In Zagreb, Maroje Mrduljaš has found a purple house for children in which the standardized programmatic parameters have been redefined: the separate functions have been “compressed” and opened at the same time, allowing for spontaneous innovative uses of the area.

Vast Dubrava district in the north-east of Zagreb is a rather amorphous part of the city not normally frequented by those who do not live there. Dubrava just doesn’t have much to offer – no public facilities, no nicely designed parks, no attractions whatsoever. Even the traditional urban cosiness or “the beauty of the ordinary,” which one may find in some other parts of Zagreb, doesn’t exist here. Heroic, large-scale modernist interventions from the socialist period were implemented only as partial segments, as megastructual archipelagos floating in the sea of small-scale family houses. Dubrava is neither urban nor suburban, its structure is a collage of different patterns and building languages brought together with no obvious logic.

In such a context, conceiving a kindergarten is an especially demanding task, since the architects Hrvoje Njirić and Davor Bušnja had to recreate a stimulating urban setting within the perimeter of the building lot. What they came up with is an introverted vision of a children’s microcosm articulated as an appealing little castle of purple, following Njirić’s architectural mission of “creating heterotopias.” Njirić has always been primarily interested in conceiving buildings that are critical towards the normative, offering imaginative spatial frameworks for a humane and adventurous society. What do these high ambitions in this particular situation mean?

For sure, the vibrant purple building immediately became a landmark and an imprint of the contemporary culture into a somewhat deprived area. Its textures of thick plaster walls, reminiscent of Informel art, finely contrast the generous glazing of the openings and delicate detailing of the glazing frames. The building’s slender L-shaped profile was not a solely formal gesture, but it also enabled the kindergarten to be positioned away from the noisy motorway. The overall form is simple yet intriguing.

 But what about the content?

A kindergarten is a place where children are for the first time introduced to the complex social life different from the safety of the family environment and encounter an “institutionalized” structure of space and time. Therefore, the architecture of kindergartens should provide comfortable shelter for joyful growth, but it can also encourage future citizens to bravely face new experiences, stimulate them to engage in social life and find their individual place within the collective. In order to meet such demands, architecture must go beyond pure function.

Architects reinterpreted the givens defined by the legislative standards and proposed an innovative typological hybrid of a mat-building and a mini-tower. Such an advanced spatial system enabled the development of a dense three-dimensional network of closed and open spaces – atriums and terraces grouped around a central spine - “the pedagogical promenade.” What the immediate surroundings lack – the complexity, density and diversity of urban life – is reconstructed in the interior of the building. Walking along the corridor, one encounters different functional spaces that are normally hidden, but here they are exposed in a series of glass boxes: kitchen, laundry, offices, multi-purpose hall... The corridor, often a notoriously dull non-place, became an “event-space” analogous to a real street, where children are in direct contact with all activities taking place inside the building. Whether the extensive use of glass partitions is the most suitable solution has yet to be established, but the kindergarten’s staff is happy with their experimental settings, while parents and children relate to the building with a certain pride. “Are you in any way inconvenienced during your everyday work?” I asked the kindergarten psychologist in regard to the intimacy of the glazed rooms. “Well, we can always pull up the curtains if we really need to”, she answered almost insulted by my questioning of the qualities of the space. After all, the kindergarten became a pride of Dubrava.

The ability to project unprecedented scenarios is the key to understanding Nirić’s way of thinking and designing. In the project for the Medo Brundo kindergarten, Hrvoje Nirić and Davor Bušnja have shown how social imagination can be translated into a refined built form, proving that architecture still matters.

Fakten
Architekten Hrvoje Njiric and Davor Busnja, Zagreb

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aus Bauwelt 43.2010
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