Competition Subject and Scope

The subject of the competition is work on the architectural and urban planning design of the new building of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.

The competition’s scope covers the location which, within the Detailed Regulation Plan for the linear park - Belgrade, city municipalities of Stari grad and Palilula, Unit 5 - has been planned for public service buildings and complexes, namely for an institution of higher education - the Faculty of Music with the Department of Dance. The location is in the edge zone of the lower part of the Dorćol neighbourhood, along the future linear park (transformation of the zone along the no longer functioning railway), near the Dorćol harbour (Marina Dorćol) in Dunavska street.

Motive and Goal for Launching the Competition

The motive for launching this competition is the need for the promotion and strengthening of university education capacities by building new structures and by reconstructing and equipping the present buildings, which has been identified and analyzed through the project entitled “Promoting and Strengthening University Education Capacities”. The general objective of the project is to promote the capacities of university education in the Republic of Serbia, through the achievement of the following specific goals: (1) Construction, additional construction and equipment of university education facilities by building new ones and reconstructing the present respective facilities of the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac, (2) Improvement of the quality and conditions of education at the respective faculties of the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac, (3) Implementation of the contemporary standards of sustainable construction and use of the facilities of the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac. In accordance with the expressed needs for the promotion of the capacities of university education in the Republic of Serbia, namely the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac, certain initiatives have been submitted to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, including the one for the construction and reconstruction of the following buildings of the University of Arts: The Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Faculty of Applied Arts and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Ever since its foundation, the Faculty of Music has been mostly housed in some provisional and rented facilities, so the issue of the poor quality and poor functionality of the premises has emerged, considering that the premises have not been built to serve the specific forms of teaching such as the one in the field of art. Considering the Faculty’s present needs and its future development, it has been identified as urgent that the Faculty be provide some purpose-built space with adequate technological equipment and sufficient capacities.  Ever since it was founded in 1937, i.e. for more than 80 years, the Faculty of Music has been “temporarily” accommodated in a building at 50 Kralja Milana street. Although this space has been utilized to the maximum, several other premises as well are used for teaching under the lease agreements or cooperation agreements. Also, several other cultural institutions permit the use of their premises for the organization of the concert activities of teachers and students of the Faculty of Music. In Belgrade alone, the Faculty organizes over 300 concerts a year, and has thus been positioned as one of the most important factors in the production of art music in our region. With over two hundred artists (teachers and art associates), nearly 50 scholars (teachers and researchers), and nearly 1000 students, this institution has the potential to organize several hundred concerts a year, as well as to organize many other events. This would also create better conditions for the digitalization of Serbia's intangible cultural heritage. The initiative for the building of new infrastructure in the field of Serbian higher education is one of the strategic priorities of the Serbian government in the forthcoming period and is extremely important for the process of modernization of studies and of internationalization of the study programmes.

Besides, the current Detailed Regulation Plan for the linear park - Belgrade, city municipalities of Stari grad and Palilula - envisages, for this location, a higher education institution which requires the scheduling of an architectural and urban planning competition for the construction plot with landscape architecture elements. 

Location of the Faculty of Music’s New Building - Competition Span

The goal of the competition is to choose, in accordance with the competition assignment, the programme requirements, the significance and potentials of the location, the highest quality architectural and urban planning design of the Belgrade Faculty of Music’s new building, which fits into the environment, is adapted to the values of the setting and corresponds with the significance that this institution has at the regional level. The objective is to, through the competition activities, envisage the current potentials of the area in today’s cultural and historical context, importance and development area through a new linear park - Belgrade plan and also in the context of the future development of this location.

The selected solutions will form the basis for work on the technical documentation for the purposes of execution, development and construction.

Position of the Faculty of Music’s New Building