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| Introduction: Democratisation in exhibiting, refined taste in selecting |
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| The number of authors and groups of authors whose projects are to be expected with curiosity is increasing, which expands the top and raises the average of Croatian architecture By: Goran Rako, President of the Jury. This year also, one hundred and twenty-eight works by Croatian architects renewed the never-ending dilemma - should the exhibition undergo a selection or not. The agreement was not to select the exhibition, and the key argument was to enable at least one exhibition which would display absolutely everybody's skills and thus show the real cross-section of Croatian architecture. All the visitors were presented with facts providing the basis on which they coud evaluate the works by themselves and agree or disagree with the jury's opinion. The submitted entries competed for three CAA's annual awards - the Viktor KovaËiÊ award for public use facilities, the Drago Galićaward for housing and Bernardo Bernardi award for design (not interior design, as it is occasionally misinterpreted). The purpose of all these awards is further affirmation of Croatian architecture. For the third time the nominees were singled out in order to add a dramatic touch to the prize ceremony, but also to increase the number of works that deserve to be stressed as more successful than others. The seven members of our jury, coming from different generations, were supposed to choose the works that, in our opinion, steer Croatian architecture in the right direction. The public use facility category highlighted the Tituš Brezovački elementary school in Špansko, Zagreb by Vedran Pedišć and Emil Špirić; the Lumenart office building in Pula by Andrija Rusan and Dean Skira; the sports hall of the Vrbovec elementary school by Igor Franić, and the Markuševec Kindergarten in Zagreb by Hilda and Tin Franić. Three out of four works are dominantly "functionalistic", their sections and layouts dominate over "rather modest" facades. By this selection the jury is clearly pointing to numerous contrary cases that it does not support. The Tituš Brezovački school particularly excelled in the successful solution of Neufertian tasks, creating at the same time pleasant living spaces with minimum architectural dramaturgy, the excessive use of which can make architecture occasionally lose its sense. The housing category was presented by the Family House in Varaždin by Ćurković and Zidarć; socially subsidised housing building in Kraljevica by Modrčin and Galijašević; Small Quarter in Gračani, Zagreb by Hrvoje Njirić, and a house extension in Kustošija, Zagreb by Veljko Olujić. The small extension in Kustošija shows us how great architecture can emerge almost out of nothing. The architect reminds us that a family house is primarily a place where its occupants need to live for a long time, not a structure used by the author to show that he has mastered this year's architectural trend. In this category we have singled out the work of Hrvoje Njirić - Small Quarter in Gračani. The author has managed to make one step forward within the housing typology which does not allow for significant advances, the one wrongly called urban villas. In the especially balanced category, in which all works could have been assessed as exceptional, we find the Jasenovac Memorial Museum by Helena Njirić and co-authors; the Memorial Area Classroom at the same location by Produkcija 004; then the Plinacro building extension in Zagreb by Nenad Kondža; and the Piece of Cake pastry shop in Zagreb by Ivana Franke and Petar Mišković. The Jasenovac Memorial Museum differs from other works by a design which came from the heart, not the mind. Occasionally reaching the edge of banality, this project shows us that some things cannot be comprehended, but simply felt. The number of authors or groups of authors whose projects should be expected with curiosity is increasing, which expands the top and raises the average of Croatian architecture. Members of the jury: Goran Rako (president), Marko Dabrović, Ivana Ergić, Mladen Jošić, Sabina Majdandžić, Tomislav Petrinjak i Nikola Popić |
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