The Rockets

In 1963, a catastrophic earthquake in Skopje reshaped the blueprints of Zagreb’s modern skyline. Architects Berislav Šerbetić, Vjenceslav Richter, Ljubo Iveta, and Olga Korenik from the Centar 51 design group halted their plans for a residential complex in the Vrbik neighborhood to rebuild the design around survival. Tapering inward as they ascended, these structural pylons were engineered to absorb violent earth tremors. When construction finished in 1968, the towering cast-in-place raw concrete (béton brut) structures resembled vehicles prepared for launch, earning them the local nickname Rakete, or The Rockets. By an uncanny coincidence, project lead Vjenceslav Richter shared his name with Charles Richter, creator of the Richter scale.

The design expanded on Le Corbusier’s Unité d'Habitation, aiming to house Zagreb’s growing workforce within an integrated modern complex. Mid-construction, city planners discovered that the uniform height proposed for all three towers would block television and radio transmission signals. Engineers shortened the two outer towers to 62 meters, leaving the central tower at 70 meters and 22 stories. At ground level, a multi-tiered platform connected the towers, incorporating a subterranean parking garage beneath elevated communal pedestrian terraces. Nearby street names, such as Juraj Gagarin Path, reinforced the era's fascination with spaceflight.

The structural choices proved decisive in 2020, when a series of earthquakes shook Zagreb. Historic brick buildings across the city center cracked, yet the Rockets absorbed the tremors intact, keeping residents safe. Today, the complex remains populated by families and students attending the neighboring humanities and engineering faculties. Its global architectural standing was cemented when an image of the towers appeared on the cover of Miles Glendinning’s canonical history Mass Housing.