Authors:
Saša Randić, Idis Turato

Construction consultant:
Dragan Ribarić

Team members:
Leora Dražul, Ana Staničić, Siniša Glušica, Iva Ćuzela

Location:
Rijeka, Croatia

Area: 18 000 m2

Year designed:
2003.

Status:
completed in 2007.

The Zagrad project is located in the center of Rijeka. The project is located on top of the underground garage with 900 parking places and a future city train station.


The mixed-use program of 18 000 m2 consists of retail and office spaces and a third of housing.
The Center is divided into 6 separate office buildings, each with a different façade, on top of which is laid a continuous structure of apartments.
Seen as the most stable element of the program, apartments are designed as individual two-storey houses accessed from the roof terrace with gardens.

Project is characteristic of modern dynamics, where it is increasingly difficult for one office to control the whole process of construction. The plan was made by one office, the garage has been designed by another one, then the third designed the access road and the train station, Randić-Turato was responsible for the main part, the mixed-used program, and in the course of construction of other offices have been defining different interior parts of the building for their clients.

Secondly, the project proves that architecture is too slow. During the construction, there has been a series of modifications due to the change of final users. The project has been constantly confronted with the situation where it followed up on new requests.

Such context is typical for commercial projects, that redefines traditional client-architect relationship. The client being a developer is no longer the final user and the whole project is normally financed by another party. Usually, there is also an intermediary between them, a project manager, who is increasingly taking over the position previously controlled by the architect.

The nature of the project also influences the design method, which must count on the project dynamics as the most certain element of the program. The façades are deliberately disengaged from the inner structure, which never seemed to stop changing, while the apartments, following the logic of a self-generating structure have been able to absorb new staircases, galleries, and numerous partitions. In such a context the project must be able to accommodate imperfection. To put it in simple terms, if Keith Richards stumbles on the stage, it is a normal part of the performance, if the same thing happens to David Bowie, it is a total disaster. The benefit of imperfection.