Place and non-place

Architect Luka Ćakić
Project Garažić, insertation of Kindergarten into Public Garage, Split, Croatia
 

 

The project theme resulted from the problem of the shortage of available kindergarten spots in the city of Split and the (im)possibility of the densely built urban matrix to offer a spatial solution harmonized with the state pedagogical standard and, particularly, the request that the new kindergarten facilities be situated in independent buildings.

 

The first step was detecting the spatial gap. The intention was to design a kindergarten as an interpolation into the existing building of a public garage, a standard situation in the neighbourhoods of Split and the true manifestation of Augé’s non-place. If one observes Split from air, it becomes clear that these places with a purely utilitarian purpose scar the tissue of the city and offer no added value to its urban development. Adapting a part of such an object raises the value of the area and solves the problem of finding and, eventually, purchasing an empty private site plot.