia and is generally intended to serve the officers and soldiers (although it is open for civilians as well) and is known for its high standard in medical practice. Josip Osojnik (1923) and Slobodan Nikolic (1931) together drew up the plans for this amazing building in 1973. The structure is reinforced concrete with a 7.2 x 7.2 meter grid. The lower part is an enormous rectangular base of 4 storeys with the upper one in the shape of a cross that is 5 storeys high. From the basement to the top, including all in-between levels it adds up to 16 floors! The exterior facade finish is made of marble, aluminium and copper.

Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures inside, but the main hall is really amazing. With serbian documents (Licna Karta) you can enter the building (or foreign passport and friendliness or/and a good reason ...can do the trick...). Or take a glimpse on the website!

Modernism in Bratislava

This post is not as usual about Balkan architecture.
When I recently went to Serbia, for a short holiday with my husband and my son, we decided to visit Bratislava (Slovakia) on the way, because earlier this year my husband showed me a picture of the Radio Slovakia Building...and I got very curious about this city!
It's sure worth a visit!
To see the nice landmarks, the old town, the castle and some good architecture from the past centuries there are tones of good torurist guides. (I simply consulted this free online guide of Bratislava)


But what exited me a lot about this city and I'd like to show it in this post, is the unique modernist architecture of the city.

ome really good masterpieces of an architecture I always loved!

HOTEL KYJEV

We stayed at Hotel Kyjev, an enormous building just in the center of Bratislava and a landmark of the city. Hotel Kyjev (built 1963 - 1973) by architekt Ivan Matusik is a reminder of the audacious communist architecture with a futurist touch.



The building is scheduled for demolishion, and a new project is planned instead. The new project should house two hotels, as well as office space and luxury apartments. Two new pedestrian promenades will be built, along with four floors of underground parking.


In the communist era the Kyjev was for a period of time one of Bratislava's nicest hotels, serving "capitalist" foreigners and communist VIPs. After the fall of Communism in 1989 the Hotel remained in service, but because of constant rumours of closure have circulated for several years, the Hotel has invested very little in upgrading its facilities recently.

pictures from this book

The management decided to cover one of the sides with a large advertising banner, obscuring the views from rooms. Like that they probably manage to keep the 180 rooms going and the staff (who is indeed very friendly, specially when they saw our serbian last name!) get paid.

The room in the 10th floor

the reception and the entrance hall

elevators in marble

NOVY MOST

Some pictures of the restaurant's website

The first building (or structure) that entering the city, fascinated me, is the Novy Most (the new Bridge) across the Danube with its futuristic UFO-like tower restaurant. The bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in category with one pylon and with one cable-stayed plane. It was built between 1968 and 1973 under a project by Jozef Lacko, Ladislav Kušnír and Ivan Slameň. Since 2005 the name of the restaurant is "UFO" earlier it was Bystrica. You can reach the restaurant using the elevator situated in the left pillar.or there is an emergency staircase in the right pillar.
From there you have a fantastic view allover the city.


SLOVAK RADIO BUILDING

Another interesting building is the Slovakian Broadcasting's inverted pyramid-shaped headquarters by Štefan Svetko, Štefan Ďurkovič and Barnabaš Kissling built from 1962 - 1985

KAMZIK TV TOWER


Also surprising is the Kamzik TV Tower in the Koliba area of Bratislava by Stanislav Májek, Jakub Tomašák, Milan Jurica, Juraj Kozák and Ján Privitzer built 1967-1974 . The tower has an observation deck and the revolving "VEŽA"-restaurant at 70 m height, both open to visitor daily from 11.30 to 23.00.

And here some more awsome examples of Modernism in Bratislava (all pictures from this book):

University of Agriculture
Nitra Vladimír Dedeček, Rudolf Miňovsky
1960-1966

National Archives Bratislava
Vladimír Dedeček
1970-1983

National Gallery Vladimír Dedeček 1967-1979

Hotel Panorama
Štrbské Pleso and Zdenek Řihák 1965-1970

Reception lounge for Guests of State
Bratislava Airport Ján Bahna and Voitech Vilhan 1972-1973

For more pictures follow this link at Peter's "ostarchitekur"-site.

Red Star Apartments in Belgrade

The Serbian capital of Belgrade is currently experiencing a tremendous construction boom that is transforming it into an attractive, modern metropolis in south-eastern Europe.
A growing number of real estate investors are discovering Belgrade as an attractive boom market in the Balkans. Construction is taking place virtually throughout the city: from blocks of flats, prefab renovation and new apartments to sports facilities, shopping centres, business parks, logistics centres and entire new factories. Even a modern marina and an aqua park are under construction to compensate for the fact that Montenegro's independence means that Serbia no longer has access to the Adriatic, and thus no longer has a coastline.
The latest trends: there is still particularly heavy demand for new shopping and office facilities. Now that affordable mortgages have become available, residential construction and the business of renovating old prefabricated buildings are booming. At the same time, prices everywhere are exploding. And the trend is still rising.

Belgrade's city administration regards the ongoing, vigorous construction boom as an indication that the Serbian capital has managed to overcome the isolation and stagnation of the past and initiate a process of urban development and renovation.

Here a Project that I personally like a lot: The Red Star Apartments


Red Star Appartments Residential complex is an already approved project, that is planned to be started in 2008/2009. It's situated near delta City Shopping Mall from the same investor (Delta Invest Group) and the famous "Crvena Zvezda" - Marakana Stadion in the Novi Beograd Area.
Arranged in one 8-floor cascading building and one 18-floor tower, the investor wanted great layouts and an abundance of daylight, so as to maximize healthy living conditions.