Sports Hall, Krk

Archtiect: Idis Turato
Text: Boris Dundovic
Photos: Domagoj Blažević, Sandro Lendler, Ivan Dorotić, Jure Živković

Even for the most accomplished Croatian architects, designing a new building in old Adriatic town cores has always brought up mixed feelings – it is both an exclusive privilege and, undeniably, a heavy burden. It takes a finest kind of familiarity with the tradition, its residents, and a comprehensive analysis of the atmosphere of such a complex framework. Whenever there is an intervention on a particular island, those levels of familiarity with the context are of the utmost importance. Idis Turato, an architect from Rijeka, possesses such a knowledge of the town of Krk, on the Croatian island of the same name where, after the completion of the town’s elementary school in 2005 and of a nearby kindergarten four years later, he began work on designs for a sports hall and an adjacent town square, thus concluding the first decade of his dedication to Krk and its residents.
The sports hall stimulated a new way of communication through the town core, whereby the new square, defined by the two church towers in the angles and the hall’s faceted façade, became the town’s centre. Furthermore, the angular glass entrance where the faceted concrete was omitted acts like a continuation of the square, thus inviting the users to enter the box. From the inside of the building, façade cracks make frames for fragments of the square and illuminate the great hall space. It is this unique symbiosis of the hall and the square that makes it an exemplary interposition.

Architect: Idis Turato
Fellow architects: Ida Križaj, Marko Liović, Josip Mičetić, Ana Staničić
HVAC: Branko Hriljac
Main contractor: GP Krk
Investor: Krk város önkormányzat