A face lift for Zagreb Fair?
The complex extends over a total of 46 hectares, and there are plans to do up the eastern entrance, where a large square was initially planned in the past.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 19th of June, 2018, part of the well- known space would still be used to organise fairs, the purpose of the complex, and this area would be smaller but more developed, and with better infrastructure, as well as boasting a brand new congress centre.
The other part would be entirely transformed and become the “innovative centre” of Novi Zagreb, boasting shops, cafes, entertainment and cultural content, concert halls, hotels and student accommodation, parks and economic facilities, such as a technology park. Electric vehicles would be used for transport, Večernji list reports.
In the future, the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam) could look as has been described above, at least according to the project of the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, which was presented yesterday at the forum “The development of Zagreb Fair: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow”.
“The fair has great potential and can be arranged relatively quickly because it’s under a ”pure” ownership,” stated Tihomir Jukić, a professor from the Faculty of Architecture who presented the program of this strategic city project.
”It should be emphasised that the project implies that some of the pavilions are to be reconstructed, but that part will have to be demolished and new buildings will be constructed. This isn’t something to be worried about, in the past some pavilions have had to be removed to make new ones, it’s a natural process,” said Jukić, adding that all the pavilions have been properly studied, and the conclusion is that eight are protected, and the five that aren’t protected can go.
His colleague from the faculty, Professor Maroje Mrduljaš, who studied modernist legacy (heritage) in thw Republic of Croatia, concluded that some of the pavilions are examples of true art but that they certainly need a new purpose.
Asked when this could be acheived, Zagreb’s Deputy Mayor Olivera Majić and the head of the City Planning and Development Office of the City of Zagreb, Sanja Jerković, explained that this was a long-term process.
The presented program will first need to gain the Assembly’s acceptance, after which an architectural-urbanistic tender will be announced, this should be done at the end of this or early next year, followed by the required project documentation.
