Establishing Local Identity Through Planning and Landscape Design in Belgrade Urban Riverfront

ExpansionFINAL EXAM

Politecnico di Milano

Supervisor : CAJA MICHELE GIOVANNI

Co-Supervisor : ZAROULAS SOTIRIOS

Students : Maric Ivona 882689

Nikolic Djordje 882638

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Content

HISTORY OF BELGRADE...............................................................3

DORT – JOL (FOUR STREETS CROSSWAY)............................5

BELGRADE URBAN PLAN AND FIRST PROPOSALS..............6

GREEN BELT....................................................................................7

RESIDENTAL BUILDINGS..............................................................9

CULTURAL QUARTER..................................................................10

POWER AND LIGHT......................................................................10

CITY GATES....................................................................................11

GREEN ZONES...............................................................................14

DANUBE PROMENADE................................................................16

BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................17

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HISTORY OF BELGRADE

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, and its history dates back to at least 7000 BC. It is known as a city with turbulent history and it is one of the oldest city in Europe. It is located at the mouth of two rivers, the Danube river and the Sava river, which is why the area was inhabited in the Paleolithic period. Numerous archeological sites on the territory of the city can tell us that the area of Belgrade was also inhabited during the Neolithic period. Belgrade’s prehistoric population was predominantly engaged in plow farming.

As a fortified settlement, Belgrade was first mentioned in 279 BC. N. E. The origin of the city is associated with the Celtic tribe Skordisci, who gave it the name Singidunum.

As the new era began, Singidunum was owerpowered by the Romans who ruled for four centuries. During their time, Singidunum – was known as significant military stronghold, but also grown into a large settlement. When the Roman Empire reigned in 395, Singidunum was Byzantine frontier town, greatly influencing its further fate.

As penetration into the Balkans and therefore Belgrade was the goal of many masters, and Belgrade changed many of them. Unfortunately, during these campaigns the city was destroyed many times, and on several occasions it was completely destroyed.

Belgrade suffered its first devastation during the Great Migration of the Peoples, when the city was runed by Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepids, Heruli, Avars and Slavs. The arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans is considered one of the most important events in the history of this part of the world. With Slavs arrival, the Singidunum era ended and the Belgrade became Belgrade.

Under its present name, Belgrade was first mentioned in 878, when it was under Bulgarian rule for two centuries.

After the breakup of the Bulgarian state, Hungary and Byzantium broke up around Belgrade during the 11th and 12th centuries. In these struggles, Belgrade was completely destroyed.

It was 1284. when Belgrade first time was under the control and rule of Serbian King Dragutin.

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At the beginning of the 14th century, Belgrade was once again burned and returned to Hungary. Only after a century did Belgrade again belong to the Serbs.

Due to the agreement with the King of Hungary in 1403. In the year, Despot Stefan became the master of Belgrade, and then Belgrade became the Serbian capital for the first time. Unfortunately, after the despot's death, Belgrade was again under Hungarian rule and remained under it until the 16th century.

In the 16th century, the Turks conquered Belgrade. They renamed it Dar Dar Jihad - the house of the Holy War.

During the period between the 16th and the beginning of the 19th century, Belgrade was the victim of wars between Austria and Turkey. During those wars, Belgrade was demolished and rebuilt again and again.

After three and a half centuries, Belgrade became Serbian authorithy again.

The 19th century was marked by the Serbian uprisings against the Turks and the struggle for independence that Serbia gained in 1878 and made Belgrade the capital of the Kingdom of Serbia.

During the 20th century, Belgrade was bombed four times. The first time - the Austrians done this in the First World War. During the Second World War, around fifty thousand Belgraders were killed and the city suffered from invaluable damage.

In the post-war period, Belgrade as the capital of Yugoslavia became a significant European city. The death of Joseph Broz Tito in 1980 represented the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia, by which time the ninety years of the last century had finally come.

