Original name
Rakete [Rocket Building Complex]
Original use
Housing / housing ensemble
Current use
Housing / housing ensemble
Architects
Centar 51 Design Group – Berislav Šerbetić, Ljubo Iveta, Vjenceslav Richter, Olga Korenik
Concrete by reinforcement
Concrete is a relatively brittle material that is strong in compression but less so in tension.
To increase its overall strength, steel rods, wires, mesh or cables may be embedded in concrete before it sets. This reinforcement, often known as rebar, resists tensile forces. By forming a strong bond, the two materials are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element .
Construction method
In this case, the concrete can be made by mixing the components directly on site, or it may be transported from a production plant in concrete-mixer trucks.
This method has the disadvantage of leaving the concrete exposed to the elements while it is setting. Whereas, with other methods, the environmental conditions can be controlled during setting, providing greater control over the outcome, with cast-in-place concrete a series of tests and protocols are necessary to verify its final strength.
Architectural concrete
- textured walls
- wooden formwork finish
- stamped concrete
- exposed aggregate concrete, colored concrete, etc.
Structural types
Beams are the horizontal load-bearing elements of the frame. Columns are the vertical elements of the frame and act as the building’s primary load-bearing element. They transmit the beam loads down to the foundations.
State of Conservation
Description
The area of Zagreb where the Rocket Buildings are located, called Novi Zagreb, is a clear example of an outlying residential area from the socialist period in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. It is one of the largest of such urban developments and fits in with the approaches that were popular at the time.
Despite its proximity to the historic center – characterized by a central European architecture with zinc roofs and pastel-colored façades – Novi Zagreb presents a radically different landscape. It is distinguished by the immense scale of the development – both in terms of urban space and the buildings themselves – and the intensive use of exposed concrete.
The Rocket Buildings are three identical buildings, with rectangular volumes that are differentiated from others of the same period by the presence of external buttresses on the four corners of each block. These elements were added to the design to improve its structural performance after an earthquake caused significant damage in the nearby city of Skopje in 1963.
The utopian vision that gave birth to this urban model contrasts today, after years of poor maintenance, with an image of deterioration: empty ground floors and public spaces are slowly being colonized by nature, while the buildings suffer from pathologies that are increasingly visible from the outside.
Croatia
Zeleni trg 2
City of Zagreb (county) 10000 Zagreb
Commission
1969
Completion
1972