Congress

The Congress of Croatian Architects is a triennial gathering concerned with contemporary architectural challenges. It tries to convey the professional discussion to broad public.

This three-day conference is a meeting of prominent architects, city-planners, theoreticians and creators of policies, who will present their views on the Congress topic and their work methods in an open format of lectures and panel discussions.

The topic of the Congress is dedicated to current questions of planning and construction. The first Congress of Croatian Architects was held in Zadar 2004, under the title Building on the Coast. A document containing ten proposals for the national architectural policy was passed and presented both to the public and to the building authorities as the initiative of the organisers of the Congress.

The organisation of the Congress is a joint venture of the Croatian Architects’ Association and the Architects’ Section of the Croatian Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers.

Topic

The topic of this year’s Congress is Responsibility. The disappearance of great ideologies and the emergence of new social systems have opened the question of the architect’s role. The contemporary view of architecture, based on the tradition of modernism, heritage of ’68 and, in the case of Croatia, socialist political system, sees social responsibility of architects as the dominant characteristics of this profession. However, at the moment when the void after the disappearance of great rhetoric is filled by consumerism, the question arises, how to be truly critical and socially responsible?

The topic Response-ability is motivated by contemporary dilemmas on the architect’s role. In the case of Croatia, where the political system is visibly socially irresponsible and clueless, the public is losing confidence in the institutions of the system and re-directing its expectations to architects. The paradox of this situation is that at the moment when architects have no influence, which was clearly shown by actual large city projects, their public image is completely different, they are understood as influential and directly responsible persons. Can architects accept this responsibility? What is the answer of the architectural profession to the new circumstances?

The Congress will try to answer these questions through discussion on architectural policies, architectural practice, city-planning strategies, the role of architectural research, as well as presentation of the architects’ personal approach to the question of public space and their work methods.

Structure

The Congress, lasting from October 18th to October 20th, includes lectures, panel discussions and three architectural exhibitions.

All Congress lectures and panel discussions can be followed by means of Internet streaming on the page www.uha.hr

During three days, the selected lecturers will present their answers to the Congress topic and work methods, while panel discussions will focus on the topics Politics – Architecture, Architectural Policies, NL – HR Practice (discussion organised in collaboration with the Netherlands Architecture Institute NAI), Architectural and City Planning Research and City Planning – Urban Strategies. The lectures and round tables will include the public in discussions.

A presentation of three exhibitions is planned for the Congress: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 07, Yearly Exhibition of Realisations of Croatian Architects and Project Zagreb: Transition as Condition, Strategy, and Practice from the Harvard University GSD. The exhibitions will be displayed in the Villa Angiolina and the Sporer Gallery, close to the Congress central point, the Adriatic Hotel.

The lecturers at the Congress are:

Sasa Begovic (Studio 3LHD, CRO), Eve Blau (Harvard University GSD, USA), Ben Gilmartin (Diller Scofidio + Renfro, NY, USA), Manuel Gausa Navarro (Actar, Barcelona, ES), Juan Herreros Guerra (Abalos&Herreros, Madrid, ES), Hans Ibelings (Editor A10, Amsterdam, NL), Bjarke Ingels (BIG, Copenhagen, DK), Hrvoje Njiric (njiric+arhitekti, CRO), Don Murphy (VMX Architects, NL), Richard Scott (Surface Architects, London, UK), Vasa Perovic (Bevk-Perovic architects, Ljubljana, SLO) and others.

Participants of the panel discussions are:

1) Architecture and politics (in collaboration with the CRT): Marina Matulovic Dropulic, Minister of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, Milan Bandic, Mayor of the City of Zagreb, Sasa Randic, CAA President, Helena Knific Schaps, President of the Architects’ Section of the CCACE

2) Architectural policies in Europe: Rob Docter (Director Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, NL), Tomaz Kancler (UIA Council member, SLO), Luciano Lazzari (Vice President ACE, IT), Nina Nedelykov (UIA Council member, DE), Jerko Rosin (President of the Government Council for Physical Planning, CRO), Helena Knific Schaps (Moderator)

3) Architectural and city-planning research: Manuel Gausa Navarro, , Eve Blau&Ivan Rupnik (Harvard University GSD, USA), Platforma 9,81 (Zagreb, CRO), Luis Falcón (LOAD Office architecture, Barcelona, SP; Moderator)

4) City planning – urban strategies: Bilbao – Juan Alvaro Alayo Azcarate (Director Bilbao Ria 2000, ES); Ljubljana – Janez Kozelj (Architect and Vice-Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, SLO); Zagreb – Ivica Fanjek (Head of City planning office City of Zagreb, CRO), Hrvoje Hrabak (Zagreb, CRO; Moderator)

5) NL – CRO architectural practice (in collaboration with the Netherlands Architecture Institute NAI): Don Murphy (VMX Architects, NL), Francine Houben (Mecanoo, NL), Maurice Nio (NIO architecten, NL), Sasa Randic (randic-turato, CRO), Hrvoje Njiric (njiric+arhitekti, CRO), Sasa Begovic (Studio 3LHD, CRO), Hans Ibelings (Editor A10, Amsterdam, NL; Moderator)

Summaries of lectures and discussions will be published in a special issue of the Covjek i prostor (Man and Space) journal after the Congress.

About 600 participants are expected.

The Congress will be held under the High Auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia Stjepan Mesic, the Auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, Primorsko-goranska County and the City of Opatija.
The attendance of the Minister of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, and the representatives of the UIA, ACE, and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation are expected.

Identity

The author of the visual identity of the Congress is the renowned Croatian designer Boris Ljubicic.
The visual identity of the 2nd Congress of Croatian Architects is defined as communication between the public and the architectural profession. The public takes mouthfuls of architecture, but at the same time professionals are insufficiently and belatedly included in the process. The topic of the 2nd Congress is RESPONSIBILITY, illustrated by the letter O (the Croatian equivalent is odgovornost) or by an open mouth with the letter A (the initial letter of the word ARCHITECTURE) in it. RESPONSIBILITY also contains the word RESPONSE, which by this Congress should be given to the public. The photographic scream of a beautiful face with the first letter of the alphabet is visually challenging. It widely communicates in the press and the electronic media. The graphic symbol of the letter O (Bauer Bodoni) with the letter A interpolated in it will be used as a logo in simpler applications.

Organisational Board and Institutions

The organisers of the Congress are the Croatian Architects’ Association and the Architects’ Section of the Croatian Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers.

Organisational Board

- Sasa Randic, President of the CAA
- Helena Knific Schaps, President of the Architects’ Section of the CCACE
- Jagoda Leinert, Zagreb
- Igor Pedisic, Zadar
- Damir Rako, Split
- Miljenko Bernfest, Zagreb
- Nenad Kondza, Zagreb
- Goran Rako, Zagreb

Operating staff:

Nela Gubic / Protocol Coordinator    nela@uha.hr . tel +385 1 48 16 151
Marina Franolic / Marketing and PR Manager  marina@uha.hr . tel +385 1 48 16 140
Sanja Jerkovic / Lecture Coordinator   congres@uha.hr
Ana Marendic / Office Coordinator    ana@uha.hr
Natasa Ivancevic / Curator of exhibitions   natasa.ivancevic@mmsu.hr

Location

Congress activities (lectures and discussions) will take place at the Adriatic Hotel (www.hotel-adriatic.hr) located in the centre of Opatija.

Opatija is a tourist and balneological centre on the coast of the Rijeka Bay, located 15 kilometres from the centre of Rijeka. It was initially built around a Benedictine monastery and during the 19th century it developed into a fashionable winter resort of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.