At the end of the century, more precisely in 1999, Belgrade was bombed once again. This time by the NATO Pact. Both military and civilian targets across the city and across the country were rocketed. Belgrade is still today recovering from the last bombing.

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The territory of the city is divided into seventeen municipalities, namely: Čukarica, Novi Beograd, Palilula, Rakovica, Savski venac, Old city – Dorcol, Vozdovac, Vracar, Zemun, Zvezdara, Barajevo, Grocka, Lazarevac, Mladenovac, Obrenovac, Sopot and Surčin.

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Belgrade has a population of 1,683,962 residents and it is a city of the highest importance as a road and railway center but as well as a port for river and air traffic.

1 Current Masterplan of Belgrade, until 2020, Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade

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DORT – JOL (FOUR STREETS CROSSWAY)

Part of the city we will work on, and propose our urban, architectural and landscape solution is called Dorcol. It represents the oldest part of the city. The name has Turkish origin and means a crossroads four times (dort - four, jol - road).

Dorcol initially marked only the intersection of the present streets of King Peter, Dushanova street and Dubrovacka street. There was a large market of used, old things, which is why the Turks called it Bitpazar.

During the hard times Belgrade had to pass through, Dorcol became illegal settlement where the poverty prevailed. This unhygienic settlement, located in the Danube area, was given the name Pistol-mala, since the poor residents settled it "at gunpoint", and that is, for free.

The location of the Belgrade River Front Project is located in this, oldest part of the city, Dorcol. At the site of the former power plant, today there is an abandoned area surrounded by weeds and large fences. The industry has shifted and this site has never been given the attention it deserves.

Next to this area, there is the Port of Belgrade, which further emphasizes the location and give more value to this project.

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BELGRADE URBAN PLAN AND FIRST PROPOSALS

Urban Plan of Belgrade, shown on the second panel, represent the main part of the city (colored in orange) and its connection to our area, which is located on the Danube river, next to the Port of Belgrade.

At the moment, Belgrade city center is under construction and in two years, the center of Belgrade will be completely changed and dedicated only to pedestrians. The construction of the pedestrian zone has been going on for two years, and it will still take so long for the heart of Belgrade to get a whole new look, similar to other European capitals.

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In order to connect our location to the center part of the city, we propose that King Peters street should be pedestrian as well, as the tourists and locals could easily break through and visit this Riverfront area.

2 Map of the complete pedestrian zone , taken from the Development Agency of Serbia

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GREEN BELT

At the site of the old railway, which for decades has been a physical obstacle for pedestrians to reach the banks of the Belgrade rivers, we propose a line park, the so-called green belt. There will be hiking trails, children's playgrounds, sports fields, fountains, bicycle and running trails. The future oasis will be filled with plenty of greenery, sculptures in public space, benches, faucets, and footpaths will be connected to the rest of the city.

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As the proposal for King Peters street is to be pedestrian, focus was to give the value to it by reshaping it with new building and new green spaces. In order not to impede traffic, we suggest that streets intersecting King Peter's should be streets open to traffic, where pedestrians would have priority, but traffic would be regulated by traffic lights.

„If Belgrade can be reached by walking through only one street then it is King Petra Street, one of the oldest city streets... ” unknown artist

King Peter Street is one of the oldest and most famous Belgrade streets. It is considered an essential fashion street, as it contains a large number of shops of famous Serbian designers. In addition, there are plenty of international restaurants, caffes and hotels.

3 Belgrade Linear Park, Plan for 2020, taken form the Development Agency of Serbia

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All three major Belgrade religions, Christian - the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Cathedral Church (the main city church), Jewish - Jewish Municipality and Muslim - the only mosque in Belgrade have important places in this street. The street is also a unique exhibition of Belgrade outdoor architecture, an incredible mix of different directions that you probably can't see concentrated in 1km in Europe - baroque, academicism, secession, art deco, modernism, oriental style.

