I first encountered Ante Kuzmanić’s work when I started studying in 1994. One of his first realizations, a Hertzbergerian primary school in Stobreč, which catalyses meeting/socialization/exchange by employing elementary architectural means stuck in my mind. A simple, almost strict exterior hides an exuberant and encouraging interior. In the building, based on the system of semi-levels, halls become galleries and the entrance stairway – a stand. The womb of the house is lit and coloured. Although they are not shown in Branko Ostojić’s photographs of the time, it is easy to imagine the communication, murmur and laughter of happy children from Stobreč. 

 

The other purpose, but the same intention; residential complex designed according to the programme of housing of the victims of the Homeland War in Split neighbourhood Glavičine (known as Turska kula) from the late 1990s repeats the strategy of the aforementioned school. However, just like a school is not (primarily) made of classrooms, a residential building is not (primarily) made of apartments, but spaces in-between. Three pairs of buildings of a simple, repetitive exterior, based on the system of galleries, are connected by bridges, which become Arcadian spaces for game and chatter.  This encouraging spatial concept – inaugurated in Veugny’s Cité Napoleon in Pariz in the mid-19th century  - Kuzmanić skilfully reinterprets in a modern code. 

 

The mentioned two projects reveal the author’s continuous preoccupation – spaces of togetherness. This ambition is realised in a large scale in the recently completed Split neighbourhood Kila, designed in accordance with the subsidized housing programme (POS).