Luka Cargo Port Hotel and Convention Center, Belgrade, Serbia

Authors’ Comment

This project proposes the adaptive reuse of a former industrial port area in Belgrade, Luka Beograd Cargo, into a contemporary urban complex with public and touristic functions: a conference center, an urban hotel, and a terminal for tourist boats. Although the site is located near the city center, it remains fragmented and poorly connected to the current urban structure. However, it lies right next to the Linear Park, a major urban regeneration project built along a former railway line.

The area still bears the traces of a strong port identity, with existing silos, warehouses and concrete platforms, some of which are already being reused for cultural or public events. The proposal seeks to extend this transformation without erasing the memory of the place. Inspired by Belgrade’s brutalist architecture, a massive and honest design language, the project reinterprets the existing structures as “exhibits” integrated into the spatial experience.

The new building is conceived as a large horizontal beam suspended on four vertical circulation nodes, “riding” above the existing structures without covering or destroying them. This gesture highlights the old architecture instead of hiding it. The ground floor becomes an open square facing the river, hosting a terminal for tourist boats that connect the site with other key points along the Danube, and includes elevated walkways for exhibitions on river-related themes. Inside, the entrance leads to a suspended sky lobby, followed by two levels with mixed public functions: wellness, restaurant, auditorium and above that, hotel rooms and office spaces.

The project aims to reconnect this marginal area with the dynamics of the contemporary city, preserving valuable traces of the past and activating them in a sustainable and symbolic way.