A HYPOTHETICAL MODEL OF DOBROVIĆ'S NEW BELGRADE:
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PLANNED AND CURRENT CONDITION
Conference paper and drawings for
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SIMPOSIUM
125 YEARS OF THE BIRTH OF ARCHITECT NIKOLA DOBROVIC (1897– 2022)
125 YEARS OF THE BIRTH OF ARCHITECT NIKOLA DOBROVIC (1897– 2022)
and following exhibition.
The paper examines the role and possibility of applying hypothetical models in contemporary architectural and urban practice in order to examine the complex relationship between the planned and realized. An important segment of the paper refers to understanding reasons behind modifications that occur during the implementation of the plan and the identification of the plan’s weak and strong points, on the example of New Belgrade.
The subject of the analysis is the current condition of New Belgrade and the first post-war conception of New Belgrade Sketch of the regulation of Belgrade on the left bank of the Sava river from 1946 by the architect Nikola Dobrović. In addition to representing the initial sketch, the sketch is chosen for the comparative analysis because from a morphological point of view, its radial matrix represents a kind of contrast to the existing orthogonal street matirx of New Belgrade, thus opening a possibility of comparing two extremely different takes on the same idea of how the new capital city of the new socialist state should look like.
The basic assumption is that if the Sketch of the regulation of Belgrade on the left bank of the Sava river had been carried out, due to its seemingly, morphologically and ideologically opposite character, it would have led to the formation of a drastically different image of the city, especially in terms of functionality, from the one we know today. However, the research shows that the differences are smaller than expected, and that traces of the original conception can be seen in the current state despite the departure from it.
The methodology is based on the comparison of the two observed conditions through a dialogue of qualitative and quantitative methods by crossing a historical-interpretive approach and space syntax, a tool for quantifying results in the field of urban morphology, resulting in a analytical drawing of the current and hypothetical Dobrović's New Belgrade.
Keywords: city, hypothetical model, space syntax, New Belgrade, Nikola Dobrović
