Golf Park Dubrovnik - DalCasa

the community could possibly be given to the investorto make him satisfied. But at this point peopleusually lose criteria. It is then the source of misunderstandings,scandals, quasi-scandals and the like.The northern part of Zagreb is quite a differentstory than the Flower Square, an entirely differentstory than the fountains ... I am both forthe Flower square and the fountains, if they arethought out well. I highly respect my colleagueHelena Njiric and her work. Was this the right timeto have the fountains built? Probably not. Are wegoing to forget after 30 years at which time theywere built, and be very happy with them? Probablywe will. But we cannot forget that the drivearound the town of Zagreb down the ravaged asphaltroads and at the same time we build fountains.What is built on the Flower Square is probablyfor a certain square meter, not to say thousandsof square meters too big, but something certainlyshould have been built there, no question aboutthat. I think the project made by my colleague Mr.Podrecca is very, very good, but that does not meanthat there is no room for criticism. We can also talkabout Srd and so on ...How do you reconcile the work in your own studio,the engagement in Oris and the House of architectureproject?I manage to synchronize it all because all of this, andthis might sound banal, is taking place within 50 metersfrom the Oris office, the office of “Rusan architecture”and my family house. My wife is also an architectand we work together in an architectural office. Wehave three beautiful children, and I think we have acompact family, which is certainly one of the mostimportant conditions that enables me to deal with allthis. And it seems to me that the projects we make inthe architectural office and in Oris are of such a typethat bring certain positive results, create pleasure andthe encouragement to continue.The crisis has really reflected very much in thearchitecture and construction. How much do youfeel this downfall yourself at your studio?Very, very much, like everyone. I can tell you that thesituation is terrible. There are probably several officesin Croatia, which rightfully won’t tell you this. Manyuntil recently successful offices have significantlyreduced the number of their employees.How do you assess the current state of Croatianarchitecture and with what kind of architecturalscene are we entering into the European Union?This is how I respond: Oris, at the invitation of a galleryfrom Vienna, made the exhibition “Continuity ofmodernity” on Croatian architecture of the 30’s, 50’sand contemporary architecture, which consisted ofhundreds of works, of which one half belonged to thecontemporary era.So far, the exhibition has toured 18 towns in Europe,and it showed us that what contemporary Croatianarchitects are doing is worth paying attention to, whileall the previous works, that is our modern art from the30’s and works from the 50’s and 60’s, represent somethingthat is a true discovery for Europe.The scene of contemporary Croatian architecturebegan waking up abruptly around 2003, and today itdraws attention wherever it appears outside the Croatianborders. Of course it is a problem that it appearsvery rarely, that it is not presented in a systematicway, but as single appearances in a magazine, lecture,fair and the like or at a certain more or less interestingexhibition of Croatian architecture.For Croatian architecture it is an extremely big dealthat Studio UP received the Mies van der Rohe awardfor upcoming young architects, which appeared in ourmedia, although even this was not used in full. And itis the largest, so to say, junior European Prize for Architecture.Their works are published in major magazines... Hrvoje Njiric took over the chair in Toronto ...Vedran Mimica became vice dean of the ITT school inChicago, founded by Mies van der Rohe, which all representsthe great successes of Croatian architecture.I think that we can be proud of it and that Croatianarchitecture is evolving in the right direction, whichdoes not mean that it is flawless and perfect and thatthere is nothing to add to its essential quality.Another major achievement was the extraordinaryproject of Croatian architects for the Venice Biennaletwo years ago. Unfortunately, due to our, architecturalerror, the project failed to appear in Venice, but allthose who have seen this project, including KazuyoSejima, who was at that point the director of theFestival and afterwards had a guest performancehere and gave an interview to Oris, evaluated it verypositively. This is one mistake in the development ofCroatian architecture, which will, if we look at it objectivelyand self-critically, be a lesson for even betterresults in the future.Of course the problem is that now we are in acrisis and almost nothing is being built, and it slowsdown the development of domestic architecture.But I think the generation that re-launched the developmentof Croatian architecture is just enteringits best years and that before those architects lieanother 20-30 years of work. And they have goodsuccessors as well.How do you envision the future of House of architectureand how should it affect the local architecture?I think it will have a powerful effect, because otherwiseI would never have even started this work. If it doesn’thave an impact on the Croatian architectural scene, itwill fail. The House of architecture will be an institutionof culture, but it must be also a company that will generatesome income, because without it the House willnot be able to survive.I believe that the House of architecture will becomea place that people of various profiles will happily visitand that everybody who understands architecture willaccept it as their own living room.