Center for promotion of Science

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Center for promotion of Science

Firm

Type

Commercial › Exhibition Center
Cultural › Museum
Industrial › Research Facility
Landscape + Planning › Public Park

The core of both urban and
architectural concepts of the design is the search for the new forms of public
space in New Belgrade. Open space is a major part of the New Belgrade’s urban
structure, and we were interested in making it, not only unoccupied, but
intensely used by the public.

Required programme for the block
implies a large number of potential users, so we wanted to develop a network of
different public spaces and ambiences that will provide a good outdoor time for
most of its visitors. Buildings housing the scientific park and art campus frame and define this network
in a way that stimulates both exploring the space and spending time in it.As mentioned above, the
architectural design process was also initiated by research of possible
relations of the building and its public spaces, especially bearing in mind the
programme–specific public space – Science
Garden.

New Belgrade’s typical building/public space
relation is simple coexistence. In urban terms we noticed two typical
situations: free standing buildings surrounded by open space (Block 28, for
example) and formation of free standing buildings forming the common public
space (Block 37, for example). In the second case, we recognized the closer
relation and used it as a starting point for architectural design process. The Block 37 scheme is simple to
apply – building encloses public space horizontally. This is ok, but what if we
applied it vertically?

This seemed usable enough, so we
decided to see how it interacts with a preliminary functional diagram of the
centre (provided by the promoter). We realized that diagram could be
globalized to a simple one – two poles (conference hall/science club and
exhibition/planetarium) connected by the lobby. We adopted this spatial
relation and applied it to a vertical inner yard diagram, and this became the
core of the architectural concept of the centre. Functional structure followed
preliminary zoning – we formed a big central space comprising of an elevated
public plateau, science garden and lobby, altogether embraced by the building
from all sides. Upper level houses all exhibition areas, planetarium and a
restaurant and on the other side of the public space we have a scientific zone
– conference hall and science club. Lobby is conceived as a large volume protruding
both upper and lower level, vertically progressing through platforms,
staircases, bridges and voids. At the same time, it interacts intensively with
the middle level public spaces (plateau and science garden). This is why each
level has its own portion of the lobby.