WellnessSky
location:Belgrade | size:1200m2 | status:complete
Change of use and refurbishment of the existing building on Belgrade riverfront is our first project complete. It was derelict when we started and our client wanted ‘cloud-like’ impression form the new interior. We thought that existing structure from seventies was extraordinary and have focused on the ceiling to get new looks and reorganize existing space.
The building named ’Danube Flower’ was built some thirty-five years ago to become a landmark on the Belgrade waterfront. It used to house an exclusive restaurant which was a segment of a larger recreational centre accessible to the public. The project was sponsored by the socialist government of the time and endorsed by then ubiquitous president J.B.Tito, who was the first guest at the restaurant on November 22nd 1973. It was a famed hangout spot until its decay in the nineties and its final closure which coincided with the start of the civil war in the country. For the period of fifteen years building was not in operation and has deteriorated considerably.
In many ways the building is particular but above all for its synthesis between architectural and structural reasoning. The building is raised some fifteen meters from the ground level to hover above the pedestrian esplanade and the river. The entire building’s volume is a triangular footprint of nine hundred square meters, rested on a sole concrete core sized to contain only two elevator shafts and double spiral staircase. 
The levitating appearance is created with the trusses cantilevering twelve meters out. In addition one more structural move is essential to the organizational logic of the building. The concrete floor-slab is propped by three cantilevering trusses while ceiling shell is suspended from the central core. Structurally, they are not connected at the perimeter of the building, allowing for the continuity of the glass façade to the full extent. Uninterrupted glass strip, measuring hundred and fifty meters in total length, is wrapped around the building to bring constant presence of the Danube River within the interior, and to provide for sweeping views reaching far out, both upstream and downstream.
The ceiling is the backbone of the new interior: it is visible from the esplanade passing bellow the building. In the evening hours, when lights are on, the ceiling becomes another façade. It is designed as a sequence of geometric subdivisions and transformations applied to the grid of equilateral triangles used for space planning when the building was constructed in the seventies. The original grid presents itself through building’s organizational and structural regularity. When transformations are applied to it, the result is the novel but related geometry. The idea is to accept building’s legacy and use the very same mechanism in the creation of the spatial form. The ceiling’s geometry simultaneously relates to the original design principles of the building and to the new image of the interior.
Click on the OPTION button to explore differences between the three ceiling configurations considered.
Our engagement with the project – the transformation of the existing building into the ‘wellness club’ – started only after several key decisions were made by the new owners, in relation to building’s internal organization. At the time when we first met with the client, mechanical and electrical drawings were done and the contractor was in the possession of the site. In spite of the decent budget available, things were unfolding in haphazard way making it impossible to structure a proper architectural involvement. We were faced with a dilemma if the project was worth doing at all and if we should take the responsibility for the final product. The decision was made to take the job, go along with the mess and adapt our working methods around the given situation. At the same time, we have decided to focus on the two key segments of the interior, the floor and the ceiling. A uniform resin finish, often used in the industrial buildings, is applied to the entire floor surface to reflect light and help create an airy impression of the gym. The suspended ceiling consists of the steel structure and translucent vinyl skin lit from the back. With such choice of materials, the entire interior becomes a background meant to expose shapes of the training equipment. The entire gym floor of nine hundred square meters, arranged as an open plan, is meant to become a sales display.
credits///design: 4of7///Vladimir Pavlovic, Djordje Stojanovic///photo: Ana Kostic
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February 25th, 2010 at 2:49 am
[...] the nineties and the building is now being revived through a project called Wellness Sky Project by 4of7. The architects and designers have come up with a roof that would resemble the cloud, in a [...]