Studio Obris

RECONSTRUCTION AND SANATION OF THE FORMER DTR FACTORY BUILDING IN ZAGREB

2016 – Competition Wntry

Area: 5.558,8 sqm

Design team:
LOVORKA KAIĆ MATEŠIĆ, M.arch.
MIRNA JAVOROVIĆ PEHAR, M.arch.
KATJA VASILJEVIĆ-JEROMELA, M.arch.

The focus of the proposed concept is the revival of the downtown Zagreb area, with preserving the local identity to the maximum extent and simultaneously introducing new, contemporary elements. The space created has a potential to be active both during the day and night, and can be used by the future employees of the office building, as well as the residents of the neighbouring buildings. That way the inside of a downtown courtyard is revived.

The space in question is located inside the courtyard of a former clothing factory building „DTR“.  The streetside part of the complex is a four story building with a passageway in the ground floor, connecting the street with the inside of the courtyard. The streetside building is a valuable example of an atypical industrial architecture, so its original design and construction are completely preserved by the proposed design. The other parts of the complex are being replaced with new, contemporary volumes due to their bad state.

The spatial components of the existing environment are part of the downtown urban matrix. Through the positioning of the buildings in the area of intervention and the landscaping of the central plot, different components and functions are reconciled and transposed into something new – a flow of mutually connected spaces in the courtyard that function as a living room of the users.

By implementing the idea of transferring the ortogonal urban network into the landscape of the courtyard a new matrix adjusted to the smaller scale of the courtyard is formed, and it gives the courtyard a certain dynamic.