State Printing House (Državna štamparija) (1936)

Some sources point out, that this piece of Brašovan's architecture was influenced by Soviet constructism. The reason why is for sure the co-operation with the Soviet architect Pavel Krat, who drawn the project. Everything was finally composed by Brašovan himself, who also followed the German Bauhaus School, that did not existed anymore in 1935. It is also mentioned, that he was influenced by Czech Cubism. The tendencies in Czech architecture during the late 1920s and 1930s could be characterised more like funcionalism. Functionalism also characterises this building more than any kind of cubism. 

The house with the floor plan of a Cyrillic P, looking like tihs П, rises to two-thirds height as a rather horizontally organised unit with ribbon windows. The upper third differs from the more typical windows of industrial buildings, which are strongly vertically orientated, visually stretching the building. A roof terrace is planned for the upper part of the reconstruction. One of the striking details is the stair tower, which is set slightly forwards like a tower. The different geometric shapes and various window types result in the building's constructivist character.

The building is a massive reinforced concrete structure, designed in such a way that the once heavy printing presses could be set up on the individual floors. The large windows that flood the building with light make it appear very light. 

Industrial buildings of this height are not that common in Europe, especially as a printing plant. The building is still very striking today and was the highest building in Belgrade for 23 years until the construction of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, today called Ušće Tower 1.

The history of a state printing house goes back to 1831 within the Serbian state. The first printing house was located in the town of Kragujevac, the Serbian capital at the time. It was moved to Belgrade in 1835, as Belgrade was declared the capital. With the founding of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, the Serbian printing house became the state printing house of Yugoslavia. After several locations, a new site was sought in the first half of the 20th century. In the end, the decision was made in favour of a location on the outskirts of the city called Mostar, next to the city's first mill. This led to the development of an industrial area on this site. Construction works started in June 1936 and were

During the liberation fights in Belgrade the house was very badly damaged due to the street fighting in 1944.

In 1970 the institution Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod (Belgrade Publishing and Graphic Institute, short: BIGZ) started to use this house. The majority of people still call it BIGZ today. 

With the wars in Yugoslavia and the associated economic decline in Serbia, this company closed down. Fortunately, the printing house was listed as a historical monument in 1992. The vacant rooms were used for a variety of purposes by different tenants until 2018. Roughly speaking, it could be called an art centre.The building was sold in 2018. At the same time, it was elevated to the status of a national monument. Comprehensive modernisation began in 2021. However, the planned reoccupation from 2023 is still a long way off. 

• nonument.org National Printing Institution of Yugoslavia
• Wikipedia BIGZ building