Hudi Bitek Things to Do

Siget is not only Super Andrija. These five buildings on the southern edge of Siget are also a symbol of this neighbourhood. Their relationship is something that you can’t miss when you approach Zagreb from the south.

And since they are located next to the main city north-south axis, the view from its top floors is one of the best views in Zagreb. For those lucky enough to live in northern flats of the building, the layers of the city – Sava river in the foreground, old Zagreb in a distance and Medvednica mountain in the background are offered like a special award.

Of course, there was a price to be paid for the large park of Travno. The program still had to house 10,000 inhabitants.

Almost all the buildings in Travno had their names assigned by architects, and the most western one was named Tratincica (Daisy). But soon after it was built, this monster-building was popularly named Mamutica (Mammoth-building).

It is the largest single building in the country. Almost half of Travno’s population – approximately 5,000 people live here. Eighteen floors built over several service levels and several undergound levels reserved for parking.

It is the first thing you’ll see if you approach Zagreb from Karlovac. It’s huge. Locating your own window is still a problem for majority of its inhabitants.
You can’t be indifferent to it. You simply must have your opinion. It is love it or hate it story.

Utrina was built after Zapruðe and the architects learnt from their mistakes. There are much more different types of buildings here, flats are better and there's different sizes of flats available. As Zapruðe - which is just across the road - has a supermarket, Utrina got a market instead. There even is a small fish market here!

Zapruðe was Novi Zagreb's first neighbourhood and its flats are the smallest and quality is lowest. I still liked it best of the ones I saw I think.

The neighbourhood has only the different types of buildings, 8 storey buildings in north-south direction, 4 storey buildings in east-west direction as well as some skyscrapers near the river. The idea was to provide every building with good views of "old" Zagreb and Medvednica Mountain behind it and not to block the view.

Underpassages connect the different neighbourhoods of Novi Zagreb so that traffic can flow. Again in Germany I would expect basically anything here and would try to avoid these places. The one we walked through in Novi Zagreb (the one between Zapruðe and Utrina) was very modern and bright though. No need to be scared here. I especially liked the cartoon drawings replacing written signs.

There are small parks everywhere in Novi Zagreb. You never live too close to your neighbours and there's always some green in front of your windows or near it. In Travno there's the biggest park right next to Mamutica.

We didn't have time to see Park Mladenaca. In this park every couple of Novi Zagreb that gets married can plant a tree. What a nice idea!

We went into one of the entrances of Mamutica and took the elevator up to the top floor. From here you could have a nice view over the neighbourhoods of Novi Zagreb. As it was getting dark and foggy when we were there we didn't see much unfortunately. But if you happen to come here on a sunny day you shouldn't miss it. The doors aren't locked.

Nikša told us that there is approx. one suicide every year from Mamutica. Mostly by people who don't live here.

In order to have space for a big public park 5,000 people had to move into one big building at Travno. The building is called "Mamutica" by everybody because it fits much better than the actual name Tratincica (Daisy). It's huge! Actually it's the biggest building in Croatia.

In Germany I wouldn't want to go near a building like this because I would expect drug addicts and petty thiefs behind every corner. It's different here. As in socialist times people were given a flat "normal" people moved here - mostly young families. So this isn't a social blackspot and people are happy living here. I bet they have nice views, I still wouldn't want to live in a building that large. Imagine saying "Hello" to all your neighbours when moving in ;)