Winner – Soft Buffers

Soft Buffers

AUTHOR(S) — Irena Bakić (HR), Iva Jelinčić (HR), Mirna Udovčić (HR), Architects

NIN (HR) — WINNER

CONTACT — irenabakic@antika.space / www.antika.space iva.jelincic@gmail.com / www.bonkassy.com udovcic.mirna@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — At first, there was a feeling of familiarity. The spaces that we saw were okay —they didn’t need much help, it was just the connections between them that needed to be strengthened. The brickyard, an artefact of a past life, gets a new chance for productivity; surrounded by a landscape of constructed wetlands, it becomes, once again, a vital part of the community. The Ždrijac settlement goes through a process of densification, while a soft forest territory surrounds it and protects it, providing ultimate Mediterranean shade. The newly established closeness is reinforced by outdoor spaces within a house, serving both as public spaces and cooling devices. The ordered pair of Ždrijac and the brickyard establishes new cycles and landscapes, but ultimately perpetuates everyday life in Nin.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The project has far-reaching consequences not only for the city of Nin, but also for all coastal areas, where spatial wealth is obviously destroyed by the public and the profession, which is accepted as an inevitable fact against which nothing can be done. The authors suggest that architecture can deliver genuine optimism, but only if it changes its mode of action, repair the state of space and enhance its qualities for future generations.