Dubrava is the district of Zagreb which is located in the northeastern part of the city and divided by the Dubrava Avenue into two administrative areas , upper and lower.It is well connected to the Zagreb centre, but still provides quiet life and closeness to the nature.The current state of the center of Dubrava is completely, aesthetically and substantively, inadequate for a neighborhood that has a mostly young population and almost 100,000 inhabitants. Until the very center of the neighborhood different typologies and ambiences intertwine, often with a very pleasant and green character. Clear traffic routes are disrupted there and we enter a disorganized space which is neither suitable neither comfortable for pedestrians. Dubrava has all the utilitarian content (market, schools, kindergartens, post office, church, police, fire station) while the additional content, which raises the value of the neighborhood, appears only in the form of small cafes and pastry shops on the ground floors of residential buildings.
Concept consists of adding a new pedestrian street through the entire center and adding new and diverse content that Dubrava, as the fifth largest neighborhood in Zagreb, really deserves. Public content would be located on the ground floor; on the first and second floor there would be residential use in form of different typologies. The design of the space was achieved by a simple concept – the ground floor was retracted so that the ramps and entrances to the buildings were covered. The volume above is formed depending on the function of the ground floor and depending on technical conditions (min. distance, fire accesses, ground floor lighting). In this way, various spaces of different ambiences are created, unified only by the number of storeys and by materialization of passable roof surfaces.
Instead of the classic square, a series of pedestrian streets, green courtyards, passages, ramps, terraces and atriums are being created. The apartments are a provocation to classic housing in the area because they combine different typologies with public content. There are 2 apartments on the staircase above the theater; apartments with central a corridor above the cultural center; town houses above the sports center; youth apartments with shared spaces above the art gallery; duplexes above the promenade with boutiques, etc. Such hybrids would be very inspiring for future generations who would grow up in an unusual and creative environment.
