During these days I´m in Zagreb, Croatia, participating at CIP Talks 2009, an architecture conference organized by CIP Magazine. The list of lecturers at the conference include renowned architects, such as Mauricio Pezo & Sofía von Ellrichshausen (PvE), Jan Neutelings (Neutelings & Riedjik), Mark Lee (Johnston & MarkLee, interview here), Shohei Shigematsu (OMA, interview here), Carme Pinós, Arnaud Billard (Transsolar), Mikkel Frost (CEBRA), STUDIO UP (winners of the Emerging Architect MvE Award with their Gymnasium), Joseph Grima (Director of the Storefront Gallery, interview here), among other european and US architects.
Also, during these days we find the Croatian Architectural Triennale, the launch of Pogledaj.to a new local website for architecture, a new book on Croatian architecture, the opening of a new pavilion on the center of the city… an intense dose of architecture that we will be reporting during the following days.
I will be visiting and interviewing local practices such as 3LHD, Randic Turato, Studio UP, Njiric + Njiric, and more, to bring you more and more projects.
Yesterday I went to the coastal city of Rijeka, and visited three interesting projects by 3LHD and Randic Turato. See the photographs after the break, and expect the usual complete posting with all the info on these projects sometime during this week.
The Memorial Bridge remembers the Croatian Soldiers (Most Hrvatskih Branitelja), and connectes the historic center with an adjacent parking area that will become a park in the future. The bridge is the result of an open competition in 1997. It was completely built at a nearby shipyard, and transported to the site.
Pope John Paul II / Randic Turato
The chapel is located right next to the Our Lady of Trast church, an important religious place visited by several pilgrims. The brick volume sits on top of a concrete structure, which has a portico on a side with voids that serve as confession chambers during pilgrimage.
The chapel is wrapped in a pixelated brick skin, and changes on the arrangement of the bricks bring natural light to the interior.
Zamet Center / 3LHD
This center includes a public square, a Sports center, a public library and shops. This new urban piece connects the complex topography of Zamet, a district inside Rijeka. A pentagonal stone pattern covers both ground, walls and roofs, and the variation of tone gives dynamism to this project.
The interior of the sports center is flexible, and while it is aimed for training, it can also hosts matches, shows and other activities. The differences between the “fingers” of the project bring natural light into the interior.
