The design proposal of the Badel Block Complex by Popular Architecture is a combination of polyvalent and stable, both a massing inviting interpretation and detailed development by others, and an anchor seeking to re-channel the site’s positive qualities. Conceptually, the project begins with making a direct link between the former distillery building and the preserved façade of the Gorica Factory — two features required to be kept. Treating the factory façade as a gateway, the plan pulls in the existing context of an active street market — into the heart of a site cut-off from the city for decades — while also avoiding direct replication of the area’s pervasive perimeter block typology. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Initiated by Zagreb’s Office for Strategic Planning and Development, the Badel Block competition sought mixed-use proposals to guide the former industrial site’s redevelopment. With an additional east-west link extending the axis of Laginjina Street, three “micro blocks” are formed that give the site a new porosity in all directions. This subdivision makes more street level surface area for new retail and restaurant program, while the courtyards of each micro block create a gradation of conditions between public and private.
