Architect Slobodan Maldini says that it is still too early to talk about the reasons, but that the canopy was first of all more than five decades old, but also that it was a bold and unusual architectural-constructive solution, due to the use of construction with tensioners. Earlier, the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia informed that the canopy was subject to recent reconstruction, as the building was being renovated.

"The architects thought it out nicely because it is a construction with tensioners. It is a canopy suspended on some kind of cable, at a sharp angle, due to which it suffered a great load. The canopy has heavy concrete beams, and in this sense, the main question is whether these beams were sufficiently and properly reinforced, in the right zone of concrete, and secondly, whether the braces were properly anchored," said Maldini and continued:

"Anchors suffer the greatest moments of load, so it can be assumed that the material either got tired, it is also possible that some crack or some mistake was not noticed and simply the weight of such a lack of construction started the collapse," he adds, reports Euronews. 

As he says, when designing an architectural solution such as the canopy of the Railway in Novi Sad, light architectural constructions, that is, light elements, are used.

"Here is an unusual system of using tensioners that rest on strong concrete beams, in the design sense it can be said, not that it is an omission, but an inconsistency of the designer, while in the contractor's sense, we do not know how those beams are strengthened. The third thing is precisely in the exploitation itself.

Maldini assumes that the anchors were pulled out of the wall because what can be seen in the photographs and heard from eyewitness accounts is that these anchors were practically placed on the roof structure, which is very thin, delicate and fragile.

"It was done for aesthetics and good looks, but it wasn't accompanied by good construction documentation, and I guess we got to the problem after 50-plus years when such a structure was ripe for restoration."

The architect points out that during the renovation of the railway station, a potential mistake was made by the one who estimated that the canopy should not be renovated.

"In terms of architecture, something that looks beautiful can have cracks inside and be a problem. This should be an appeal for all architectural constructions to be made according to the standards and norms that require them to be able to carry the loads, special caution is needed when performing the works, i.e. not to save materials and regular control of everything that is needed during operation. "said Maldini.

He also says that it is difficult to talk about who is responsible for the tragedy, primarily because of the passage of time and the "maintenance or non-maintenance of that part of the architectural object".

"What is certain is that it is an unusual structural solution that is attractive and beautiful, but the question is whether it is safe and implemented. In this case it turned out that there was some fatigue of the materials, defects that were not noticed in time and then this happened"

Maldini appeals to all architectural designers to incorporate reliable and sustainable solutions in their projects and not to carry out, as he says, exhibitions.

"That the construction workers calculate with great caution the construction, that during exploitation they control those facilities so that unwanted events do not occur," he said in an interview with Euronews Serbia and concluded by saying:

"This is a big warning for all of us and we will have to change our attitude towards architectural buildings of a public nature that have construction systems that do not age aesthetically, but age in terms of material load. the material that is loaded can burst, collapse and, in this sense, tragedy can occur."