Portanova (Osijek)
Portanova is a shopping center in the eastern part of Croatia located at the western entrance to the city Osijek. Portanova is according to the International Council of Shopping Centers with the size of and of leasable area (GLA) a regional center and has a catchment population from this part of Croatia and from a wider area of Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. History. The basic idea of building a center began in 2007 and the work began after all permits were granted on 15 May 2009. The investor in Portanova shopping center is Amplitudo d.o.o. Development  teams that were involved in the project are the companies CBRE, Mace Grup Ltd, Studio XXL, Chapman Taylor Architetti and Gradnja from Osijek. Portanova shopping center opened its doors for the public on 24 Mart 2011 and at that time it was the 6th largest shopping center in Croatia. Portanova or “new door” is a term that is conceptually based on the characteristics of the local environment being located on the western entrance to the City of Osijek. Gross floor area is while GLA is . The malls are developed along three commercial levels (two commercial and one leisure). Just over  1,600 free parking spaces are located in the garage underground parking, outside of the center and on the center's roof. Architecture. Ground planned in longitudinal shape, , changing height from from one side to another, through ground floor, 1st and 2nd floor, plus garage in basement. Constructed mostly from concrete and steel, dark brown colored concrete panels and copper colored metal sheets in combination with white colored cement sheets. The main idea was to develop a sculptural building that will integrate into the urban grain, yet preserving high visual impact, designed on the principles of contemporary minimalistic architecture. The building  takes shape of an enormous rock set on the ground. The entrances are located where it appears that pieces of the rock-face have been broken off. The cuts in the rock define 3 distinct volumes linked together by the shopping malls, the core of the building. Interior. The malls on the ground and first floor link two piazzas where the entrances and vertical connections are situated leading to the shops and anchor stores. Every unit has a high shop front, width proportional to the area and thanks to the longitudinal shape of the building, every shop is oriented to  the main street (mall), easy viewed and achievable. Shops. Anchor tenants that distinguish themselves from other tenants are Konzum Hypermarket, H&M, Müller, Zara, C&A, NewYorker and Blitz-Cinestar multiplex cinema which is also a part of the entertainment section settled on the second floor together with the bowling alley, casino and gastronomy services. Location. Portanova Shopping Center is located some to the west of Osijek city center from which it is connected by a bus line with a regular time schedule. Portanova is linked to the southern bypass via access roads, which gives access to almost 600,000 people within a  one-hour drive. The shopping center is located in the Osijek metropolitan area so it is accessible from all of eastern Slavonia and Baranja, including the cities of Valpovo ( away), Belišće (), Beli Manastir (), Vinkovci (), Vukovar () and Našice ().