Sustainable development: Belgrade Riverside Culture - Opera, Block 18

The Belgrade Riverside, Block 18 is a part of the city that has a great potential but is unfairly neglected in relation to contemporary context. Culture is one of the main pillars of development that could play an important role in urban regeneration and can provide an opportunity for Belgrade to finally come down to its rivers.

The Belgrade Riverside, Block 18, is not only defined by a strong heritage but also by contemporary urban development tendencies. It is a spatial structure that is located at a crucial place as part of the Sava Amphitheater, between the green zone of the left bank of the Sava River and the complex of the Sava Center in the background. On the right bank of the Sava, is planned construction of Belgrade Waterfront which will dominate the whole area of the Sava shore. Through a series of models, I tried to explore the relationship between architecture and landscape. The play of light and shadow was particularly inspiring and influenced the creation of many slits and notches. The opera house was designed as a landscape project, an object that is part of the ground and emerges from the ground. The idea of mimicry toward the background influenced the creation of an introverted structure with a lot of slits and notches that contribute to its opening to the river. The building has a large hall with 3500 seats and a small hall with 400 seats. It has one underground level and four levels above. There is an art gallery located on the third and fourth level. The total area of the complex is about 87 000 m2. The plans are organized so that on the left side there is a foyer, a small and large hall, while on the right side there are warehouses, offices, rehearsal rooms and, changing rooms which are all layered vertically. By designing an object of a spectacle, the scene that is created presents cultural and art events. The project is based on the concept of cultural sustainability and concludes that culture is the only sustainable that does not endanger the environment. Implemented through cultural content, it is one that makes architecture sustainable. Accordingly, the development of New Belgrade and the Belgrade Riverside is possible through the fourth dimension of sustainability, that is, through designing a building with a basic purpose of culture.