portfolio_karla radovic by karla radovic

education

Sep 2023

Sep 2021

Jul 2021

Sep 2017

Karla Radović

e: radovic.karla@gmail.com p: (+385) 996782883

Jun 2017

Sep 2013

Master’s degree

MSc of Architecture and Urban Planning

Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb

Zagreb, Croatia

Bachelor’s degree

BSc of Architecture and Urban Planning

Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb

Zagreb, Croatia

Gymnasium Graduate

III. Gymnasium - Science and Mathematics

Split, Croatia

language skills

Croatian

English

German

digital skills

Photoshop

InDesign

Illustrator

Rhinoceros 3D

Twinmotion

SketchUp

ArchiCAD

Laser cutting, 3D printing

Aug 2024

Feb 2024

Sep 2023

experience

architect Dogma Brussels, Belgium

intern Dogma

Brussels, Belgium

student assistant

Model-making lab, Faculty of Architecture Zagreb, Croatia

Jun 2021

Sep 2020

intern

Studio Dva Arhitekta Zagreb, Croatia

Dec 2021

Jun 2022

Aug 2022 2023 2019

volunteer 56. zagrebački salon Arhitekture, Ping Zagreb, Croatia

volunteer Small Format Gallery

Bol, Croatia

office projects

I Vivre Autrement 1-6

student projects

Anti-touristic spatial interventions 17-22

In collaboration with Citytools Commission

Vivre Autrement

Organized in the frame of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, this exhibition explores ways of living that do not conform to dominant housing models. We decided to investigate these ways of living through the lens of 28 ‘portraits’:

- 12 interviews on contemporary forms of domesticity in Brussels, presenting tangible, real-life situations, challenges and solutions;

- 16 examples of radical housing projects from both past and present, to broaden horizons and open potential for reinvention, without lecturing.

The exploration of the ethnographic and historical ‘portraits’ is presented through four main themes: (1) gender emancipation, (2) the interweaving of living and working, (3) alternative forms of ownership, and (4) the reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings.

European contemporary homes are far more conventional and restrictive compared to what housing used to be. Over the last two centuries, housing standardised, as did most ways of living, impeding the various ways of inhabiting and building homes that existed before modernity. In recent years, however, European cities are undergoing major transitions to respond to socio-cultural, economic and climatic challenges. Society is evolving to meet changing values and a growing number of factors face most people with the need to reimagine their ways of living. Today, the steady emergence of ‘new’ models can be witnessed all over in Europe.

Each ‘portrait’ illustrates imperfect modes of living, often far from ideal situations; and yet, they demonstrate a multitude of potentialities for reinventing housing as something radically different from its mainstream understanding, beyond conventional models. While the exhibition does not offer definitive solutions to the current housing crisis, it aims to broaden our imagination of what domestic space is or could become.

Vivre Autrement

Research and exhibition on alternative forms of housing in Halles Saint-Géry, Bruxelles

Halles Saint-Géry floor plan

section

living and working

Top Shop

alternative forms of ownership

reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings

Longhouse

House for Artists

Wilma 19

Patio Houses

Dom-Kommuna

Social Housing 1737

Car-Park

Sint-Alexius Beguinage

Karthago

The Longhouse reasearch 2023-2024

Study exhibited at Trienale di Milano and at the Paul H. Cocker Gallery, Toronto Metropolitan University

The Longhouse

The installation presents a global survey of the longhouse, a linear, long and narrow type of habitation that exists or has existed in different parts of the world. In many cases, longhouses are monumental structures whose scale and complex spatial organization often transcends the customary difference between temple and house, or public and private. Longhouses could house an expanded family, a kinship group or an entire community under one roof. The most notable examples are those built by cultures such as the Iban in Borneo, the Gogodala in New Guinea, the Vikings in Norway and Denmark and the Iroquois in the Midwest. These longhouses were very different from each other, and reflected the values and customs of each culture, and yet they were all used as communal houses in which production and reproduction happened side by side. Longhouse cultures represent a way of dwelling outside the regime of modern property relations which, starting in the West and then spreading with colonialism, have become the dominant factor of domestic architecture. Although there are studies of specific manifestations of the longhouse, to this date there is not yet a survey that gathers in one study longhouses built in different locations and in different times. This research fills this gap.

an example of one case study

THE SAXON MEDIEVAL LONGHOUSE Warendorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Commision

Urban Villa

A new take on housing: from speculation to collaboration Built in many European cities since the 19th century, urban villas are detached, medium-sized residences containing several flats. They were intended to reconcile the expectations of suburban life with rising land costs in the city. The compact and speculative nature of urban villas attracts a diverse range of residents, thereby ensuring their commercial success. In this exhibition, Dogma challenges the urban villa’s market and investment-orientated character and explores its collective potential.

