Sveti Duh, Three Years Later

architect Vladimir Kasun
project Habitus Housing Settlement, Sv. Duh, Zagreb, Croatia
written by Luka Korlaet

 

As the project (concept) is developed, weaving into it all technical constraints and construction details, keep utmost clarity in mind. Never do anything for design’s sake, work only for concept’s sake. (Stay on concept the way one stays on message: Repeat, repeat, repeat. Edit, edit, edit.) Construction or budget constraints are good ways to clarify priorities. You may break rules, but never at the expense of concept. (Bernard Tschumi Architects, ‘Approach’)

 

Sveti Duh is a district in Zagreb known for the general hospital of the same name (maternity clinic primarily), vernacular church of St Anthony of Padua (1932) by architect Juraj Denzler, as well as for several extraordinary realizations of housing architecture. Next to the recently devastated wooden Villa Filipčić (1936) by architects Ibler and Galić, three intriguing contemporary complexes are situated on this slope beneath Sljeme Mountain.