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The Epicenter of Culture

The Epicenter of Culture
Type:
Student Project
Organization:

University of Belgrade
Faculty of Architecture

Year:
2017
Scope:

Architectural Project
Master’s Thesis

Overview:
The bombed National Library site carries with it layers of time and content range, from the Roman baths’ archeological findings to the National Library remains. The project aims to establish a harmonious relationship between the historic ambiance’s traditional values and new architectural and urban intervention in modern times. The main idea is to give the demolished building new life, not by reconstructing it or preserving its remains and presenting it as such, but using the existing brick from which the building was built as a building element in creating a new complex. The brick is used to form the primary, constitutive move and the bearer of the concept. This move begins with a staircase that descends to the ancient layer, creating an underground floor, and then rises in the form of a memorial wall next to neighboring buildings. In that way, the demolished building continues to live in a new form, preserving the dark past’s memory and providing hope for a brighter future. The block is shaped as a public space – a square, arranged uniquely with a multi-story public building. Simultaneously, the underground floor stretches below, where all traces are inherited, to the lowest ancient layer. In that way, the complex receives the epithet of a harmonious multipurpose space in correlation with the cultural and historical values ​​it represents, taking into account its environment. The place of suffering becomes a place of creation, the new hotspot, and the city’s cultural life’s epicenter.

Predrag Milovanovic

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