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NAPRETKOVA ZADRUGA RESIDENTIAL-BUSINESS CORNER

ADDRESS
Bogovićeva 1, Zagreb

YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION
1937

PROJECT AUTHOR
Stjepan Planić

Architect Stjepan Planić, with his rich architectural opus, along with continuous engagement in promoting humanism in architecture, was a key co-creator of Croatian modern architecture. Planić tried to achieve his desire to connect nature and housing in the projects of residential buildings including roof terraces, lodges and large windows. The residential business corner of Napretkova Zadruga in Bogovićeva Street was built in 1937. From the four-storey corner, which follows the street row and the roof wreath of neighbouring buildings, a freestanding volume of elliptical floor plan rises four floors high. The ground floor is on pillars, recessed and glazed, while the other eight floors are plastered and painted light blue in the tradition of painting houses with blue vitriol. With a continuous series of windows, Planić achieved maximum openness of space. This is especially visible in the upper floors where the living rooms, in the north and south, are semi-circular in plan. The ground floor area is recessed from the construction line to create a covered public space in front of the shops. The building is an individually protected cultural property and one of the most significant achievements of modern Zagreb architecture between the two world wars.