Dubrovnik has a recognizable and extremely valuable historical context. One of the most visited and vibrant locations is the old city harbor with two squares – Fishermarket and Ponte. The squares are named after the gates that lead to the old city inside the walls. These squares are currently overcrowded with tourists from piers, ticket stands, gift shops, and excessive cafe terraces. The main problems are uneven distribution of concession, lack of visual uniformity, and clear pedestrian zone.
To provide the solution for these contemporary problems project uses only two elements – arch for content and tiramol for sunshade. Both elements draw inspiration and shape from Dubrovnik tradition and history. Despite their recognizable shape, it is their modern materialization that creates the new layer of time in the context of the city harbor and the city itself.
Tiramol is a way of drying clothes; clothes hanging line suspended over the house facade or over the street, characteristic for old Dalmatian villages and city centers. Cities like Split and Rijeka have forbidden such a way of drying, but Dubrovnik has a strong opinion against it because it represents the tradition and keeps the city alive. This project reinterprets the tradition and reuses it as a sunshade. White awning clothes are stretched between steel cables in 180×60 cm raster. Steel cables are stretched in two levels so that every shade can move independently. They create infinite variations in space, harbors facades, and views from the walls. At night and during the manifestations tiramols are open. During the day, they are opened or closed depending on the occasion. Also, during stormy weather, tiramols are regime-dissolved so as not to be damaged. They are located just above the arch of the Ponte gate so that view from the port remains unobstructed.
To preserve the specific view from the sea to the city walls, a modern layer of time is added in the archetypal form of arches that form a harmonious composition with the existing arches. The arches are experienced completely flat from the shore – their pure form and materialization come are highlighted. It is only by going through them and consuming them that fluid scenarios and micro-environments are revealed. The zone of arches is shifted from the walls and follows the dimensions of the volume of Pescaria. Moving away from the walls creates an additional passage that is shaded during the day and atmospherically lit at night. The frames are 20 cm wide and each frame is “cut” in places to allow a specific function. Stacking arches allows an unlimited number of possible scenarios. The principle of cutting the frame applies to all future needs of the city’s population.
