Among the finest architectural achievements of Croatian postwar Modernism, the prolific body of work produced by the architect and professor Alek-sandar Dragomanovic (Banja Luka, 1921-1996, Zagreb) undoubtedly deserves to be singled out for its outstanding quality. A. Dragomanovid built up his professional career over 47 years starting from his first student project of the railway facilities on Brdko-Banovici railway line (1948) and ending it with the annexe of the City Hall in Zagreb (1995). He produced more than loo projects out of which 24 were actually built. He used to take part regularly in architectural competitions and submitted a total of 43 entries of which 15 won the first awards while many others (19) ranked high as well. The majority of his large-scale designs were made in collaboration with his colleagues, most frequently with Radovan Nikgic (as early as 1953) and later with Edo Smidihen as the third team member. The other co-authors he used to work with on office building designs were Ante Lozica, Josip Frankol, Berislav Radimir, Neven Segvic, Doroteja Loznik, Ninoslav Janson, Branko Pintek, Fedor Tolja, Kasanic, Miroslav Dragomanovic including some technical coworkers. Office building typology dominates Dragomanovic's work. Over a span of almost 40 years he designed 16 office blocks of which only 4 were actually built. Yet, due to their innovative features, they can be considered a major contribution to both the architectural profession and the development of this typology. His projects were made for the cities of ex Yugoslavia and some foreign countries (Algeria). Dragomanovic started to work on this building type very early in his career. Soon after graduation he started his first project of this kind working as professor Alfred Albini's assistant. It was the competition for the administration building of Rade Koncar factory (1952/53). A few years later (1956), in the capacity of a licensed architect, he worked with J. Frankol and A. Lozica on the competition entry for a complex of office buildings of the Secretariat for Internal Affairs in Zagreb. However, two of all his office buildings are usually considered as his major works. The first one was the office building Tempo (FINA nowadays) in the street called Utica grada Vuko-vara. (with R. NikSic, 1969/70-1980/81), while the other one was SRCE (University Computing Centre) in the vicinity of the street called Slavonska avenija (1972-1974). The most significant unbuilt project of this type (involving extensive research, though) was the Croatian Radiotelevision complex produced in collaboration with R. NikSic and E. Smidihen over eight years (1962-1970) in several design versions. Unfortunately, the project remained unbuilt. As far as his competition entries are concerned, he won the first award and special praise in professional circles for the design of Vagono-gradnja the office high-rise block in Belgrade (1963/64). In terms of their urban settings, Dragomanovic's office buildings most commonly occupy prominent and visually conspicuous corner positions (Vagonogradnja in Belgrade, office and residential block in Petrinjska/Dordiceva st. in Zagreb, UIS center on Zagreb's Marshalling Yard), frequently at the intersection of busy city roads (the complex of administration buildings of the Secretariat for Internal Affairs in Zagreb, Banat bank in Zrenjanin). Some buildings are conceived as free compositions in space such as those in the vast areas close to the Sava river where they form some sort of the ante-squares as part of the complex (Central Committee Building, Croatian Radiotelevision complex, SRCE, MEZO) or as interpolations in the predominantly built-up urban fabric along the main roads and pedestrian zones such as those in Rijeka (Rijeka bank and Savings Bank) or Zagreb (office buildings of Tempo -SDK, Ingra-Elektroprojekt, Zagreb bank, the annexe of the City Hall). The precise location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complex in Algeria is unknown although the drawings indicate that it might be placed somewhere on a hill slope out of the densely-built up urban fabric. In terms of the layout morphology, Dragomanovic's designs fall into three types. The first one is a simple disposition with a closed quadrilateral plan (Central Committee building, Vagonogradnja, mostly SRCE, Banat bank, UIS on the Marshalling yard, Zagreb bank); the second type is an L-shaped layout generated from the site plan (Central Committee building, Rijeka bank, the interpolation Petrinjska/Dordideva, INGRA) while the third one refers to complex layouts with a dispersed spatial organization reminiscent of the structuralist concept (Croatian Radiotelevision complex, MEZO, Ministry in Algeria). In terms of structural systems, Dragomanic's predominantly used a skeleton structure on a square grid (minimally combined with reinforced concrete walls and solid cores) ranging between a 6x6 m type with several intermodules and a 7,5x7.5 m type. Exceptions are the office and residential building on the corner of Petrinjska/Dordiceva streets (reinforced concrete walls) and the Vagonogradnja tower (a concrete core with 5.6 meter -deep cantilevered slabs of steel grillage). Regarding his design and composition vocabulary, Dragomanovic essentially favoured two different approaches with Miesian motifs on the facades. They are of two types: the first one is represented by the volumes of uniform height with no prominent accents and a markedly horizontal composition (Tempo SDK, SRCE, Banat Bank, Petrinjska/Dordiceva, Ministry in Algeria, UIS, Ingra-Elektro-projekt, Zagreb bank, Company for Construction and Operation of the Motorway Zagreb-Rijeka) while the other one is embodied in the ensembles generated by a combination of low-lying volumes and verticals (Central Committee building, Vagonogradnja, the Croatian Radiotelevion to some extent, and the MEZO complex). The exception is Rijeka bank which in one of its design versions appears as a transitional form between the low-lying volume and the high-rise block. Dragomanovic's architecture, especially in the realm of office building design, clearly shows a remarkable consistency in the design process, achieved by means of a specific rational, logical, and analytical method of modular design "on the grid" an actual or imaginary backbone of the entire creative process. His design method is characterized by an exceptionally well thought out analytical approach resulting in a rational spatial organization and a purified functional layout as well as a simple and technically perfect structural scheme. The resulting product is an aesthetically pleasing architecture of outstanding quality, supreme elegance, and refined minimalist gesture.
