BEKO complex Belgrade | Zaha Hadid Architects

The project focusses on the urban regeneration of an important site at the intersection of key cultural projects within the city of Belgrade. Following the region’s strong modernist traditions, the masterplan has applied new concepts and methods that examine and organize the programs of the site; defining a composition of buildings that addresses the complexity of 21st century living patterns. The design for BEKO is embedded within the surrounding landscape of Belgrade’s cultural axis and incorporates essential public spaces. The site The design introduces a habitable landscape with an undulating topography that opens the BEKO site to a variety of possibilities, giving views towards the confluenc of Belgrade’s two rivers, the subtle monumentality of the Kalemegdan Castle and internally, between the constituent volumes of the design. Developed as a contemporary mixed-use masterplan, it includes residential, retail and commercial areas along with a large scale convention facility and five-star boutique hotel. Urban Concept The masterplan moves away from traditional modernist notions of urban zoning and functionalist separation, enhancing the relationships between the components of each programme and creating a living fusion between public and private urbanism. Public space and private areas flow into one another into a series of ever-changing topographical adjacencies producing a rich variety of uses and activities. Architectural design The project has been developed as a series of flow lines that ‘carve’ the inhabited landscape and act as continuities where outdoor spaces, landscape undulations, balconies, roof edges and bridges all flow into one another in an ever-changing continuum. The ground level is open to the city, enabling civic space to flow through the site. Ground (land) scape Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the project, the ground (land) scape undulates to create variable physical connections between different levels, enhancing the continuities of the outdoor spaces with the facades of the buildings to becomes an implicit engine for navigation through the site. Architect ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS Design Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher Project Director Christos Passas Project Associate Bozana Komljenovic Project Architect Reza Esmaeeli Design Team Coordination Zetta Kotsioni, Carine Posner BIM Coordination Rory MacTague, Adam Atraktzi Design Team Veronika Ilinskaya, Alexandra Fisher, Raul Forsoni, Jose Luis De Melo Cadilhe, Tomasz Starczewski, Hendrik Rupp, Andri Shalou, , Carlos Luna, Chrysi Fradellou, Elina Chatzichronoglou, Barbara Bochnak, Thomas Frings Local Architect ZAPP Doo SMEP and Façade Consultant Arup Vertical Transport Arup Hotel Consultant E.P.R. Architects Sustainability and Energy Arup Code Compliance EN Plus Cost Consultant Davis Langdon