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AUGUST ŠENOA PRIMARY SCHOOL

ADDRESS
Selska cesta 95, Zagreb

YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION
1932

PROJECT AUTHOR
Ivan Zemljak

OŠ AUGUSTA ŠENOE

The school on Selska Street is one in a series of excellent achievements of buildings for education and upbringing by architect Ivan Zemljak. It is not only an example of new views on educational space but also the achievements of architectural production of the 30s years 20th century. Zemljak unites architectural and pedagogical values of the time in a pavilion complex of emphasized floor plan symmetry and composition of stereotomy volumes (male and female departments and children’s shelter with a floor gymnasium) connected by a porch. The goal of the new spatial and design concept is to create a healthy environment, in line with the highest contemporary pedagogical and hygienic-technical standards as well as an appropriate functional and constructive principle. Careful articulation of the growth of the object into the configuration of the terrain, as well as the disposition and design of various outdoor spaces for rest and recreation (playground, pool and sandboxes, covered and shady places), is taken into account. This school represents a significant achievement of modern architecture that served as a model for later achievements of educational objects. Already in 1933, it was presented in Paris at an exhibition of modern architecture, and published in a thematic issue of the prestigious magazine L’architecture d’aujourd’hui, dedicated to school objects.