Western City Gate

Western City Gate
Genex Tower
Западна капија Београда
Zapadna kapija Beograda
Western City Gate in winter
Location within Belgrade
Alternative names Genex Tower
General information
Type Office and residential
Architectural style Brutalism
Location Belgrade, Serbia
Country Serbia
Coordinates 44°49′13″N 20°24′17″E / 44.82028°N 20.40472°E / 44.82028; 20.40472Coordinates: 44°49′13″N 20°24′17″E / 44.82028°N 20.40472°E / 44.82028; 20.40472
Completed 1979 (1979)
Owner Government of Serbia
Height
Roof 154 m (505 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 36
Floor area 16,000 m2 (170,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect Mihajlo Mitrović

Western City Gate (Serbian: Западна Капија Београда / Zapadna Kapija Beograda), also known as the Genex Tower (Кула Генекс / Kula Geneks), is a 36-storey skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, which was designed in 1977 by Mihajlo Mitrović in the brutalist style.[1] It is formed by two towers connected with a two-storey bridge and revolving restaurant at the top. It is 115 metres tall (with restaurant 135–140 metres) and is the second-tallest high-rise in Belgrade after Ušće Tower. The building is designed to resemble a high-rise gate greeting people arriving in the city from the West (the road from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport to the city centre leads this way).

One of the towers was occupied by the Genex Group. The tower got its popular name "Genex" after this group, while its official title remains Western City Gate. The second, taller tower, is residential.

Location

The building is located in the municipality of New Belgrade, in the 41 Narodnih heroja Street. It is actually situated at the corner of the street and the European route E75. West of the gate are the neighborhoods of Studentski Grad and Tošin Bunar while Fontana is to the north. In the New Belgrade's blocks numeration system, the building belongs to the Block 33.[2][3]

History

In the late 1960s, architect Mihajlo Mitrović was given a task of projecting a 12-floor building and the head offices of the local community of Sutjeska, a sub-municipal administrative unit, on Narodnih heroja Street. Mitrović suggested two connected and much taller buildings which would make a recognizable symbol of the capital city. A fierce opposition, disagreements and disputes ensued, but Mitrović was persistent in his idea, giving detailed and exhaustive explanations in front of the numerous commissions. He was finally given the green light and the foundations were laid in 1971.[4]

But the opposition continued in the next years. Even in the 2010s, a famous caricature by Ivo Kušanić in the daily Politika is still being mentioned and reproduced. It shows a gallows next to the building and the text: Who are these gallows for? For the architect![4]

Local community

The local community of Sutjeska had a population of 5,067 in 1981[5] and 5,187 in 1991.[6] By the 2002 census, it was renamed to the Local Community of Western Gate, after the building, and had a population of 4,278.[7] It was later annexed to the neighboring local community of Fontana.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Genex Tower, Belgrade". EMPORIS. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Tamara Marinković-Radošević (2007). Beograd - plan i vodič. Belgrade: Geokarta. ISBN 86-459-0006-8.
  3. ↑ Beograd - plan grada. Smedrevska Palanka: M@gic M@p. 2006. ISBN 86-83501-53-1.
  4. 1 2 Dejan Aleksić (5 November 2017), "Loša izolacija, podzemne vode i manjak para i u "zlatno doba"" [Bad insulation, groundwater and lack of funds even in the "golden age"], Politika (in Serbian)
  5. ↑ Osnovni skupovi stanovništva u zemlji – SFRJ, SR i SAP, opštine i mesne zajednice 31.03.1981, tabela 191. Savezni zavod za statistiku (txt file). 1983.
  6. ↑ Stanovništvo prema migracionim obeležjima – SFRJ, SR i SAP, opštine i mesne zajednice 31.03.1991, tabela 018. Savezni zavod za statistiku (txt file).
  7. ↑ Popis stanovništva po mesnim zajednicama, Saopštenje 40/2002, page 4. Zavod za informatiku i statistiku grada Beograda. 26 July 2002.
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