If you haven't really tried to survive in New York, you cannot imagine how cruel the city is. Architects, who come rushing to the Big Apple, often end up as waiters or manage to find employment in big architectural studios doing working drawings. Only the urban guerilla really survives. Yet, Leo Modrčin managed not only to survive but to succeed. Though Leo Modrčin has always been our man in the States, who provided a place to stay to almost anybody coming over from the other side of Atlantic, the theatre project 59E59 was a turning point not only in his career, but alson in the relationship of his homeland to his work. The Viktor Kovačić award (although shared) only confirmed the opinion that it is time for Leo Modrčin to build something at home. After having spent twenty something years in this city it was time to start looking at New York from the home perspective as a laboratory of ideas, no longer as a fight for survival city.