LOCATION & URBAN MEMORY

Where the city retains its gridal form, the former department store, which has been in existence for many years, establishes a direct relationship with its surroundings through it’s structural construct. Its central location and potential interaction with Trg Rebuplic Square, one of the most important squares of the city, provides a rich basis for future spatial scenarios. The importance of the building in the urban memory is a step stone for it to act as a catalyst for the development and renewal of its surroundings. Among the main inputs is to increase the local added value of the region by revealing the potentials of the building and transforming it from its current idle state into a sociocultural, knowledge accumulation and knowledge production center by transforming it into a public identity.

ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH

The main approach of the design; aims to understand, embrace and preserve the spatial organization of the building, which has a traditional cartesian system, and then to subvert this form from the inside. The new facade design, which bears certain similarities to the existing facade of the building and maintaining the structural framework, aims to preserve the building’s place in the urban memory and the cultural heritage of it. New spatialities examined from a ‘deconstructivist’ perspective are intended to add a modern, layered approach to the mass. With the confident imposition of the new, the Cartesian system of the existing building is cautiously made to function better. With this aim, the existing vertical circulation elements and interior walls of the building were purified and a pure base was obtained to respond to modern functions. The building was lightened by removing the façade, which is currently poorly related to the exterior space and is mostly formed with band windows. The Trg Republic Square, which is located on the opposite diagonal and has a place in the memory of the city, is an important input to the design, encouraging the interior orientation of the mass and its opening towards the city. Challenging the geometric norms of the traditional, and settling on them, the design pursues different orientations and axes from the inside to the outside. In parallel with today’s modern perception of space, dynamic spaces are created that allow for multiple spatial activities, the user interacts more playfully with the form and materials of the space. The use of permeable materials, spatial distinctions that do not create rigid boundaries within the space; offer a transitional, homogeneous perception of space.