Mamutica

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Completed: 1974

Architect: Đuro Mirkovic and Nevenka Postruznik

Genre: Brutalist, Socialist architecture, former Yugoslavia

Consisting of 1,169 units and home to around 5,000 inhabitants, Mamutica is one of Europe’s largest apartment blocks. The name is derived from the fact that the urban planner behind the design, Miroslav Kollen wanted to call the structure “Tratinčica”, the Croatian word for “daisy” because before building work commenced, the area was a large meadow. But locals decided to call it “Mamutica” which is the Croatian word for female mammoth and, in this instance, the residents got their way and the name stuck.