360 Degrees of Light

authors Dean Skira, Dino Krizmanić, Leonid Zuban
project Roundabout in Šijana, Pula, Croatia

The biggest roundabout in Croatia has a surface area of 15,000 square meters, and it marks the main entrance to the City of Pula. Obviously, because of its size, this turned out to be a very unusual infrastructural project. Pula is a small town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and in the summer time the population doubles due to tourism. Aside from the main function of this roundabout, which was built to resolve the flooding in this part of the town, one of the project goals was to make an unforgettable first impression for all the guests who come here on a summer vacation.
 

When the design competition was launched three years ago, there was just a large mud-covered empty space which was to be designed and illuminated. The object of illumination was clearly missing, and simply placing regular poles for street lighting purposes was not a satisfactory solution for this project—an architectural structure needed to be invented for the purpose of lighting. It was immediately clear that a traditional approach would not be suitable: placing something in the middle of the roundabout was not an option, a sculpture or an installation would be too big, and they would most likely distract the traffic, or they would be too small and get lost in the roundabout's proportions.