New spatial identity of Karlovac: interpolations from 1930's to 1960's

Mihalić, Matej. (2018). New spatial identity of Karlovac: interpolations from 1930's to 1960's. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Art History. [mentor Špikić, Marko].

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Abstract

The period from the 1930s to the 1960s encompasses the most intensive building development in the city of Karlovac, primarily the old city core (so-called “Star”) and the suburban area defined by the Kupa River. Building interventions or interpolations created new dimensions that contributed in creating a new spatial quality. The changes at the field of building development from the second half of the 19th century – including the construction of two-story housing and rental housing projects within a humble single-story ambient, and the destruction of the city gates – started the process that lead to the creation of a Regulation plan and the destruction of the city walls as new urban challenges at the start of the 20th century. The city adopted a new, modern visage by taking advantage of new spatial possibilities, those of the disintegrated fortification zone, the former protective ditches (“šanac”), the new Zrinjski Square, and previously unsightly and empty plots. The same process of urban transformation characterised the 1930s, when a new residential block was defined along the south-west segment of the previous fortification zone. New urbanism attempts continued after the Second World War, in the context of a new political sphere and hightened industrialisation, giving the space of the city periphery the appearance of a new city centre. At the same time, several examples of aggressive interferences were introduced in the space of the old city core as a sensitive cultural and historic landscape. This especially refers to the interventions of the 1950s, characterized by a certain political arbitrariness, resulting with the introduction of buildings of starkly contrasting and uncorrelated dimensions, such as the residential building in Radićeva Street and the skyscraper in Šebetićeva Street. The 1960s present a period of new achievements in urbanism – the construction of the “New Centre” – but also feature several attempts in introducing modern solutions in the old city core that readdressed the issue of interpolations within an old ambient.

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