Centrale - The beating heart of Lustica Bay

Luštica Bay’s vibrant, cosmopolitan town centre offers everything residents need for year-round living – in an enticing location that boasts plenty of authentic Montenegrin charm. Luštica Bay Magazine introduces the next exciting phase

hile it boasts the beautiful setting, marina, beach and leisure facilities that you would expect to find in a world-class resort, Luštica Bay is so much more than a resort town. The long-term vision of Orascom Development, the forward-thinking company behind Luštica Bay, is to create a living, breathing Montenegrin town, full of energy and vitality all year round. Centrale, Luštica Bay’s town centre, is key to that vision. A commercial and administrative hub, a cultural centre, a verdant haven and a gathering space, Centrale has been conceived as the new focal point for members of the Luštica Bay community and their neighbours from the surrounding areas.

Construction is now under way and, alongside highly desirable residential apartments, Centrale will host a range of boutiques, restaurants, bars, galleries and entertainment, centred around an esplanade, arcade and a multi-purpose piazza. The first phase of development also includes a school, a sports club, a supermarket, a petrol station, a health centre, and police and fire services – in short, everything a community needs to function smoothly day to day. It is anticipated that the latter stages of development, still to be finalised, will include a hospital and a higher education institution.

The design of Centrale combines all the finer touches for which Luštica Bay is already known: sustainable design that integrates perfectly into the region; the use of local materials that echo existing

Montenegrin architecture; and respect for the natural environment. Centrale echoes all the charm of the area’s traditional villages and fosters a sense of small-scale exclusivity. While it is certainly a functioning, cosmopolitan town centre, with all the practical elements town residents need, it also embraces tranquillity and calm, with a focus on courtyards, parks and green spaces.

‘This is a central place through which the future development will gravitate,’ explains Luštica Development CEO Darren Gibson. ‘It’s the main area where most of the day-to-day living facilities will be located – retailers, banks, commercial services, the school, medical facilities. We refer to it as the beating heart of Luštica Bay as it’s the life force of the rest of the resort.’

Ensuring that Luštica Bay is a year-round, sustainable community is a key priority, he adds. ‘We are looking to provide an attractive opportunity for permanent residents as well as for owners of second homes. A critical part of that, and the centrepiece of our strategy for Centrale, is to provide the services that people require to live on a permanent basis.’

Designing a whole town, more or less from the ground up, is a major project. ‘We’ve been very conscious of developing something immediately recognisable in terms of local architecture and culture,’ says Darren Gibson. ‘In the overall look and feel, we’ve made sure it’s a modern interpretation of what you would already see in Montenegro.’ Delivering the infrastructure needed to develop the site was, he says, one of the biggest challenges. Integration into the landscape was also a key priority. ‘Topographically we have almost an amphitheatre around the bay, some areas directly adjacent to the coast, then a plateau, then some elevated areas, so we can build a series of nice little neighbourhoods, all linked by a central pathway of roadways and networks. Those connections are critical considerations in terms of conceptualising the town.’

Those Centrale neighbourhoods feature Luštica Bay’s unique interpretation of year-round coastal living. The residential selection, from studios to three-bedroom apartments, takes full advantage of the stunning vistas, from the Lovćen National Park to the blue waters of the Adriatic, with large airy windows that make the most of the scenic location. Rooms flow naturally into balconies, terraces and courtyards, so homeowners can enjoy seamless indoor-outdoor living and make the most of the Mediterranean climate.

The built environment here has its own distinctive feel, says assistant design manager Jasna Tomašević. ‘We are using the same materials as elsewhere – engineered stone, some rough, some polished, and lots of render – but Centrale has more structure and form, with straighter lines than the Marina Village next to the marina, which is hilly with narrower streets. Centrale has wider streets and more greenery – we have preserved as much of the natural greenery as we can.’ Planting features native species such as cypress, oleander, rosemary and lavender – all are well adapted to the local environment and don’t require too much water to thrive.

The Luštica Bay site offices are currently sited in former military offices that will eventually house the school, with an adjoining sports

hall. Everything else is newly built, following the same meticulous principles used elsewhere in the development. ‘We keep rigorous control of materials, manpower, waste disposal, transportation, insulation – everything,’ says Jasna Tomašević. ‘We have very good thermal insulation in the buildings, higher than local standards require, for long-term energy saving – a plus for our buyers. All materials are locally sourced; locally produced stone, cement and concrete, for example. We install very efficient built-in lights and kitchen appliances,’ she adds.

Both the overall masterplan for Luštica Bay, which evolves regularly to reflect changing needs, and the designs for individual residences are very much people-centred. ‘We are building for residents to enjoy this environment,’ says Jasna Tomašević. ‘Each apartment is light and airy, has outdoor views and is as open as possible, to allow interaction

with nature. We have perfect weather, this is a great place to be, so we’re focused on walking paths, biking routes, a place that is calm, environmentally friendly and nature-oriented.’

She has worked at Luštica Bay for the past seven years, after studying civil engineering, and has seen the project grow from the earliest conceptual stages. ‘I started helping with design in the first phases and saw it turning from something on paper to actual buildings. It has been a great experience for me. The project is still very young and there’s so much to do, to learn, to improve, and create something wonderful for future residents. It’s a challenge – but it’s a good one!’

Darren Gibson also acknowledges the excitement of seeing the Centrale phase of the development spring to life. ‘As an urban planner, I’m not sure there would be too many opportunities like this around the world to literally build a new town for potentially up to 14,000 people, and make it exactly as it should be. For me personally, it’s been so rewarding. Sometimes the challenge is to step back from the day-to-day minutiae, take stock, and realise what we’ve already been able to achieve.’ He particularly enjoys showing the site to first-time visitors. ‘That’s when we get the most honest feedback – and it’s always tremendously positive. And that is tremendously exciting.’