Zagreb, Croatia_ Zagrepčanka Business Complex
Architect: Slavko Jelinek and Berislav Vinković
Date: 1976

About a 40 minute walk southwest of Trg Jelačića - Trg Jelačića is an area of Zagreb where the upper town approximately meets the lower town - is the business complex Zagrepčanka. The complex consists of one building, a series of smaller buildings on one side, parking and a large sculpture. As I began my walk around the complex I was immediately wisped back to my fist impressions of Sava Center. Both projects announce the main entrance with a small plaza consisting of benches and a circular water feature. And in that moment, just like Sava Center, the plaza of the Zagrepčanka remained still, empty and deserted.

As I made my way to the back of the complex I was amazed at the proximity of the tower to a neighborhood of large social housing bars. Zagrepčanka’s topographic difference between the main building and the street level must provide, or so I think, one solution for a comfortable barrier between the complex and the neighborhood. The trees and the white marble of the tower help in concealing the large mass from the ground floor in the neighborhood.

Over the next few days the Zagrepčanka’s iconic form kept popping up from different angles…


View of Zagreb from the Lotrscak Tower. The Business Complex is located towards the top middle of the photograph.


View of the Complex from Vjenceslav Richter's Villa.


View of tower from across the street.


Detail of the top of the tower.


Detail of the tower.


Looking up at the tower facade.