Winning solution for home of Kolo folk ensemble – Heritage Wreath in old Djumrukana location

The first prize at the architectural contest for the preliminary design of the new building of the Kolo folk ensemble was won by a young six-member team of architects from the Zabriskie design studio from Belgrade, led by architect Milka Gnjato. According to the preliminary design, the address of the Kolo folk ensemble will be at 13 Karadjordjeva Street, the former Djumrukana location.

The construction of this building would solve Kolo's problem, as the folk ensemble has been working in temporary facilities since its founding. This space should meet the current and future needs of this institution. The construction of the house for Kolo might begin in late 2020 or early 2021.

As the Zabriskie design studio says for eKapija, the location in Kosancicev Venac Street is of great importance as a symbolic place in Belgrade, and the main idea behind the design is to “program a space and an environment which would function properly as a Heritage Wreath” as this project is named.

– In addition to providing an innovative response to the program task, which was very complex, but also well defined, another goal we had set was to fit the facility into the context of the city, which is why it's designed as an extension of the public area of Kosancicev Venac Street – they say for our portal.

What set apart the winning solution was the outer stage design, making it complement the closed stage and allowing the two stages to be connected as per need.

– Thanks to the openness of the glass facade of the facility and the prominence of the grand stage in the interior, the usage of the traditional theater color of red connects the new building with Djumrukana on a symbolic level, because Djumrukana used to operate as the first stage in Belgrade in its time. Our aim was to design the facility so as to enable the folk ensemble to seek new ways to present the tradition and communicate with the audience. This required a pronounced multifunctionality of the space and the transformability of the main stage, but also the openness of the facility on the whole – they told our portal.

As part of the preliminary design, the participants in the contest were asked to design solutions for the neighboring parcel, at 15-15a Karadjordjeva Street, but these designs are not binding for the folk ensemble.

– For the neighboring parcel, we designed the Center for Research and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Serbia, whose existence is necessary, whose function is compatible with the function of the ensemble and whose location is entirely appropriate. This enabled us to form a public space of various units (summer stage, atrium, entrance to the Kolo building and the Center, a pavilion-type cafe bar). This means that, aside from the fact that the solution does not obstruct the view to Kosancicev Venac Street from New Belgrade, the equally important view from Kosancicev Venac Street to New Belgrade has been affirmed as well – they say for our portal.

The authors-members of the winning team are architects Milka Gnjato, Ivan Zuliani, Ivica Marković, Fedor Jurić, Martina Milošević and Dušica Plazinčić.

The project consultants were electrical engineer Dr Dragan Novković, ethnologist and anthropologist Ana Dajić, architect Dr Miodrag Grbić, architect Vladimir Lalicki, and landscaping engineer Maja Đorđević.

The Zabriskie design studio is a relatively young team of 17 architects, which is currently working on numerous projects, primarily in the field of residential architecture, on 100,000 m2 being built or yet to be built in Belgrade.

– The principle we have gathered around is integrated, thought-through architecture which is a reflection of the team work of architects. In our work, we equally emphasize the creative and the utilitarian approach, constantly striving to push the envelope in order to create added value for our clients and future users of the spaces we design – they say for eKapija.

S. Petrovic

Zabriskie doo Beograd

Ansambl Kolo Beograd

new building for Kolo folk ensemble

Heritage Wreath

Đumrukana

Milka Gnjato

Ivan Zuliani

Ivica Marković

Fedor Jurić

Martina Milošević

Dušica Plazinčić

Dragan Novković

Ana Dajić

Miodrag Grbić

Vladimir Lalicki

Maja Đorđević