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
Apprenticeship announcement by the Prime Minister
Welcomed but with call for more actionable detail.
Heat pump announcements, what homeowners need to know
An 'ultimate guide to heat pumps' from a heating company.
Construction contract awards reach £7.1bn in February
Their highest level in seven months.
The journey to sustainability in heritage
Research is the key to better understanding.
Heritage approaches to adaptation, mitigation and loss.
Bridging the gap between policy, finance and installation.
Development on brownfield land
Definition, background, policy and the latest consultation.
With the Design Framework for Building Services.
Retrofit of Buildings, a CIOB Technical Publication
Pertinent technical issues, measures and the roles involved.
ECA joins HSE campaign to support mental health
Working Minds’ five simple steps based on risk assessment.
Mental health in the construction industry
Mental health issues in brief with related articles.
Transitional arrangements, Building Control and the BSR.
For pre-October buildings with substantial progress by April.
Why quality counts in domestic ventilation systems
From products, to systems to the installation.
Empowering the Future with CIOB Academy
Lifelong learning, upscaling, and reskilling for the built environment.