Teleoptik factory in Zemun

Abstract

Teleoptik, the first Yugoslav manufacturer of telephony, optics and precision mechanics products established in 1922, laid the groundwork for the development of the precision mechanics industry in the country. After fifteen years of operating in a factory-built workshop in Francuska Street, it moved to a modern new production facility constructed in Zemun in 1938/9. The functional factory building at 139 Cara Dušana Street was designed by the architect Josif Najman, a renowned author of several utilitarian buildings accommodating specific technical and technological processes. Laid out as a relatively small industrial compound, it now is unavoidable in interpreting the structural and architectural aspects of this type of heritage, especially within the corpus of modern architecture. The intention of the paper is to promote the memory of the first national precision mechanics manufacturer and of an example of individualised approach to design in the field of industrial architecture by pointing to key moments in its history. It sheds light on its establishment and growth, its important role in the economic development of the capital city and its distinctive aesthetics of a 'curved building' with the expectation that the manifold value of this industrial complex will qualify it for being preserved as a national cultural heritage asset.

Keywords

• precision mechanics
• factory
• factory complex
• modern architecture
• industrial architecture
• Josif Najman