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 and news
IHBC planning for growth with corporate plan development
Grow with the Institute by volunteering and CP25 consultation.
Connecting ambition and action for designers and specifiers.
Electrical skills gap deepens as apprenticeship starts fall despite surging demand says ECA.
Built environment bodies deepen joint action on EDI
B.E.Inclusive initiative agree next phase of joint equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plan.
Recognising culture as key to sustainable economic growth
Creative UK Provocation paper: Culture as Growth Infrastructure.
Futurebuild and UK Construction Week London Unite
Creating the UK’s Built Environment Super Event and over 25 other key partnerships.
Welsh and Scottish 2026 elections
Manifestos for the built environment for upcoming same May day elections.
Advancing BIM education with a competency framework
“We don’t need people who can just draw in 3D. We need people who can think in data.”
Guidance notes to prepare for April ERA changes
From the Electrical Contractors' Association Employee Relations team.
Significant changes to be seen from the new ERA in 2026 and 2027, starting on 6 April 2026.
First aid in the modern workplace with St John Ambulance.
Ireland's National Residential Retrofit Plan
Staged initiatives introduced step by step.
Solar panels, pitched roofs and risk of fire spread
60% increase in solar panel fires prompts tests and installation warnings.
Modernising heat networks with Heat interface unit
Why HIUs hold the key to efficiency upgrades.
Reflecting on the work of the CIOB Academy
Looking back on 2025 and where it's going next.
Procurement in construction: Knowledge hub
Brief, overview, key articles and over 1000 more covering procurement.
Sir John Betjeman’s love of Victorian church architecture.