The student architectural workshop Rendez-vous de'l Architecture will be held in Oris House of Architecture from 28 September to 2nd October 2015.

Cutting through the urban fabric from the main cathedral, connecting the old medieval core, modern parks and public institutions from the fin-de-siècle period, unconsolidated former suburban area and the new modernist city from the time of socialism, the great central axis was actually never finished and it remained a sort of a Zagreb's urban dream; both as an idea and as an urban project. Whether due to poor urban and architectural imagination or the lack of political will, the axis has kept its potential for further development till this day. Although some prominent cultural institutions, like the National and University Library, finally got their place along the axis, most of its central part; from the 19th century Central Train Station towards the centre of New Zagreb on the southern side of the Sava River, are either empty or in a chaotic state.

Focus of this workshop is going to be a three-kilometre long and less than half-a-kilometre wide strip of land and infrastructure from the Zagreb Central on the north, across the Sava River and to the Avenue Mall on the south.

Method

This workshop is based on two decisions. Firstly, we would primarily like to encourage the public discussion on the topic. Therefore, we have imagined the workshop as an open studio that will be active 24/7 in the Oris House of Architecture. Through the series of informative lectures delivered by local experts you will get the idea and information about the complex social and spatial contingencies that have shaped the axis. At the end of the workshop, we will arrange the exhibition of your works and organize a public discussion.

Secondly, we decided to devote equal attention to all projects, regardless of whether they are realized or on paper, small or big, institutional and representative or private and improvised, completed by famous architects or numerous anonymous activists. Therefore, we have started to set up an archive of the history of the great axis.

These two decisions are important because we would like our workshop to be as much about the history of architectural ideas that have shaped the axis and its present discourse as about the new architectural creativity that is always partially ahistorical.

Format

Students from six architectural schools (Belgrade, Ljubljana, Lyon, Sarajevo, Split and Zagreb) will be mixed and grouped in teams of 3 to 5 members. Tutors from respective schools will equally work and co-tutor all the teams. At the end of the fifth day of the workshop teams will have to deliver a 10-minute presentation and 1 A0 format poster explaining their urban architectural concept. Additional formats of presentation are welcome (sketches, models, text, sound, etc).

Teams are free to choose any part or aspect of the great axis for their study. Anything from empty lots to unrealized projects on specific lots all to the urban concept of the whole area can be the subject of your study. Teams are free to reinterpret the information they have obtained via talks, field trips and archive and draft their own briefs for their assignment.

On Education and Practice

On Saturday, 3 October 2015, at the Faculty of Architecture, at 9.30 a.m. there will be an open discussion titled On Education and Practice.

Odile Decq will deliver a lecture about here experiences with architectural school she started - Confluence, and the mentors of the workshop will discuss the current educational trends and how to they incorporate their own practice into their teaching.

Mentors

Lyon - Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture - Odile Decq, architect
Split School of Architecture - Saša Begović, architect
Belgrade School of Architecture - Milan Đurić, architect
Sarajevo School of Architecture - Sead Gološ, architect
Zagreb School of Architecture - Helena Paver Njirić, architect
Ljubljana School of Architecture - Maruša Zorec, architect

The event is organized as part of the manifestation Rendez-vous, Festival od France in Croatia - www.rendez-vous.hr