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Bar, Belgrade

Brankow Bar

BELGRADE (RS) - Belgrade recently got a new and exciting night-time bar, opened in December 2011 and designed by Fluid:architecture. It is situated in one of those hidden, unexpected urban spaces that cities often ignore and forget, at the foot of Branko's Bridge on the historical side of Belgrade. The bridge links the two sides of the Sava river, connecting the old city and the neighbourhood of Savamala with New Belgrade. Being one of the oldest and most neglected parts of Belgrade, Savamala is dominated by traffic and old warehouses. Today, however, it is slowly undergoing a cultural regeneration. Besides new bars, like Brankow Bar or Mladost, both accomplished by the same team of architects, this transformation is also apparent in the creative industry, which has sparked new energy into the decayed spaces.

The history of Branko's Bridge adds to the multilayered context of Brankow Bar. The pylons of the bridge date from 1930s and are decorated by the famous sculptor Ivan Meštrović in a kind of Serbo-Byzantine style. The bridge itself was destroyed in 1941 and rebuilt in 1957. All this makes up the premises Fluid:architecture found at the location. Inspired by the context, and aiming to optimally implement a contemporary interior design within the existing concrete structure, Đorđe Gec and his team applied the concept of contrast. This principle has been put into effect across all elements and materials in designing the 200 m² of floor space, alternating between new-old, light-dark, reflective-porous.

Fluid:architecture is well known for its design of bars and restaurants in Belgrade and very successful in dealing with unusual spaces, like The Tube (see A10 #23), situated in a former fallout shelter. But Brankow Bar offers more than design and unusual context: namely, an atmosphere enriched by jazz, live music abounding in vitality and spontaneity, something quite inherent to the surroundings.