What is also important to mention is that this street is paved in cobblestone4. Due to the large number of shops, as well as the main strike for walking of rich and well known families, it was the first street paved with stone cubes, back in the days. Consequently, when you walk along King Peter Street, you will catch the rhythm of old Belgrade and let your thoughts take you back in time.

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4 A cobblestone (good road) is the name for a stone paved road or street. The name was created by the merging of two Greek words, kalo meaning good and dromos meaning road.5 Walk along King Peter Street (photo from the Milos Jurisic collection; around 1920)

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Materplan of Belgrade Riverfront contains residential buildings (lighter brown color) , public and commercial buildings (darker brown color), two towers, sport facilities and green area with different functions.

*Different alignments lead to the different shapes and angles

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RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

The residential buildings (shown in lighter brown color) are opened to the water and have a different hight. There has been used different typology for designing this buildings, so according to that there are

- Urban Villas , which are four story luxurious villas in front of the river; each villa has five apartments (one in ground floor, two apartments in first floor and two duplex apartments on upper floor)

- Linear Building , which has the different hight according to their location in the masterplan; in the ground floor there are always commercial stores and space for residents of the building (vertical and horizontal communication, bicycle space, storage and garbage space) ; most of them have three apartments per floor

- L shape building, which has the different hight according to their location in the masterplan; in the ground floor there are always commercial stores and space for residents of the building (vertical and horizontal communication, bicycle space, storage and garbage space) ; most of them have three apartments per floor

- Closed Block with Courtyard, which are forming six buildings that share a common courtyard (four L shape buildings and two Linear buildings)

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CULTURAL QUARTER

The cultural quarter of the area, around the old thermal power station (located in the center - light grey color) has the most central part. There are

- Nautical club- Library - Bookshop restaurant- Reasearch center with classrooms and multifunctional space- Museums- Expo space

POWER AND LIGHT

The abandoned old thermal power station called the “Power and Light” was built in 1930 and belongs to the immovable cultural property of the city of Belgrade and is therefore protected by law and considered as great cultural heritage. For the first time, the construction of this power plant used a low-voltage distribution network for AC power. In architectural terms, the Danube Thermal Power Plant is a symbol of revolutionary, modernist understandings in interwar architecture practice. It is also a symbol of the rationality and simplicity that follows the German Bauhaus in terms of designing better working environments in factories. In the bombing of 1941, the power plant was damaged, but the greatest damage was done to the power grid. When it was restored after the war, it was for many years the main supplier of electricity to Belgrade. It was completely disconnected from the network in 1969. The main reason for stopping her work was the construction of a new heating plant for fuel oil. At that time, a decades-long operation of a crane on the Danube stopped, lifting coal daily from ships arriving near the marina and transporting it to the thermal power plant.

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In order to comply with all city requirements and regulations regarding this city monument, we have made every effort to revitalize7 and preserve this power plant facility, even just their look for future generations. That is why the shape of the base, as well as the facade, has to be exactly the same and the focus was on the interior space which we dedicated to the education center.

As the city demands that the crane of this power plant be retained, actually revitalized and rebuilt, in the project it still exists and with its appearance recalls and gives historical value to this location.

Behind the future education center, there are the small circle shaped caffes with its own square.

6 sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Термоелектрана_ „Снага_и_светлост“7 New use (revitalization) is a method that either permanently or temporarily activate devastated, neglected or inadequately used industrial facilities and, as such, include them in social (tourist, cultural) life, while preserving the physical-symbolic and historical characteristics of the facility. Revitalization is much more than a restoration, as it embraces the dynamic processes involved in modernization and expands old settlements in the spirit of integrative heritage conservation.

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CITY GATES

On the left part of the plan, there are two towers that are, with their volumes and hight forming the City gate. Belgrade already has two City Gates :

Western Gate and Eastern Gate

Accorindg to the existing gates, this newly designed gate , which consists of the two towers would be the Northern Gate of Belgrade.

