[OBROV SQUARE]
Invited competition 2012, Trogir
Intention was a refinement of a city square by removal of blinds, reducing number of coffee / restaurant tables, organizing, opening space in front a baroque house (block Andreis), new floor tiling / paving.
Place concept for design is interpretation of a BALATURA.
balatura (tal. balatoio; porch / portico / veranda < from Latin bellatorium; space for fight < under Latin influence ballare: dancing) is a stone construction along the exterior wall of the house serves to access the first floor. It consists of a staircase and a finishing terrace, below which is vaulted entrance to the ground floor.
In the nearby area we find 8 of them, as a repeating element, and we used it as a starting point for designing place. We designed it as an urban element to articulate space. Three individual staircases are positioned to form/create micro places, passages and voids. They are an urban element with trash bin, public lighting, electric and water connection, shelf for artefacts, but also they are designed to climb to the upper terrace viewing the atmosphere, sitting on while waiting a dining table, to gather around and perhaps to sing.
New floor tiling / paving is in a relation with a city heritage, results from interpretation of cassette vault ceiling of cathedral chapel; neutral squares with a dotted faces in the middle. We use 60×60 cm stone panels with a polished 10 cm diameter point in the middle. Polished point, as needed becomes a hole for a sunshade or an ambient light.
When winter comes, and all tourists go, and all tables are taken away, and a winter melancholy appears, only the stairs stay. And in this winter absence, from the light spots on the floor across the hole square the inscription volim trogir / I love Trogir appears. Waiting for the winter to pass and tourists return and the tables fill the square with liveliness and joy and cover the inscription
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