architect Nenad Fabijanić
project New Public Toilets, Dubrovnik, Croatia
written by Ljiljana Šepić

 

Most tourists who access Dubrovnik’s historical centre through the Great Gate (a.k.a. Fish Market Gate) arrive via the old harbour. The harbour is an open shell extending from St. John’s Fortress over the Great Arsenal to the old Austrian Harbour Master’s Office (standing where the Small Arsenal used to stand) on one side, and from St. Dominic’s Tower to Revelin on the other, and is closed by a breakwater known as Kaše. In terms of town planning, however, it has not received due evaluation and has been neglected to this day.

 

Fabijanić’s first project of a new public toilets building to be situated behind the Harbour Master’s Office dates back to 1989-1991, but not until 1997 did construction begin. With it, Fabijanić has set high standards for future interventions in this space.