New Belgrade transformed a marshy wasteland into a modernist urban experiment. Block 39 was designated as a sanctuary for higher education and the arts — anchored by the "City of Artists" (Grad umetnika), formally announced in the late 1960s.
A Critical Historical Document
The newspaper report published in Politika on November 24, 1969, titled "Budući 'Grad umetnika'", outlines the scale, architectural intent, and technical sophistication of this unrealized utopia. While only the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) was eventually completed, it stands as a monumental remnant of a larger socialist project that prioritized cultural infrastructure as a pillar of urban life.
1969 Vision
Conceptualizing the "City of Artists"
The 1969 announcement articulated a grand design to relocate Belgrade's art academies from cramped old-city locations to a state-of-the-art complex on the former airport grounds in New Belgrade — a site that symbolized the project's forward-looking ambition.
70,000
Square Meters
Total campus area planned for unified artistic education
2,200
Students
Capacity across four distinct art disciplines
4
Academies
Theater/Film, Fine Arts, Applied Arts, and Music
The campus was envisioned as a "growing structure" — functional units added in tracts, connected by a network of open and closed corridors. Its architectural philosophy drew from the Japanese Metabolist movement, championing modular growth and raw exposed concrete, resonating deeply with the brutalist aesthetic of Yugoslav architects.
Plan vs. Reality
1969 Vision vs. Final Realization
The ambitious vision of 1969 contrasts sharply with what was actually built. The table below illustrates the dramatic gap between the original plan and the eventual outcome.
Engineer Momčilo Petrović of "Ratko Mitrović" provided technical oversight for the first building — a 170-meter-long structure covering 9,500 square meters, housing an amphitheater for 190 students, eight classrooms, a film studio, a 700-square-meter sound center, and rooms for ballet and fencing.
Architecture
Architectural Authorship and the Belgrade School of Modernism
The FDU building was shaped by Aleksandar Stjepanović and Božidar Janković, frequently collaborating with Branislav Karadžić — prominent figures in the "Belgrade School of Architecture," adapting international modernism to the social and material conditions of socialist Yugoslavia.
Primary Material
Natural concrete and brick — typical of Yugoslav Brutalism and the Belgrade School
Structural Length
170 meters — modular, elongated structure designed to allow for future expansion
External Finish
Sheet metal and wood accents — industrial aesthetic balanced with organic materials
Influence
"Japanese style" — reference to Metabolist principles of growth and modularity
The Building
The Anatomy of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts
Completed in 1974 and occupied in 1975, the FDU building was not merely a lecture space but a comprehensive laboratory for dramatic and cinematic art. Its interior used "circular connections" — a Stjepanović signature — eliminating dead ends and fostering fluid movement and collaboration between actors, directors, cinematographers, and sound engineers.
Performance Spaces
Large theater stage and cinema halls, including the "Tod-Ao" wide-screen system
Media Studios
Specialized television and radio studios for the faculty's expanded electronic media curriculum
Sound Center
700-square-meter sound center, film studios, and photography laboratory for professional post-production
Training Halls
Dedicated spaces for ballet, fencing, and stage movement — recognizing the physical demands of actor training
Urban Conflict
Block 39: From Artistic Campus to Contested Space
After the FDU's completion, the broader "City of Artists" vision remained unfulfilled. The academies for fine arts, applied arts, and music were never built, leaving the FDU as an isolated brutalist landmark surrounded by a large green area — a remnant of the planned landscape serving as an ecological and acoustic buffer.
In recent years, Block 39 has become a site of intense urban conflict. Originally designated for science and education, it is now targeted for a massive administrative development by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP): a 120,000-square-meter official building within a total 180,000-square-meter development, effectively surrounding the FDU with a closed, high-security complex.
Then vs. Now
Original Vision vs. Proposed MUP Development
Critics argue that a high-security complex with a 1.8-meter fence and a helipad would create "unpredictable noise levels," making radio and film recording nearly impossible. The loss of Block 39's green areas would destroy a vital urban refuge integral to New Belgrade's original modernist plan.
Heritage
Architectural Heritage and the Value of Brutalism
The struggle over Block 39 highlights a profound disconnect in how modernist and socialist-era architecture is valued. Local planning documents for the MUP complex state that the area "has not been identified as a cultural asset" — a dismissal common in post-socialist urbanism, where ideological associations overshadow architectural merit.
Yet the FDU is recognized globally as a prime example of brutalism and a significant work by Stjepanović and Janković. The 1969 "City of Artists" vision underscores that the FDU was never intended to be an isolated structure — it was part of a sophisticated urban composition designed to foster creativity through architecture.
Institutional Legacy
Successor to the first dramatic arts academy in Yugoslavia, founded in 1948
Educational Excellence
Generations of celebrated artists trained within its walls
Global Recognition
Prime example of brutalism and significant work by Stjepanović and Janković
Socio-Spatial Analysis
Unrealized Utopias and Pedagogical Architecture
The "City of Artists" represents a "partial realization" that created long-term urban vulnerability. In New Belgrade, partially completed projects left "ghost" spaces — land planned for specific social functions but underdeveloped due to economic crises of the late 1970s and 1980s. The failure to complete the other three academies left the FDU as a "sentinel" without its supporting ensemble, making the site susceptible to re-appropriation by state security functions diametrically opposed to the original open, creative campus intent.
Original Priority
Arts and education as the primary drivers of urban development and social progress
Current Priority
State power and control through massive security and administrative complexes
The FDU's pedagogical success is inseparable from its architecture. The amphitheater, eight specialized classrooms, and vast sound center directly served the "Belgrade school" of acting and directing. The transition to the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in 1973 was supported by this facility, which formally integrated film, radio, and television — aligning architectural form with institutional function in a hallmark of the best modernist work.
Future
Preservation or Encroachment?
Cultural Ensemble
Land in Block 39 is not merely "undeveloped space" but part of a significant cultural and architectural ensemble
Historical Record
The 1969 Politika report is a reminder of what was promised: a 70,000-square-meter center for creative excellence, "the pride of New Belgrade"
Functional Heart
The FDU remains a vital, functioning heart of that vision, deserving protection as both cultural institution and architectural masterpiece
If the MUP project proceeds as planned, the FDU will be transformed from the centerpiece of an open artistic campus into an enclosed neighbor of a high-security government facility — a fate that would erase the spatial and historical logic that defined Block 39 from its inception.
Legacy
The Enduring Legacy of the 1969 Vision
The FDU building, with its 170-meter length and "Japanese style" concrete forms, is more than a school — it is a physical record of a society that prioritized the education of its artists as a cornerstone of its urban identity.
The announcement of the "City of Artists" in 1969 was a moment of peak architectural and cultural optimism in Yugoslavia. Although only the Faculty of Dramatic Arts was realized, its brutalist structure captures the essence of that vision: technical precision, material honesty, and a commitment to the public good.
The lessons of Block 39 — the importance of integrated planning, the value of specialized educational spaces, and the need to protect the ecological and artistic character of the city — remain more relevant than ever. The sentinel of Block 39 stands not just as a reminder of an unrealized utopia, but as a challenge to current planners to honor the visionary spirit of 1969.
Integrated Planning
Holistic campus design as a model for future urban cultural development
Specialized Spaces
Architecture aligned with pedagogy — a hallmark of the best modernist work
Ecological Character
Green space as an integral, protected component of the modernist urban plan