Interviewed in Zagreb, on 3 July 2010

Davor Katušić belongs to the generation of architects which we might call the "social housing generation", because they came to prominence at the time of the first large projects of the national social housing program. In that period, before the start of the construction boom in Croatia, Davor won three major competitions: in Osijek, Pula and Zagreb. Two of them particularly stand out: the residential and office building in Osijek and the Emergency Services building in Zagreb. The interview in Davor's house tries to shed light on the conceptual and intellectual aspect of his work, which has been developing ever since his postgraduate studies at the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam.

ORIS: An interview is always somewhat based on the critical ratio of what we know and what we do not know about the person we interview, so we can ask how to interview friends. In this situation, with the task of interviewing someone not only familiar to me, but a person with whom I have worked on various projects and in various situations, I decided to use a slightly different strategy. Following the example of Brian Eno and his “Oblique Strategies”, I made a set of cards with topics, a total of 24 topics. You, Vedran and I will randomly draw three cards each. Then we will try to discuss these topics, but in a way that should be relevant to your work and way of thinking. Well, to break the ice, I will draw the first card. The topic is… SUCCESS.

Katušić: Success is a topic that changes depending on the environment and experience (maturity). That statement is relative, but I believe that the theme of success in architecture is an absolute category, primarily measured with physical parameters. In designing, I see the theme of success as a competition with oneself in order to constantly raise the bar in success and quality.