Winning design for future building of Natural History Museum and Friendship Park selected – Footbridge to Great War Island (PHOTO)

A building on whose façade the silhouette of the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art will be reflected, a panoramic wheel, richly greened footpaths, a boat dock and a connection with the Great War Island are part of the concept of the first-prize-winning design at the at the architectural and urban planning contest for the area of the Friendship Park and the future building of the Natural History Museum in this part of the city. This design, which got an award worth RSD 2.5 million was proposed by the architectural studio MITarh d.o.o. from Belgrade, that is, the academy member professor Branislav Mitrovic, assistant professor Dr. Djordje Alfirevic, Uros Majstorovic, Dusan Grujovic and Dusan Medjedovic. The team also features the planners Ivana Lakic and Stefan Lakic and the assistant planners Jelisaveta Arsenovic and Ivana Nikolic, it is said on the website of the Belgrade Association of Architects, which carried out the contest.



– The proposed design is a symbiosis of outdoor and indoor spaces within a single unit. Such a juxtaposition expresses the idea of the totality of nature as a phenomenon and the mutual relation between its integral parts. The submission of the new building to the morphology of the location and its immediate environment underlines the supremacy of the natural over man-made artifacts. A kind of a platform for the interpretation of universal processes and a metaphoric presentation of the movements and the development of the elements that make up the world is formed. The change of seasons alters the part of the coastal area that is included within the museum, so the building also brings associations of a living organism which shows the nature’s superiority and the cyclic nature of time. The natural ecosystem is transformed into a museum exhibit – it is said in the explanation of the concept of the first-prize design. The explanation adds that the connecting of indoor and outdoor spaces into a single unit creates a hub of basic elements – earth, water and air, which showcase the fundamental structure of the universe.

The backbone of the design, as emphasized, is the pedestrian direction southeast-northwest, to which the new features of the park in the Usce area are connected. On the southeast end of the route is access to the park from Branko’s Bridge, after which the greened promenade leads to the 21st century museum, and through the complex of the Natural History Museum, the stretch is highlighted by the panoramic wheel.



– The museum complex is situated in the northwest part of the contest parcel and spreads, in a linear fashion, along the coast of the Danube creek, across from the Great War Island. A part of the coast and the accompanying water surface of said creek is included within the museum and comprises its outdoor part. Going down the described route, the visitors are brought into the center of the museum complex, where their movements diverge to the part which follows the coastal line and route-bridge which stretches across the water surface. Road access to the garage of the complex is realized from Nikole Tesle Blvd. The complex is set behind the protective embankment of the coastal area, whereas its outdoor part – the water surface is left to the seasonal changes. The indoor part of the museum is covered by a green roof, so it visually fits into the morphology of the terrain, which will be available to the public in its entirety – the explanation clarifies.

The backbone of the materialization of the space, as pointed out, is the concept of covering the facility with a greened layer of soil, which makes the unit energy efficient to the greatest extent possible.



Second prize, worth RSD 1.25 million, was awarded to the authors Dusan Stojanovic and Pavle Stamenovic, whose team also features the assistant planners Djordje Jovanovic, Vesna Jankovic, Andrej Jovanovic, Mina Matkovic and Nikola Jocic, whereas third prize, worth RSD 625,000, was awarded to the studio Dejan Miljkovic arhitekti d.o.o. (the authors: professor of architecture Dejan Miljkovic, Vida Nedeljkovic, Luka Rajsic and Jelena Milinkovic and the associates professor of architecture Dejan Vasovic, in charge of the structure, and the student Milovan Sreckovic). The jury, headed by the architect Ivan Raskovic, also decided on two equal-value buyouts of RSD 300,000 each, awarded to the team consisting of Natalija Mrdovic, Nemanja Culic, Sara Dimitrijevic, Katarina Popovic and Mihailo Miljanic, and the studio AKVS arhitektura Beograd (the authors: Andjela Karabasevic Sudzum and Vladislav Sudzum and the planners Vuk Zlatkovic, Filip Popovic, Marija Matijevic and Mrdjan Kekovic).



Let us remind that a total of eighteen preliminary designs were sent in response to this contest, which was opened in November last year. The Natural History Museum opened the contest so that this cultural institution of national importance would solve the multi-decade problem of inadequate housing and get a building for its own special purposes for the first time in its centuries-old history.

Within this contest, let us remind, the participants had two tasks. The first pertained to urban planning, and they needed to offer locations for the Natural History Museum and the 21st century museum, an aquarium and a panoramic wheel on an area of 60 hectares, bordered by Branko’s Bridge, Nikole Tesle Blvd, Hotel Jugoslavija and the promenade along the Danube and the Sava. The other task pertained to the architectural design – they needed to provide a solution for the new building of the Natural History Museum.



The selected works will be the basis for the preparation of the urban project for the area of the Friendship Park – Usce and the project documentation for the construction of the Natural History Museum. The future Natural History Museum, let us remind, will spread on 15,000 square meters, the parcel on which it will be built will have 4,800 square meters, and the building will have a maximum allowed height of 20 meters, which is the height that matches the Museum of Contemporary Art.

D. A.

Prirodnjački muzej Beograd

SAS-DAB Beograd

Mit-arh d.o.o. Beograd

Dejan Miljković arhitekti doo Beograd

AKVS ARHITEKTURA

Natural History Museum

Belgrade Association of Architects

Friendship Park New Belgrade

architectural and urban planning contest for Natural History Museum and Friendship Park

Branislav Mitrović

Đorđe Alfirević

Uroš Majstorović

Dušan Grujović

Dušan Međedović

Ivana Lakić

Stefan Lakić

Jelisaveta Arsenović

Ivana Nikolić

Dušan Stojanović

Ivan Rašković

Pavle Stamenović

Đorđe Jovanović

Vesna Janković

Andrej Jovanović

Mina Matković

Nikola Jocić

Dejan Miljković

Vida Nedeljković

Luka Rajšić

Jelena Milinković

Dejan Vasović

Milovan Srećković

Natalija Mrdović

Nemanja Čulić

Sara Dimitrijević

Katarina Popović

Mihailo Miljanić

Anđela Karabašević Sudžum

Vladislav Sudžum

Vuk Zlatković

Filip Popović

Marija Matijević

Mrđan Keković