The New Home of the Opera Part 2 Project 2011 Ana Cogoljevic University of Belgrade | Serbia There were sounds in the distance. They were coming from heaven simultaneously breaking the silence of the ghostly city clothed in stone. Perhaps that was just a shriek? Or a train passing by? That was a voice... Someone was singing…The city…New Home of the Opera is a project that gives a fresh perception to the opera in the city.The opera house is a closed, defined system marked by the identity of the spectacle of the city. The prime goal of this project is to keep the traditional functional proportions of space but to provide innovations in the field of architectural aesthetic. The new site of the opera is a “machine“ made of jointed elements in the sytem of the city. The idea is, on the plan of architecture, to observe the opera house not as a glamurous sculpture, but to give it a whole new meaning. The opera house becomes a part of the megastructure composed of the objects of culture, it loses the effect of glamour and gains new esthetics. When it comes to urban planning, the “cultural mechanism” should be correlated with the city’s infrastructure so as to give it a new significance. The purpose is to create a new infrastructure as a cultural mark of the city. The site of this new opera house is the area of the railway station in Belgrade. This area was of great importance to the city in the past however the downside of the railway would be blocking the way to the river. Combining the megastructure of cultural objects with the railway’s infrastructure opens the way to the river and gives this area a new perspective. In order to cherish the memory of the old railway, the old trains are to be replaced by new ones, rollercoasters as a way of fun and communication, so as to experience the city, the cultural objects and the opera in a fresh manner. The opera, made for the elite, is being combined with a new way of having fun and becomes generally available. Ana Cogoljevic Tutor(s) Branislav Mitrovic