Administrative Building Of The Hydroelectric Plants On Drina (Poslovna zgrada Hidroelektrane na Drini)

Administrative Building Of The Hydroelectric Plants On Drina (Poslovna zgrada Hidroelektrane na Drini)

MITarh as Architects

Administrative Building of The “Hydroelectric Plants on the Drina” a.d. Višegrad is located in Andrićgrad, Višegrad, on the eastern side, along the Rzav River, and near the pedestrian bridge on the Rzav. The building has the purpose as administrative building, with total surface area of 3140m2 and floors Basement+GF+2. It is located in the surroundings of public buildings – the City House, University building, hotels, church, open air market – newly designed center of the city of Višegrad.


It is designed in a highly contextual manner, in terms of both its function and material. It uses autochthon, local simple construction materials for the finishing – stone and wood that surround it.


Concept The Administrative Building of The Hydroelectric Plants on the Drina in Višegrad is the result of transformations of original ideas, and several projects in different locations, as well as changes that happened directly during the process of designing and construction.


The original location of the building was on the plateau opposite from the old bridge on the Drina – the bridge that has been recognized and protected as a part of world heritage by UNESCO. The conditions of protection required the future owner to publish an international architectural urban development open call for the selection of the best design, where our team won the highest score. With this, it has acquired the right to further develop the idea and design the next phase.


We have designed the building as a response to the old bridge, the skill of the builder – master Sinan, the novel The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić, and especially as a response to the connection between the bridge, the people and the banks.


Meanwhile, based on the arrangement between the city administration and investor, a new location was specified for the building –it was relocated to the newly designed Andrićgrad (popularly Kamengrad), which was already under construction then. The program remained the same, but the context was totally different. The goal was to reconstruct the previous associations, in the new surroundings, to observe new urbanistic framework and to react to them. It was necessary to, in accordance with own architectural principles, fit into a development project that had been well under way, and which was led by famous director Emir Kusturica. It was his idea to valorize an autochthon, traditional building material, stone – to build an entire city in stone (Kamengrad - Stonetown), to reconstruct possible history or assumption of history that happened in this part of the Balkans without turbulence, confessional misunderstandings, presence of occupiers, destruction. And the architecture followed this idea of historical chronology, containing references to historical styles, with special emphasis on the stone as primary construction material.


Our opinions on architecture were different, but that was accepted. Stone, as the ultimate construction material, with existing texture and building correctness of mounted stone walls, as well as affirmative framework of life that had started to emerge in between, were the points on which the agreement was established. Our goal was not to react to the task through reconstruction of possible history, but to try to reconstruct the autochthonous use of stone itself. We understood that the stone belongs to this region, that Sinan’s bridge is also an ode to this skill. Through the use of stone, we tried to show what, in our opinion, was to represent an archetype of a house built in a given region.


In a small community and with local builders, it was not possible to apply advanced and complex technological details. It has made us simplify architectural details to the primary form or level of feasibility, within local possibilities.


We have seen that simple material – stone – can appear exciting and natural if it is shaped and arranged, with understanding of the material and love for it – but common folk artisans, in our case: artisan Radovan from Herzegovina with his team of stonemasons. We recognized the value of Corbusier’s words, from his book Towards an Architecture: Passion creates drama from immovable stone! This assessment was correct, because it is the result of their work: a stone wall that with its appearance and texture shows high degree of understanding between the builder and his material.


The structure, used materials and visual volume of the building became a compact visual form. As designers, we are pleased with previous assessments, because we believe that they have given the best results, in the given circumstances. Walls of the building, finally, carry the spirit of a place, relation and connections that must be recognized and felt, and transfer our ultimate goal: creation of close relation between the man and space.


The urbanistic setting and access to the building


The building was placed in a predetermined urbanistic matrix, which defined its maximum dimensions and number of floors. The vicinity of neighboring buildings of the City House and University building and crossing of pedestrian roads influenced the freeing of the entrance area and creation of a city square. The main entrance into the building is designed as a large covered area, where pedestrian lanes between Njegoš Square, Andrić Square and pedestrian bridge over the Rzav toward the city meet.


Concept and function Interior of the building is organized through two tracts, between which a hall of the building is designed as an open area along the entire height of the building, which gives a clear image of the functioning of the building and orientation in it, and through which the zenith lighting of the interior is provided.


Basement part of the building is reserved for a garage space, where vehicles would enter through an underground road, and the parking is envisaged in one level for 6 vehicles. Basement level also includes technical rooms, as well as multifunctional room and area for celebration that are easily observable through the hall area and connected with the ground floor of the building. The ground floor is conceived in the form of two units: administrative area and café-gallery. The main entrance on the ground floor leads to the hall of the administrative building with a sitting area, which also includes an info desk, public café and sanitary area. Additionally, the ground floor also includes a flexible working area and maintenance and security offices.


On the first and second floor there are the following working areas: offices, meeting rooms, working areas, library with an archive, sanitary blocks, kitchenettes.


Vertical communication between the floors is realized through four staircases (the main double and auxiliary single connect all floors, and another two connect the ground floor with the basement) and one elevator for employees and visitors, which is panoramic from the ground floor to the last level.


Materialization and structure On one side, the building is facing the Rzav River and Višegrad, and on the other side it faces Njegoš Square in Andrićgrad. With its different facades, the building corresponds to different contexts. The perspectives from the city toward “Kamengrad” and toward the commercial building Hydro Power Plant are defined by stone as the finishing material for the eastern facade. There, recessed windows are designed for offices on the ground floor and first and second floors, where the outside surfaces of window niches are finished with wooden planks. On the square, facing West, a wooden lining of the façade is designed with a colonnade of concrete pillars and structural elements of the building. In ground floor and second floor offices, an exterior protection from the sun is envisaged, also made of wooden strips, while on the first floor the protection is from the inside. All façade walls are sandwich walls with law thermal conductivity.


The façade of the main entrance into the building is designed as transparent, in the form of a glass wall, where the covered entrance square is the continuation of the interior hall of the building. The awning over the entrance is a reinforced concrete cassette ceiling with ribs in two directions, which rests on indoor pillars and outdoor pillars and reinforced concrete wall.


Sustainability The building is conceived in the spirit of average of contemporary approaches to building design. The materials and their assemblies were used in such a manner as to rationalize the energy consumption. The building also uses façade linings and architectural details, stone that is an inert material in combination with other contemporary materials in the sandwich wall and wooden shading systems that prevent overheating of the building.

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