The exhibition consists of two parts. The first outlines the history of the urban villa as a specific typology; from town houses to multi-family residences in cities such as Lausanne, Berlin and Rome. The second section showcases a series of design proposals by Dogma. Four projects approach the urban villa as a cooperative home, while another presents it as a collective and affordable housing model.

Urban Villa 2024

Research by design and exhibition at the Vlaams Architectuur Instituut, Antwerpen

Model House for Four Families

Henry Roberts London

SQN 107G

Mayumi Watanabe Brasília

Novakova street 19

Josip Čorko Zagreb

In collaboration with Bios Competition

Social housing in Bologna

The competition focused on reimagining social housing in Bologna, specifically in the Bertalia-Lazzaretto area. The project proposed urban villas as the primary building type, diverging from the existing masterplan to create a more cohesive relationship between buildings and the surrounding landscape. The design emphasized flexibility in apartment layouts and the integration of large windows and loggias to connect interior spaces with the outside environment. The project drew inspiration from the “garden apartment” concept, with clusters of mid-sized buildings surrounded by greenery, aiming to enhance social housing in Italy. Additionally, the landscape design integrated four distinct biotopes, each reflecting the site’s ecological and historical characteristics, while promoting biodiversity and ecological resilience. The proposal respected the existing urban plan but introduced modifications to improve permeability, public spaces, and environmental quality. The overall vision was to create a harmonious urban environment that fosters community interaction and connects with the natural landscape.

Social housing in in the Bertalia-Lazzaretto, Bologna 2024

student projects

master studies

master thesis

Anti-touristic spatial interventions in Bol

s: Karla Radović

m: prof. Ivana Ergić 1

Anti-touristic spatial interventions in Bol

Anti-touristic spatial interventions in Bol on the island of Brač, Croatia’s tourism champion, is a project aimed to question the relationship between public space and the mass tourism that has overwhelmed Croatian coast. Tourist activities consume public spaces, and every new project, public or private, aims to enhance the touristic offer. Preoccupied with chaotic tourism, building generic Airbnb apartments, and turning every piece of public space into a café terrace, we have forgotten to protect our own enjoyment and authenticity. By destroying such values, inevitably, the space also becomes uninteresting to tourists. The question arises: What remains after tourism?

The project consists of three interventions at different locations in Bol. Each intervention refers to an element of the traditional domestic space in an island house. The Dalmatian, and therefore Bol house, consists of three basic rooms: the courtyard (dvor), the tavern (konoba), and the sleeping room (kamara). Each of them enables a specific way of being. In the courtyard, we are together outdoors; in the tavern, we are together indoors; and in the room, we are alone.

1Bol, like other settlements in Brač and Dalmatia, developed organically. The narrow and compact urban structure is punctuated by alleys, courtyards and small squares. Courtyards have always played an important role in the structure of the Brač settlement. Essentially, it is a space without a roof, defined by a basic architectural element - a wall. The courtyard is an inseparable part of the Dalmatian house where the majority of its life takes place.

The main element of the intervention is the walls that define the courtyard. The western and northern borders are made up using the existing walls, while the eastern and southern borders are formed by new walls. In accordance with the anti-tourist concept, the palace is intended for the local population and everyone who does not participate in mass tourism. For this reason, the entrance is hidden. The courtyard is accessed through a long and narrow corridor without a roof. Passing through the hallway, the walls gradually become lower and more comfortable.

2The tavern is one of the basic elements of a Dalmatian house. It is located on the ground floor or is slightly buried. Because of the pleasant microclimate that is created, it serves as a storage of food and wine, and thus a favorite gathering place.

