From the Korunović monument on Zebrnjak, through the Aval tower and the Rudo settlement, to contemporary pieces of furniture made of solid wood with three legs.
The support on three points (three pillars, three legs) is as old as the history of folk architecture itself. Although construction/architecture started to adopt this principle relatively recently, manufacturing furniture on three legs appeared thousands of years ago. In ancient times, skilled carpenters realized that the most adequate solution for an uneven floor surface (earthen, stone) was to make tables and chairs with three legs, which would ensure necessary stability.
This has persisted to the present day, and even today, in the old huts of remote villages throughout the Balkans, we can still see stools or stools on three legs. That tripod, which he talked about in his lectures prof. Alexander Derokothey have a very simple, practical design, and yet superior functionality. Also, they could be made by any more skilled householder, so their appearance depended on his dexterity and imagination.
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In some regions, the hoklice grew into somewhat larger three-legged chairs with a backrest, sometimes richly carved, called table chairs.
Of course, in some parts of the region, such as Montenegro, Herzegovina, Lika, Krajina, this piece of furniture it's over time perfected to an artistic levelwhere the hoklice grew into somewhat larger three-legged chairs with a back, sometimes richly carved, which people called table chairs.
Regardless of whether it is a richly decorated chair or a simple stool, three-legged furniture it never ceases to inspire contemporary designerswho continue to develop this practical design.
Contemporary dressers and chests of drawers
In Serbia, for ten years, the field of contemporary designer furniture has been dominated by two brands, which produce equally creatively piece furniture from solid wood with three legs – Wood Mood (designer Milica Marić) i Wood Line (designer Uroš Janković).
The public is very well-known for Wood Mood's mugs Puffsmade of beech and oak wood, whose design has been elaborated over time into equally functional ones bar and semi-bar stools.
Along with the development of sitting pieces, the designer Milica Marić develops and three-legged tableswhether circular or triangular in shape.
The most famous of them is the hundred Up and downin which the author imaginatively used one leg as a holder for a movable plate.
Three-legged furniture never ceases to inspire contemporary designers, who continue to develop this practical design.
On the other hand, the designer Uroš Janković has created a small, compact chest of drawers called Opuswhose cabinet with drawers rests on three legs, which also received a variant with one door under the title Opus one.
The support on three points inspired him to design and resonator tablecalled Terca, i floor lamp Satellite. All these pieces by both our designers have been exhibited at prestigious exhibitions and fairs and have many satisfied customers throughout the Balkans.
Architecture on three supports
Architecture only got its three-legged/three-sided epilogue in relatively recent times. It was necessary for construction techniques and materials to advance sufficiently, in order to transfer the building from the traditional four to three points of support. But even then, due to utilitarian needs, we did not go any further than special architectural phenomena.
The first building, which rests on three supports, is actually monumental monument on Zebrnjakdesigned by an architect Momir Korunović. In order to immortalize the famous Serbian victory in the Battle of Kumanovo, the turning point of the First Balkan War (1912), the architect Korunović worked out ideas for a massive monument in the form of lighthouse towerwhich was built in 1937.
Korunović did not want the building to have a common form, but rather thought about a form that would be unique in our region.
How he was greatly influenced Czech Rondo Cubists and German Expressionistshe did not want the building to have a common form, but rather thought about a form that would be unique in our region.
Consulting with static engineers, they came to the conclusion that such a high form would be far more stable (from earthquakes, lateral wind blows, etc.) if it is constructed as a three-sided building, which rests on three supports.
Korunović adopted this concept and designed it three-sided lighthouse-towerwhose building structure can only be recognized in the section of the base. There you can see that the building consists of three smaller connected towersdistributed by equilateral symmetry.
This concept of three supports placed in the form of an equilateral triangle it was widely used in the worldbut there was a novelty with us, which will open the door to some other construction-architectural solutions.
The post-war three-pronged game
Something most similar to the monument on Zebrnjak appeared only in 1965, when a radio-TV tower was built on Avala, according to the project of architects Uglješe Bogunović and Slobodan Janjićwhile as a constructor it is signed Milan Krstic (renovated according to the project of engineer SI CIP, arch. Irena Ilić).
Again the three-sided form of the tower, whose the static structure rests on three points of support. Three decades after Zebrnjak, the development of building materials has advanced enough that the Aval tower can be higher and structurally more complex.
Although he seemed “vulnerable”, in bombing in 1999 its construction qualities were tested, and the result was its demolition only after the destruction of two of the three arms of the support.
This three-sided form was also an inspiration in the field of urban planning, so the Rudo residential complex was designed according to the principle of equilateral symmetry.
Three legs in support were not further developed as a concept in construction and architecture, but that's why equilateral symmetry it is. In several cities throughout the SFR Yugoslavia, a number of buildings with a three-legged structure, usually residential, were built, which were designed as three slats of one buildingpositioned around the common staircase core.
Trilamella concept
These are famous buildings in Belgrade Mercedes carsand the buildings in the residential area above the Prokop station, in Stjepana Filipovića Street, have an almost identical form. This three-sided form was also an inspiration in the field of urban planning, so the Rudo residential complex was designed according to the principle of equilateral symmetry.
The three-lamella concept was not further elaborated because it is urban and structurally very demandingand in the conditions after the collapse of the socialist system, quite unsustainable.
