Branislav Đ. Kojić (1899-1987) was a Serbian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, ruralist and painter.

Biography

He was born on 5 June 1899 to a family of teachers in

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

, Serbia. Kojić's early schooling was completed in Belgrade. In 1915, he found himself in France as a war refugee. He entered the French lycée in Poitiers, and later moved to the southern city of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, completing his studies there in 1917. He then moved north and enrolled in the

École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he was awarded a degree in architecture in 1921. He then obtained a position in the Ministry of Infrastructure in Belgrade and received his architectural license in 1926. Also, in 1926 he decided to design a unique family house for him and his wife who was also an architect and an

interior decorator Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

. In 1928, with his wife Danica, he established a bureau of certified architects. In the same year, he founded the Group of Architects of the Modern Direction, which together with him also included Milan Zloković, Jan Dubovi, and Dušan Babić. Over the course of his long career, he built more than 100 buildings, some of which are now landmarks of Belgrade and Serbia, namely the

Cvijeta Zuzorić Cvijeta Zuzorić (; also ''Fiora Zuzori'' or ''Flora Zuzzeri'') (1552 – 1648) was a lyric poet from the Republic of Ragusa. She wrote in Italian, Latin and Croatian. Life She was born in Ragusa, (now called Dubrovnik) into a prominent ...

Pavilion.„Политика“, подлист „Моја кућа“ страница 3, петак, 13.1.2012. He was one of the first Serbian modernist architects who was influenced by

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

. In 1950, he became a full professor at the Faculty of Architecture,

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

, at the Department of Designing Commercial and Industrial Buildings. Five years later he became a Corresponding Member, and in 1963 a regular member of SANU (

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

. He retired in 1965. Kojić died in 1987 and is buried in the Alley of the Greats at

Novo Groblje The New Cemetery ( sr, Ново гробље, ''Novo groblje'') is a cemetery complex in Belgrade, Serbia, with a distinct history. It is located in Ruzveltova street in Zvezdara municipality. The cemetery was built in 1886 as the third Christia ...

in Belgrade.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kojić, Branislav Serbian architects 1899 births 1986 deaths