Alternate feeling of spaciousness and intimacy. Resavska 31 Business center by Remorker Architects

Description of project by Remorker Architects

The business building of the former company Jugohemija, built in 1968 and upgraded in 1971, was located at the address Resavska 31 in Belgrade. The task of the Remorker Architects office was to breathe new life into this building in the center of the capital, with reconstruction project while respecting the architectural heritage.

Complete reconstruction includes the construction of a new facade of the street fronts to the streets of Resavska and Mišarska, as well as a new organization of the interior space. Sun shade on the facade towards Resavska Street plays a role in creating optimal conditions for the amount of lighting in the interior. To emphasize the entrance, the recessed corner of the building is rounded off, freeing up a “corner” for free movement of pedestrians and increasing the width of the corridor at the corner of Resavska and Mišarska streets.

The design and realization of building reconstruction had goals to increase building performance, interior space organization, and structural stability of building structure. The main accent in the architectural expression at the pedestrian view level is the retraction of the street pedestrian corridor into the building itself and the opening of the ground floor of the building towards the public space. The street fronts on this office building were treated in accordance with the importance of the streets they are on.

In that sense, Resavska street, as a busy street, got a visual barrier in the form of vertical sunshades, which, in addition to serving as a defense against direct sunlight in the afternoon, forms a more intimate ambient for the offices located in the zone of the curtain wall. Vertical sunshades and glass prints form a dynamic street front, especially when viewed from trams and cars. The orientation of the facade toward Misarska street is treated with decorative horizontal aluminum elements and in the direction of user movement, emphasizing the perspective of the street.

Major challenge was the strengthening of the existing structure, which did not meet the laws of seismic stability, and in terms of its structure. Existing structure was composed as a two separate buildings, one oriented to Resavska street, and second (which didn’t meet seismic stability) on the site behind and on Misarska street. Structural stability was made with additional steel structure in facade wall of second segment and with steel structure in between two segments, visible as X elements on Misarska street facade. The facade towards Resavska Street is a curtain wall made of double-glazed glass with aluminum sunshades inclined at a certain angle, with task of optimizing the amount of lighting in the interior. The facade towards Mišarska Street is a demit facade with an accentuated horizontal division and decorative aluminum elements in the direction of user movement, emphasizing the perspective of the street.