Back in 1940, the Mortgage Bank of the Commercial Fund in Belgrade launched a call for proposals for the conceptual design of a new palace located in the center of Belgrade. The competition set conditions that the building should be monumental, given the importance and traffic of the place, that there are at least ten outlets, two apartments for guards, ground floor, ground floor and at least seven floors above it. The project, signed by architect Milan Zlokovic, went unnoticed in the competition for the Palace of Albania, and was far ahead of its time and seems too daring in a modernist sense for the occasion. The grounded form, skillfully incorporated balconies, wide striped window openings, were segments of architecture that heralded social progress. In his solution, Albania's palace was seven storeys higher and could be compared to many successful expressionist skyscrapers across Europe.

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Unfortunately, another project won the competition, and today Palace of Albania still looks like that.

In order to include the spirit of history in our project, although though in the futuristic experience, we decided to take exactly this undeveloped project of one of the most famous Serbian architects, Milan Zloković, for the look of the towers, which would represent the North Gate of Belgrade.

8 Proposal for Palace of Albania, architect Milan Zlokovic, 1940

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The towers will be used for commercial and office space, and they, along with the newly built buildings around them, build a small business quarter of this Riverfront project. Between these business and commercial facilities is a small square that allows workers as well as visitors to gather, rest and enjoy themselves.

9 How would Palace of Albania look now if the Zlokovic_s project won the competition https://www.gradnja.rs/menhetn-u-beogradu-neizgradjeni-neboderi-i-projekti-u-prestonici/10 How the Palace of Albania look nowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Albanija

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GREEN ZONES

The new green belt, built on the site of the old railway line, formed different types of green space. We divided them into zones. Thus we have:

- Recreation area

- The nature zone

- Music area

- The Art Zone

- Serbia zone

- Science zone

Within the Recreation Zone we have sports facilities such as gyms, halls for various types of sports and recreation, indoor pools and courts, as well as outdoor courts and running tracks.

The nature zone is dedicated to nature and replicas of animals should be erected.

The Music Zone is dedicated to music for both children and play, where concerts and similar events should be organized.

The Art Zone is a limited space dominated by sculptures as well as permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Zone Serbia would be a zone dedicated to the nature and culture of Serbia.

The Science Zone is conceived as a zone of rich educational content with a range of fun and attractive exhibits to popularize science.

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DANUBE PROMENADE

What is most important in this project and therefore the most interesting is the availability and connection with the Danube River, which has so far not exploited its potential at this location. That is why great emphasis is placed on solving accessibility and walkability to the river itself. By setting up different types of river terraces and pontoons, both for visitors and owners of smaller boats and yachts, this site has received different experiences.

Along the riverbank, organic greenery is set up as well as smaller enclosures for play. There are also several outdoor caffes and restaurants, as well as large staircases that can serve as a place to rest or gather.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Perovic, M (1985) Lessons of the Past. Belgrade : The Institute for Development Planning of the city of Belgrade

Viollet le Duc, (19th c.) The Architectural Theory Zlata Vuksanovic Macura (2012) Pistol Slum - The most backward unhygienic

settlement of interwar Belgrade Belgrade : Mapa and Plans from 18th – 21st century, Belgrade Le Courbusier (1900) The Modulor Christopher W. Alexander, Hajo Neis, Artemis Anninou, Ingrid King (1983) A

New Theory of Urban Design Inderbitzin, C.M. (2012) Belgrade Formal Informal. Basel: ETH Basel Belgrade Land and Construction Directorate J.P. – Belgrade Master Plan 2020 A century of electricity 1893–1993, Electric Power Industry of Serbia Velimir Lj. Ćerimović (2017) Landscape Architecture Charles Moore (1994) Water and architecture Ivan Rašković, Borislav Petrović (2017) Future housing: aspects of

sustainability of future housing in serbia Julia Kamin (2016) MUSEUMS: masterpieces of world architecture Jil Butler, William Lindwell (2014) Universal design principles

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