Implementing Partners
Berlage Institute
The Berlage Institute is an international postgraduate laboratory for education, research and development in the field of architecture, urban planning and landscape design. The institute aims to provide a critical environment where spatial planning issues are studied into depth. Social and cultural phenomena relevant to the metropolis of tomorrow are the central focus.
The research program of Berlage Institute is aimed at producing a new breed of architectural knowledge and to have a transformative impact both on the built environment and the contemporary architectural culture in Europe. The institute seeks to engage with real urban conditions in collaboration with other institutions and organizations with shared interests.
One of the aims of the Berlage Institute is to stimulate cross-fertilization between individual and group work, participants and professors, practice and theory, in-depth research and contributions from critics and practitioners, including those from other disciplines. The basis of the curriculum is a sequence of design studios and research. Berlage Institute has a significance experience in development of architectural and urban planning strategies worldwide. Its expertise goes beyond the educational activities and the research on real urban conditions in transitional societies has been part of the Berlage Institute agenda for years. It has explored transformative impacts in China, South America and Eastern Europe. For the coordination role within the project especially relevant is the Institute’s experience gained through the research and urban strategies for an Albanian capital Tirana and Dures, a tourist resort town on the Adriatic coast. Albania is undergoing very similar phases of transitional process as in Croatia, being one of the countries from Balkan region and in a same line with Croatia within a process for integration in European Union. Furthermore, the Albanian coast is the part of the same Mediterranean basin and expecting the same processes of a coastal development as Croatia.
As assistant dean of the Berlage Institute, Vedran Mimica has been working within the Croatian context performing different tasks, from the educational activity at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb during 70’s and 80’s, to organisation and implementation of several workshops aimed to stimulate the development of urban management policies in a capital Zagreb, as well as in a coastal region in a city of Split in 90’s. The interchange of knowledge and experience between the Berlage Institute and the Croatian Association of Architects, as well as architectural/urban management and planning practice teams have been already recognized through education of experts that are now actively involved in a spatial transformation processes in Croatia and the Netherlands. Several Berlage alumni hold leading positions as architectural and urban practitioners in Croatia and the Netherlands, forming the core of architects and researchers for the project.
With a project ‘Croatian Archipealgo New Lighthouses’, the Berlage Institute intends to stimulate a critical architectural debate aimed to explore profound, innovative and critical approaches to coastal territory development.
Croatian Architects’ Association
The Croatian Architects Association (CAA) actively supports and develops Croatian architectural and cultural practice through the projects aimed to explore cultural and social phenomena of architecture.
The professional scope of the CAA is related to enhancement of contemporary architectural practice, participation in environmental concerns, development of the international cooperation on cultural projects, organization of architectural awards and competitions, architectural publications and a public promotion of the quality architecture and its cultural influence.
Recently, the CAA has concentrated on new projects aimed to initiate research on spatial phenomena, introducing the CAA as coordinator of research activities. This direction is a natural evolution of the CAA’s performance, taking into account demands that social context poses upon the CAA as a representative of architectural practice. At the same time, experiences of other European institutions within the similar sphere of action such as IFA (French Institute of Architecture) and NAI (Dutch Institute of Architecture) implicate the necessity to initiate research projects in architecture.
The pivotal role of the Croatian Association of Architects within the project ‘Croatian Archipelago New Lighthouses’ is recognized throughout the whole process - from the introductory phase at the 1st in Congress of Croatian Architects Zadar to a completion of a project when the newly established CoastLine Office undertake the role of future steering of the coastal development process.
Croatian Association of Architects together with Croatian Chamber of Architects is the main organizer of the 1st Congress of Croatian Architects in Zadar, an event supported by the Croatian president, as well as key Ministries and Counties. The main theme (Building on a Coast) as well as the 3 sub themes (Situation, Identity, and Methods) implicates a CAA dedication to initiate a critical debate that would result in improvements of existing coastal development practice. In doing so, one of the main results of a Congress expected is identification of main actors within the process of coastal transformation, with an emphasis on a role of architectural profession.
Through the participation at the Rotterdam Biennale Croatian architectural practice will be at the forefront of the debate on the coastline metropolis, a phenomenon that affects countries all over the world. Nevertheless, the project “Croatian Archipelago New Lighhouses” shows an importance that stretches beyond the mere participation in an international architectural exhibition. The project anticipates the importance of the new forms of partnership and enables public decision-making process for the coastal development. Within that process CAA would in a close cooperation with a Dutch partner Berlage Institute initiate and coordinate establishment of the body that would undertake research and action needed to insure necessary transparency and consistency of a project, CoastLine Office.
Connections between the CAA and Berlage Institute are mostly realized through the incentive and influence of the CAA’s president, Sasha Randić who is connected with a Dutch architectural context being one of the Berlage alumini and collaborating with the Institute on a various projects after his return to Croatia. In addition, Dutch experience on a spatial and landscape planning issues, targeted specifically to the problem of coastal development, would be presented through a participation of Adrian Geuze, a main curator of the Rotterdam Biennale, at the 1st Congress of Croatian Architects in Zadar.