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Motel Košuta | Architectuul

Details

Keywords Change this

Modernism, Yugoslavian Modernism

Project timeline

1965 – 1966

Type

Hotel & Restaurant

Location Change this

Batočina
Kragujevac
Serbia

Architect Change this

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Article last edited by Bostjan on
March 27th, 2020

Motel Košuta Change this

Kragujevac, Serbia
by Ivan Vitić Change this

Bungalows near the Motel Košuta

1 of 14

Description Change this

Part of the highway project initiated in 1947 and completed in the mid-1960s, this massive highway project spanned all the way from Slovenia down to Macedonia. Vitić’s new motorway-based motel Košuta was built in a picturesque sylvan meadow near the Serbian town of Batočina, just off the motorway exit headed towards the city of Kragujevac. It was opened in 1966, the year after his first three Adriatic motels opened.

This complex was larger than any of Vitić’s Adriatic motels, having ten detached bungalow suites, along with dozens of additional rooms available across the parking lot in two L-oriented double-story motel buildings. While the Adriatic motels were highlighted in panels of blue, green and orange, Motel Košuta was characterized by its brightly colored yellow panels, while also having its facade clad in tan plaster and reddish-yellow brick as opposed to the natural flagstone of the Adriatic motels (perhaps referencing the more industrial nature of this region of Serbia).

While Motel Košuta was a popular and well-used overnight destination during the Yugoslav-era, the complex began to fall into neglect and disrepair in the years after the country’s dismantling during the 1990s. However, being that the grassroots architectural activist group known as “Motel Trogir" have been able to work towards the government protective listing and preservation of Vitić's motel sites at Trogir and at Rijeka, it becomes increasingly clear that degradation and demolition is not the only future possible for these historical sites. Culturally significant Yugoslav-era architectural objects such as Motel Košuta are gaining increasing attention across the region and the world, especially as 20th century modernist architecture in the former Yugoslav region and Europe attracts both touristic and academic attention.

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