Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31953/sz.44.1.15
PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION AS AN EVOLUTIONAL SYNTHESIS OF A CONCEPTUAL, EMOTIONAL AND MATERIAL COMPOSITIONAL COMPONENT
HELENA KNIFIĆ SCHAPS
Abstract
Podgorje public construction is an indispensable component of the spatial and spiritual
makeup of the Croatian national being
Man’s age-old life in Podgorje, in the foothills of Velebit, has always been linked essentially
to the mountain, with the constant seasonal migrations and visits for grazing and water.
It could be said that the public construction the people of Podgorje, both that along the sea
and in the higher regions, represents "architecture created by purpose", firmly based on the need,
landscape, climate, function and with local material.
From the aspect of the architectural profession it is insufficiently documented and valorised,
which is due to the marginality of the theme, lack of interest, the size of the area over which it is
spread and the movement of the permanent population, and this is also partly due to the harsh and
inaccessible terrain. Recently the whole region has come under some level of nature protection
(from UNESCO’s to national), where for the life of the indigenous population and its architectural
fund understanding is difficult to find. The insights and investigations have intensified over the last
20 or so years, concluding mainly on the abandonment and deterioration of most of the hamlets,
the settings and individual structures. The houses, farm buildings, agricultural areas, chapels and
alike, in a derelict condition, are just scarcely inhabited settlements.
The paper gives an insight into the results of the field investigations of the residential
construction published in the book ‘Velebit arhitektonski, Pučka gradnja u dijelovima Sjevernog
i Srednjeg Velebita’ (‘Velebit architectural, public construction in parts of Northern and Central
Velebit’), as well as considerations about the possibilities and directions of spatial development,
and their foundations in applicable laws and spatial-planning regulations. The author questions the
role of politics and the professional community in the sustainable development of protected, yet
depopulated regions, the survival and importance of indigenous populations in the protection of
nature, and the architectural heritage of public architecture as a component of the national identity.
Keywords
Public construction; valorisation; national identity; indigenous community; spatial development
Hrčak ID:
192279
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2017.
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