The {tag:pracownie} team won a special mention in the international competition for the design of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. The Warsaw team competed against the best - First Prize went to a design by Zaha Hadid Architects created in collaboration with Serbia's Bureau Cube Partners.
We are honored that our vision is gaining international recognition, being able to compete with the concepts of world-renowned studios.
- confess the architects of the Warsaw office
Competition design of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade
© WXCA
Who was Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American engineer and inventor, was the author of nearly 300 patents. It is to him that we owe the electric motor, bicycle dynamo, radio or solar battery, among others. And it is to him that a new museum in Milan Vapa's historic paper factory in Belgrade is to be dedicated (currently the collection is housed in a century-old villa, too small to display valuable exhibits), which will become an important element of the planned quarter of museums in the Serbian capital in the future.
innovative museum in a former factory
An international architectural and urban planning competition for the adaptation of the 1924 building, which has been closed for years, was organized by the Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade in cooperation with the Belgrade Waterfront Company. The task facing the contestants was to develop a concept for the transformation of the complex, which covers an area of more than 8,000 square meters, into a museum space showcasing the achievements of one of the greatest inventors.
Competition design for the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade
© WXCA
The jury, chaired by Marko Stojčić, Chief Urban Planner of Belgrade, and composed of: Ivana Zorić, curator, representative of the Nikola Tesla Museum, Kristina Lukić, economist, representative of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, Natalija Belić, architect, representative of the Serbian Agency for Spatial and Urban Planning, Gordana Lučić, architect, representative of the Institute of Urbanism inBelgrade, Aleksandar Ivanović, architect, representative of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Belgrade, Goran Lojpur, engineer, director of the Project Development Sector, selected the winners of three prizes and one special mention from among the 46 proposals submitted.
First Prize went to a project by Zaha Hadid Architects and Bureau Cube Partners, while Second Prize was awarded to a team consisting of: Zoran Šobić, Marko Filipović, Srđan Stojanović, and III was given to: William Poole, Jim Richards, Benjamin Walker, Ivan Jovanović, Saša Popović and Milutin Folić. A special honorable mention went to {tag:pracownie}, whose competition design was followed by: Szczepan Wroński, Ewelina Szeląg, Paweł Wolanin, Małgorzata Bonowicz, Mateusz Sokołowski, Andrzej Bulanda, Krystian Tomczyk, Jakub Chlebowicz and Łukasz Rakowski.
Competition design of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.
© WXCA
animated history that inspires
WXCA's proposal - contrary to the competition's assumptions - included the basement as a functional space, and therefore could not win the prize. According to the jury, however, it deserved an honorable mention due to its innovative and symbolic integration of Tesla's heritage into the museum's spaces.
The design stands out not only for its functionality, but also for its impact on an emotional and intellectual level, allowing visitors to connect more deeply with Tesla. The spatial layout encourages exploration of the great inventor's ideas, making the museum a vibrant, dynamic center of science and innovation. It is a place where Tesla's story comes alive and inspires action.
- justified their verdict by the jury
Competition design of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade
© WXCA
chimney, storm and golden ball
The Warsaw team has a lot of experience in designing museum spaces - they have to their credit, among others, the Museum of Polish History and the Museum of the Polish Army, and they also won competitions to design the museums of the Princes Lubomirski in Wroclaw and the Wielkopolska Uprising in Poznan. How did they approach this challenge?
The main idea behind the creation of the Nikola Tesla Museum in the space of the Vapa factory is to protect the historic building and adapt it appropriately for its new function. We wanted the structure, hidden under years of layers, to become not only a background for the exhibition, but to be a co-narrator of the story of the great inventor.
- explain the architects from the WXCA studio
The historic brick walls became a kind of memory medium for the architects
© WXCA
The architects wanted the mere presence in the museum's spaces to be a spiritual experience for visitors, so they arranged it in such a way as to intensify the experience - the scenery is created by the original structure of the factory with its intact facades exposing the industrial character of the existing architecture. The brick walls became a kind of memory medium for the architects.
Both compositional and symbolic center of the proposed layout became a tall chimney - a symbol of progress and modernity of the early 20th century. The architects filled it with light, creating a symbolic lantern around which the museum is centered. It may represent, as the jury noted, both the enlightenment brought by science and the legacy of Tesla himself, but above all it is a strong architectural gesture. Surrounding the chimney, the designers planned two rings - a public space in the central courtyard of the factory and a path of exhibition halls in the halls around the courtyard.
An art installation inspired by the storm motif
© WXCA
The formerly closed factory as a museum is meant to invite visitors, so the architects proposed an open entrance area. After crossing it, a sequence of diverse experiences would await visitors, including an art installation inspired by the storm motif, which in its violent form would accompany the birth of the inventor. The centerpiece of the path of experience is to be a lighted room in the ground floor of the lighthouse, where a golden ball with an urn containing Tesla's ashes is hidden.
The centerpiece of the experience path is to be a lighted room in the lantern's ground floor, where a golden ball with an urn containing Tesla's ashes was hidden
© WXCA
Thanks to the proposed functional layout of the two surrounding rings, the illuminated base of the lighthouse will be visible from all the rooms located around it - at the same time reminding us of Tesla's physical and symbolic presence and imbuing the museum with his spirit.
- conclude the designers
