Urania
Zagreb
15°59'47'' E
The old Urania cinema is a typical back-building in the block of Kvaternik Square. Although built in 1939, the entire concrete structure of the building is very well preserved with all the supporting pillars, the main arches in the large hall and all the ceilings.
The ceilings are a special example as one of the first concrete structures with longitudinal repetitive narrow structural ribs from that period. That beautiful example of early concrete engineer technology was worth preserving, restoring and renovating.
The building had good predispositions to be adapted, converted and reused into a new office and public space. We kept three of the four original building volumes; the three storey entrance foyer and office building, the big lobby and the spectacular main double height cinema hall. The only new addition is the glass pavilion, which originally served as an entrance space of the cinema.
The former cinema hall had a three-nave cross-section with a 9m high central volume and two 3m high side aisles. The biggest challenge was converting this space without any natural light into a functional workspace. During the reconstruction the central volume was divided into two floors. Light was introduced into the ground floor by converting the old cinema halls side aisles into open atriums. On the first floor, the light was provided through the roof – three meter wide skylights were placed on the roof, through the entire length of the hall.
Most of the original structural materials have been retained - original brick walls, raw plaster, concrete on floors and ceilings; while all new equipment was made of three materials - oak for floors and spruce veneer and raw steel for wall cladding and interior finishing’s.
The new Urania houses public spaces for various cultural events and a couple of office spaces.
A multipurpose hall equipped with multimedia and stands is connected to a café bar with a patio and a roof terrace.
It is a point of social gathering and public activities, as well as a space for numerous events such as educational workshops, presentations, exhibitions, concerts, screenings and the like..
Fact Sheet
Project name
Urania
project number
264
program
public, office, reuse
status
completed
project
2017 - 2018
Construction
2018 - 2019
Location
Croatia, Zagreb, Eugen Kvaternik square 3/3
Site area
830 m²
Size
1472 m²
volume
5919 m³
Footprint
749 m²
altitude
115.90 m
author
3LHD
Project Team
Saša Begović, Marko Dabrović, Tatjana Grozdanić Begović, Silvije Novak, Paula Kukuljica, Dragana Šimić, Denis Hrvatin, Marijana Pivac, Davor Plavšić
Project team collaborators
Nives Krsnik Rister, Mia Andrašević, Branimir Turčić, Jan Ružić
Structural Engineering
Palijan - Ivan Palijan
Electrical Engineering
Elektroplan - Mladen Stošić
Mechanical Installations
Grga - Ivan Grgić
Mechanical Installations Consultant
Termotehnika Paun - Vladimir Paun
Fire safety
Inspekting - Maksim Carević
Geodetic survey
Knez-invest - Roni Mahić, Ante Knez
Lighting design
Ortoforma - Ninoslav Kušter
Mechanical installations
Planetaris - Natko Bilić
Details and building physics consultant
Mateo Biluš
Plumbing, drainage, hydrant network - infrastructure
Projektni biro - grijanje - Srđan Grujić
Recording of the existing situation
Vektra - Zlatan Novak
Landscape Design
Kreativni Krajobrazi - Kaja Šprljan Bušić, Ines Hrdalo
Irrigation project
Inaqua - Zlatko Kramarić
Construction site supervision
Forel projekt - Lucija Ivas
Photography
Jure Živković
Film: Making of Urania
Svjetionik - Domagoj Blažević
General Contractor
SDMS
Subcontractors
Bajkmont, Tehnoplast profili, S.B.S., KFK Tehnika, Internova, Prostoria, D2D, Aquaestil