With minimal intervention, the public space of the square is taken back. The floor is turned into a water surface, which makes it impossible for the cafe’s stalls to spread. The existing paving of the square is placed back so that the intervention remains invisible. The space under the street is being converted into a communal tavern.

Paolo Virno noted that humans are susceptible to sensory overload that often threatens self-preservation. Because of this, the human population gradually began to settle and build enclosures in which to live.

As such, the desire for room can be linked to an essential feature of human subjectivity: the longing for stability. The drive to construct a world within the frightening openness of the larger environment. --Dogma, The Room of One’s Own

In the middle of the tourist season, bombarded by tourist propaganda, we have a need for seclusion and isolation. The rooms appear in various locations in Bol and are intended for one person. This room is made of prefabricated concrete pipes, and it contains all the essential elements of the room.

II

master studies 1st semester

architectural workshop 1 contemporary housing edge of the city

s: Karla Bastalić, Karla Radović

m: prof. Ivana Ergić

Weekend sanatorium

What is a vacation in the contemporary world, full of stimuli for the nervous system? Accordingly, what would be the architectural form of a weekend house that would accommodate a vacation from such a society?

The thesis on which this fictional project is based is that in a world full of stimuli and constant notifications brought by modern technology, social media, and a fast-paced lifestyle, we long for a break from it. The project is located in Novi Zagreb, on the site of the planned but never realized utopia of heroic modernism, the Blue Horseshoe. The parks planned by the modernists were never fully built, and today they are eroded by illegal and bad construction, sometimes planned, and represent urban voids on the edge of the city of Zagreb. The project proposes to enclose the remaining voids with a Faraday cage that does not let the Internet signal pass. Inside the fence, the space is reforested, and in it, strange objects appear, weekend houses that, through architectural elements, provide rest, refuge, and seclusion for those who want it. The weekend house is entered by a long, gently sloping ramp through which a ray of light guides us. At the end of the ramp, a platform takes us to the center of the building. There is disorientation, a reset. We find our unit. The exit from the building is through the residential unit, the choice is individual. As the need for this type of vacation grows, the number of facilities increases.

scene 1

A building appears in the distance. You walk towards it.

scene 2

There is a long gently sloping ramp through which a ray of light guides you. At the end of the ramp, there is a platform.

scene 3

A platform takes you to the center of the building. There is disorientation, a reset.

a story through collages

You find your unit.

scene 4

scene 5 Rest.

through the unit

section

floor plan of the unit

master studies 2nd semester

architectural workshop II sport+

m: doc. Darko Latin

Moving swimming pool

The pool is located in the city. Without a picturesque landscape, surrounded by the ordinariness of the city, the swimming pool has the ambition to create a spectacle through architecture. Like an aircraft carrier placed in a field, it carries reflective water surfaces. A gentle ramp leads us to the main floor with water. The roof is an inflated balloon that moves with the help of a mechanism depending on weather conditions. A closed winter swimming pool becomes an open summer oasis in a matter of minutes. On the floor below there are changing rooms and the entire operation of the pool. The gallery serves for viewing the spectacle. The act of bathing becomes a sublime experience.

master studies 3th semester techniques | materials | spaces on the duality of materials

s: Ivan Čilić, Karla Radović m: doc. art. Zorana Protić, asist. Hrvoje Spudić

On the duality of materials and structures

The backbone of the course is research into the specificity of materials, their phenomena, and their spatial potentials. This research does not tend to find new materials, but to examine the possibilities of everything existing, strengthening conceptual reflections in the field of materiality and technologies. At the threshold of a new technological era, it seems important to refocus our attention on the physical world that surrounds us. The goal is to open and develop a different view of normalized reality.

Material forms the fabric of the built space. Like a drawing or a text, the material has the possibility of developing an abstract idea, but also of its consistent transfer into physical space. The way we experience, design and build is changing by changing the focus from the predominant use of standardized products to the specificity of materials.

The main intrigue and the very subject of this research is the dual behavior of materials (structures). At first, the chosen object of research is gypsum. One of the softest minerals, most often present as a dehydrated powder, is a material that experiences transformations through its use. Through the experiment, the subject of research is shifted from materials as such to structures. The research continues through geometry using 3D printing technology. The goal is to combine materials with opposite properties to obtain structures that have properties that none of the used materials have separately.