The new bridge and riverfront in Dolac, an eye-pleasing oasis
4 plus arhitekti
Public Space
/
Future
The way a coastline makes connections with the most important areas in the city determines the degree of connection between the city and the river. The most important city streets, squares and parks in Banja Luka were developed on a distance from the river Vrbas. From the main town square, the view partially opens towards the “Kastel” fortress, and indirectly, through the market square, to the river. Due to the nature of steep riverbanks and the disposition of urban structures, the users experience the river only when they descend from the city center to one of the bridges.
After a long wait, in 2019 the City of Banja Luka announced an International competition for the new bridge that was supposed to connect two of the busiest transits in the city and create a link between the main pedestrian area and the river banks. By emphasizing the importance of pedestrian accessibility in such a large scale spatial intervention, the authors decided to separate the pedestrians and cyclists from the noises, jams and pollution of everyday traffic. This idea evolved into creating the pathway for primary users that would enable a quick descent from city center to the greenery of the river banks. The pathway also provides a connection with the parts of the city across the river, independent from the traffic lanes of the bridge, as well as the panoramic view of the greenery and urban structures along the pedestrian/cyclist path. This encounter with such unique environment is supported with benches along the way, so that users have an opportunity not only to cross the river but also to stay and enjoy its mesmerizing beauties, city skyline and vivid architecture of structural elements, only minutes away from the most urban areas of the city. Additional content on the left riverbank is integrated into steep terrain and revives the new riverfront with amenities such as beach, bar, cafeteria, sporting capacity, museum, playground, etc. This creates an attractive environment beneath the bridge, where citizens of all age can experience the escape from everyday urbanity into eye-pleasing oasis, and tourists can enjoy these amenities and reveal a true meaning of city’s epithet - “the green beauty”.
The pedestrian lane is an arched steel bridge to which the main span structure is attached, designed as a spatial steel grid that can provide vertical and lateral rigidity. The spatial steel matrix rests on supporting elements outside the arch zone beyond the river bed. The bridge is equipped with fence, lighting and clearly defined paths for pedestrians and cyclists. In the zone above the river, a pedestrian lane crosses the traffic, where a height of 5 m is necessary for smooth traffic flow.
/21
view 1
1
view 2
2
view 3
3
view 4
4
view 5
5
view 6
6
view 7
7
view 8
8
view 9
9
view 10
10
01 SITE PLAN WITH WIDER COVERAGE
1
02 SITE PLAN WITH NARROW COVERAGE - BRIDGE
2
03 SITE PLAN WITH NARROW COVERAGE -PUBLIC SPASES
3
04 ELEVATION
4
05 LONGITUDINAL CROSS SECTION
5
06 HORIZONTAL PROJECTION OF THE BRIDGE
6
07 GROUND LAVEL AND LANDSCAPE SEDIGN OF THE RIVER BANK
Banja Luka
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The City of Banja Luka
12/2019
48000 sq. m
4plus.architects
Saša Čvoro, Malina Čvoro, Radovan Beleslin, Maja Medić, Neda Medić, Nebojša Jeremić, Đorđe Šebić, Zoran Uljarević
The City of Banja Luka
Curriculum
Architectural studio "4PLUS ARCHITECTS" was founded in 2002 with the idea of working on projects of buildings and structures of high architectural value. It was founded by architects Saša Cvoro and Malina Cvoro. The studio has a large number of high quality projects and good technical and economic indicators. The most significant awarded realized projects are House 4, Nikola Tesla Student Dormitory in Banja Luka and Reconstruction of the pedestrian street Kralja Petra I in Prijedor (RS, BIH).
The current team of authors consists of architects who are united in working on various projects and architectural competitions in collaboration with experts from different disciplines. The cooperation began in 2017 at the international architectural competition for arranging public spaces in Novi Sad (SRB), followed by a big award and the realization of the project of the main square in Sremska Kamenica.
