14/ Zadar, Radman Vrbanek © MMVII Competition

Ravnice, Zadar

We are back in the city of Zadar where we started from. This time we were busy with a masterplan for the delicate area adjacent to the old city situated on the cape of the peninsula. The unusual depiction of the sea (orange instead of blue) is homage to Alfred Hitchcock who was allegedly enchanted with Zadar’s ‘golden sunsets’.
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Instead of resolving the problem locally (as required), we expanded the explanatory framework yet again in order to define the problematique. The impetus was to turn the major access road (link to the newly built highway connecting the coast with the continental part of the country) into the new cardo. At the moment it stops short of the peninsula, causing everyday congestion.
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Contrary to the administrative decision to ban traffic in a substantial part of the historical centre (which simply does not hold, or better ignores the reality), we proposed a new ring road. It is to tie together the whole of the peninsula from the ancient core to the new Gazenica harbour in the East (industrial zone), with the ultimate ambition of turning it into a proper Downtown.
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The 19 ct. park adjacent to the fortification is kept as a buffer zone, with a restricted number of pavilion-like (discrete) cultural facilities. To mark the transition, a new canal is proposed with carefully designed crossing points. Officially, this third canal (chronologically speaking) is required by the hygienic dictates (because of the deep bay). The waterfront is expanded, articulated along the seaward façade and coaxially extended (lungomare).
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The long-term reasoning behind the project clashed with the visions of the decision-makers stretching as far as their term of office. The trope of the project was Titian’s allegory of prudence with the following inscription: From the experience of the past, the present acts prudently, lest it spoil future actions.
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In the meantime a number of roundabouts have been built to solve the traffic jam. Each time the problem is transferred to the next junction…