18

HEALTH CENTER ZAGREB CENTER

ADDRESS
Runjaninova 4, Zagreb

AUTHORS
Dražen Juračić, Branko Kincl

YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION
1983 — 1988

MAIN CONTRACTOR
GRU “Vladimir Gortan”

Construction was prompted in the early 80s of the 20th century by a new Health Law. The location is in an elite historical place: next to the Botanical Garden, on the southwest corner of the downtown park horseshoe on the edge of Lower Town at the planned junction with the Student Center, University Avenue, Radio Television building, Kockica… The plot of the House is four times wider than the standard ones in the downtown blocks. The basic design problem was to harmonize the disproportionate volume of the building with the rhythmic image of the city block. The solution was helped by buildings with front gardens, fences and pavilions from the nearby square. The main volume is recessed and neutralized by a mimetic silver facade and low pavilions clad in granite rhythmize the street experience. As much as the overall shape of the building was influenced by considering urban morphology. It is also determined by the internal logic of spatial-functional organization. The pavilions increase the functional areas on the ground floor and the first floor so that the most frequent contents can be located there, while the waiting rooms are naturally lit. By connecting the two southern pavilions, a portico for adult, handicapped, healthy and sick children’s entrances was formed within a single articulated whole.