(recommended music while reading: The Who, My Generation)

When one walks through the elite zones of Zagreb’s slopes, covered by many new, pretentious and cramped structures, it is desirable to hope for new values. Fortunately, here is one.... In the variety of styles, the many examples of Secession (Art Nouveau) and proto-modernism scattered on the hills above the city, include our locus.

Aware of the physical and mental surroundings where he must work (approvals, licenses etc.), the architect Nikola Polak has gone through the usual process of trying to jump (stand out) – asking, waiting, persuading, proving, staking his reputation, knowledge, being irritated by the media... He was getting ready for a running start.