25/ MediaRijeka, A. Radman © MMV Competition 3rd prize

Public Library, Rijeka

The public library situated in the largest Croatian harbour was conceived of as an all inclusive mediatheque. Mediatheque (mediateka in Croatian) readily lent itself to a play of words so we renamed it Mediarijeka. Rijeka is a toponym – its literal meaning is river. Thus, the coin Mediarijeka would roughly translate as a ‘media flow’, marking the decisive distinction between symbolic and navigational order. This is best illustrated by the contrast between the book, with its index and the referenced contents existing separately, and the internet where the content itself is the index (hypertextuality).
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Prompted by a symptomatic lack of space (or an excess of programme) we resorted to extreme compression. In this we were influenced by the linearity and abstraction of the Roman itinerarium ‘Tabula Peutingeriana’. The programme was segregated according to the required (minimum) height: individual study (S), common reading rooms (XL), communications (M), archives (L). This resulted in an intricate split level scheme, an outcome of mere vertical homogeneity and horizontal heterogeneity, rather than the other way around (which is more common). In this way each slab touched the ground (as if the building had been flipped).
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The Baška Tablet, one of the earliest written documents in the Croatian language dating from 1100 (from the nearby island of Krk) was blown up and applied as a pattern to the square in front of the building. Its abstract nature is due to the Glagolitic script.