Western City Gate, Belgrade
See the full Unusual building of the week series here.
Western City Gate, also known as Genex Tower, is a Brutalist high-rise building in Belgrade, Serbia. Built between 1977 and 1980, the building was designed by Mihajlo Mitrovic and is formed by two towers connected at the top by a bridge, and resembling an enormous gate greeting people arriving at the city from the airport.
The building reaches a height of 115 m, making it the second tallest building in Belgrade, after Uše Tower. The shorter of the two towers, at 26 storeys, is commercial space occupied by the Genex Group. The taller towers, at 30 storeys tall, is residential.
The building, which is often compared with London’s Trellick Tower, has a reinforced concrete skeleton structure with supporting walls. The two-storey footbridge allows people to move between the towers, as well as providing excellent views of the city.
The restaurant at the top of the building, which some have compared to Seattle’s Space Needle, was originally intended to rotate. However, the rotating mechanism was not supplied.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Architecture maps - more reviews.
- Brutalism.
- BT Tower.
- Building of the week series.
- Fuji TV Building, Tokyo.
- Gate to the East.
- Ministry of Transportation Building, Georgia.
- Nakagin Capsule Tower.
- National Library of Latvia.
- Owen Hatherley - Landscapes of Communism.
- Space Needle.
- Trellick Tower.
- Unusual building design of the week.
Featured articles
Check out some of the best features and news from Designing Buildings as well as key stories from around the web.
Construction Management, 10 June
24 months to 14: CITB launches accelerated apprenticeships.
Bridging the gap between clients and contractors
Concerns remain around contractor quality, capability, and delivery.
Construction Management, 10 June.
Heat pumps beat boilers in new home tests.
Building Safety Act implementation in Wales
CIAT to host industry panel on 26 June.
New and updated CLC building safety guidance.
New UK National Buildings Database.
Building Safety Wiki Interviews
Chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation.
Planning condition discharge in England and Wales
A brief explanation from a building compliance expert, with further links.
Overheating guidance and tools for building designers
Guidance for dealing with element of building fabric control that have increasing importance.
Shading for housing, a design guide
From the Good Homes Alliance and British Blind and Shutter Association.
UK Standard Skills Classification (SSC)
A shared framework for describing skills needs.


















