Cascade
commercial center

Cascade
commercial center is situated in the center of Zagreb, about 500m to the north
of the main city square where the flat lowland part of Zagreb meets the elite
housing covered city hills. The architectural concept of the building is in our
opinion contextual as it appreciates the topography which suggests building
terraces between two parallel streets each on a different elevation.
It's
easy to conclude that the center got its name from its cross section. As you
walk along The Tkalciceva street, one of the important streets of Zagreb, the
section of the building ensures visual contact with four streets/terraces of
the center. They are filled with people sitting in cafes, people shopping or
just window shopping.If
you approach the center from the south, from the Mikloušiceva Street,
streets/terraces also let you just walk through the Cascade and continue to the
north, to another Shopping center. The private streets/terraces become a part
of the public city space. To the south of the center, near the Mikloušiceva
Street, a small chapel is going to be restored and presented to the public.
The
facades of the terraces are defined by the shop windows. The shops are entered
either directly from the terrace on one side or over a small bridge crossing on
the other. The terraces are spacious enough for both communication and use as
an extension of the shops/cafes. The last two terraces are covered with a
translucent roof.The
east part of the center is reserved for four apartments looking to the gardens
of the residential street to the east of the center. The apartments and their
entrance are completely separated from the commercial part of the building. On
top of having a big garden in front of them, each of the apartments has a small
garden of its own.The
rest of the building is occupied by shops of different sizes separated by
shopping corridors. The garage with the capacity of 180 cars and the technical
part of the building are under the ground level. The gross area of the building
is around 18 000 m2.The
shape of the building was derived from its future use and it became its
attraction. We assumed that other architectonic elements weren't necessary. The
architectonic frame is filled with ambitiously designed shops and cafes. The
building was opened in the end of the 2009. in the middle of the economic crisis
but the situation is improving. The center is becoming a kind of meeting point
of the younger urban population.