Technical Campus in Borongaj (1947–1949) as a Prefiguration of Zagreb’s Directive Regulatory Planning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31522/p.33.1(69).3Keywords:
Le Corbusier, planned economy, postwar urban planning, Technical Campus, University CityAbstract
The unrealized Technical Campus project on Zagreb’s eastern outskirts was envisioned as a key driver of the city’s industrialization, with funding allocated as part of the economic framework of the First Five-Year Plan. This ambitious complex was designed to train technically educated professionals, with the Directive Regulatory Plan allocating the eastern parts of the city for its development and expansion. However, just two years after its initial conception, the project faced obstacles that delayed its phased implementation and ultimately halted construction. This paper explores the evolving role of engineers within the existing model of technical education, emphasizing a blend of theoretical and practical training. It also examines the procedures, organizational structures of urban planning authorities, and the highly educated professionals involved - whose work was often uncoordinated, with decisions frequently revised or deferred. By analyzing the spatial and programmatic aspects of the Technical Campus, the study seeks to highlight how planning this peripheral urban enclave as a fragment prefigures the broader strategy: a smaller-scale embodiment of a larger spatial framework that demonstrated notable resilience despite the ongoing regulatory shifts and administrative reorganizations characteristic of the early postwar period.
References
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Journal Articles
Antolić, V. (1949) ‘Regulacioni plan i direktivna regulaciona osnova Zagreba’, Arhitektura, 18/22, pp. 5-29.
Antolić, V. (1951) ‘Industrijalizacija naš najteži urbanistički problem’, Urbanizam-arhitektura, 5(9-12), pp. 52-63.
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Articles in Periodicals
Z.R. (1950) ‘Ove godine grade se 24 stambena objekta i Geodetski fakultet’, Vjesnik, 15 July 1950, p. 2.
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Čavlović, M. and Sevšek, A. (2022) The Poljane and City Hall Parks as Worthy Counterparts to the Built Modernist Idiom. In: Architecture in Perspective, eds. Peřinková, M.; Jüttnerová, S. and Videcká, L., Ostrava: VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Architecture, pp. 79-83.
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Dissertations
Čavlović, M. (2017) Utjecaj transformacija arhitekotrnske profesije na arhitekturu Zagreba 1945.-1961., Ph.D. thesis, Zagreb: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture.
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Archive materials
University of Zagreb Faculty of Architecture, Fra Andrije Kačića Miošića 26, Zagreb - Study Archive of the Zagreb Faculty of Architecture
Documentation on the construction of the Zagreb Technical Faculty at Borongaj:
a. Seissel, J. (1957) “Sveučilište kao suvremeni urbanistički problem - sa posebnim osvrtom na Zagreb i Osnovu Sveučilišnog grada u Dubravi", habilitation thesis, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture, Zagreb.
b. Report on the case of the New Building of the Zagreb Technical Faculty, signed by Vlado Antolić, Zagreb, 12 March 1947
c. Report on the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, signed by Pavao Jušić, Zagreb, 18 September 1948
d. Report of the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty and Faculty of the Economics to the Committee for Scientific Institutions, University and Colleges, Zagreb, 11 July 1949
e. Letter to the Dean’s Office at the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 22 May 1947 (a)
f. Letter from the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty to the Ministry of Industry and Mining, signed by Rikard Podhorsky, Zagreb, 14 July 1947 (b)
g. Letter from the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty to the Physical Planning Commission of the Republic, Zagreb, 23 July 1947 (c)
h. Letter from the Institute for Industrial Research to the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 7 January 1948 (a)
i. Letter from the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty and Faculty of Economics to the Committee for Scientific Institutions, University and Colleges, Zagreb, 21 October 1949
j. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 1 July 1947 (a)
k. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 6 August 1947 (b)
l. Minutes of the conference of the Project Sector of the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 19 September 1947 (c)
m. Minutes of the conference, Zagreb, 26 September 1947 (d)
n. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 15 October 1947 (e)
o. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 5 December 1947 (f)
p. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 15 July 1948 (a)
q. Minutes of the continued session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty of 15 July 1948, Zagreb, 17 July 1948 (b)
r. Minutes of the session of the Construction Committee for the Technical Faculty, Zagreb, 15 October 1948 (c)
s. Rational Design Guidelines, 19 June 1948
t. Decision of the Ministry of Construction of the People’s Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, 17 August 1948
u. Decision on the Setting Up of the Construction Committee and the Construction Management Board of the Technical Faculty, signed by the Minister of Industry and Mining, Rade Žigić, undated
v. Technical Programme, undated
w. Project documentation of the Technical Faculty at Borongaj
State Archives in Zagreb, Opatička 29, Zagreb
Croatian State Archives, Trg Marka Marulića 21, Zagreb: Photographic Documentation Agency Fonds (AGEFOTO), HR HDA-1422
Building Documentation Collection: Antolić, V. (1949)
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