The brick building in the former industrial complex "Rikard Benčić" was built at the end of the 19th century as a drying room for the then tobacco factory. After the Second World War, it was repurposed for the needs of the newly founded marine machinery factory "Rikard Benčić". With the collapse of the factory in the 90s of the 20th century, the building was abandoned and left to devastation and decay.
As a part of the city's capital project "Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020", the building will be given a new purpose and will become a Children's House – the institution in which the activities and programs related to culture will be brought closer to the youngest population.
The work on the reconstruction of the brick building includes the removal of the entire load-bearing and non-load-bearing structure, except for the four exterior brick walls that make this building recognizable. After assembling the heavy scaffolding and strengthening the external walls, the construction of a new reinforced concrete structure based on the principle of "house within a house" of P + 3 floors is started, which is attached to the existing walls with steel anchors. The fifth floor is constructed as a steel structure with sheet metal cladding. A part of the columns of the original steel load-bearing structure was used in the new construction as a mask for the new load-bearing columns, while the rest was donated to the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Rijeka.
The project was co-financed with EU funds.
