The Dynamics of Aesthetic Osmosis

authors Oleg Hržić, Ante Rašić
project The Belupo Pharmaceutical Plant, Koprivnica, Croatia
written by Mladenka Šolman

 

In the wasteland of the bare functionality of most industrial buildings in Croatia, the “Belupo” pharmaceutical plant in Koprivnica stands out with a new appearance and articulation of space. Two men, architect Oleg Hržić and sculptor Ante Rašić have succeeded with surprising imagination in redefining yesterday’s indifferent and cold place by giving it a new aesthetic content and a new dimension to the environmental, human, and social context. The strength of the pair’s intervention lies in the inventive approach to the pre-existing whole, to the buildings, their location, and communications. The transforming energy of the remodelled buildings, walls, and pillars and the addition of the fountain as the focal point of the spatial vectors have commuted the one-dimensional reality into a space of vivid relations and humane ambience. The approach and the result of this aesthetic and formative change from a uniform primitive state to an utterly new and revitalised whole are overwhelming.