Mak Pavelić / Four elementary architectures
Solo exhibition
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
Unlike painting, sculpture or other arts, architecture has an immanent connection with the place of origin. The exhibition "Four elementary architectures" is a set of four selected projects, which connect the special relationship of architecture with its immediate environment. Since each landscape, even the urban one, is completely unique, each of these architectures is unique in its own way. Like endemic plants and animals, which can only be kept alive in the places where they live and nowhere else, these four architectures are predestined for their particular place of origin. In other words, the idea of each exhibited architecture is so closely connected to its own environment that its non-existence there seems almost unimaginable, and the thought that it stands somewhere else is completely illogical. The exhibited projects therefore do not follow a personal style, but each of them tries to find a new definition of architecture and expand it beyond the typical framework of the discipline itself.
"House with a view" has one large space for one large view to the south. On the opposite part of the house there are accompanying spaces, the openings of which follow the windows on the south façade, so that all spaces in the house enjoy a view of the valley. Like the auditorium in a Roman amphitheater, these spaces are slightly elevated to keep the view unobstructed. Like rivers into the sea, the side spaces flow into one main one. As if from a trunk, small rooms branch out from one large one. Like a human palm from which fingers continue, the spaces of this residential house complement each other.
The "House of Four Elements" is a somewhat isolated house 750m above the Adriatic Sea and about 100 meters below the nearby mountain peak. Nature is intimate in this place. Therefore, each of the interior spaces has an outdoor one. Like the low endemic plant of Velebit Degenia, whose habitat is not far from the project site and which grows among the stones, this house is also a low one-story house, which looks more like a piece of rock than a conventional dwelling, and four chimneys are the only clear indication of its existence.
"Textile façade" is an installation that covers the existing gap between two buildings in a dense urban space. Only when something is hidden does it become interesting to the human eye. Henri Matisse wrote in 1911 that the color red intensifies other colors, so this red curtain like a red flower complements the existing urban space. The heavy massive buildings that form the frame of this light textile façade indicate its temporary character.
The "House of Water" is an institution that seeks to increase the visibility of water in the urban space. Unlike man, water has no age, and its amount has remained unchanged since time immemorial. This pavilion is a portrait of the element of water, which depicts its life through the phases of the water cycle. The main space has no roof and therefore serves as a rainwater collector, and its containerized floor is lowered by a few steps, thus evoking the feeling of groundwater. From there, the water evaporates again into the sky and thus completes the water cycle. The white concrete walls are like a white canvas, which the rain will eventually paint with its slight patina.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Mak Pavelić, born in the summer of 1993 in Zagreb, completed his undergraduate studies in architecture at TU Graz, and in 2021 he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at TU Munich. During his studies, he worked in architectural offices in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Chile, as well as for the Spanish architectural bimonthly "El Croquis". Since 2019, he has been working on his own projects. In addition to the Dean's Award and several other student awards and scholarships, Mak's work won 1st prize for a project in urban space at Viena Design Week in Vienna, 1st prize in the competition for the conversion of the "Castillo Hidalgo" palace in Santiago de Chile, as well as recognition at the European competition for the design of a wooden skyscraper in the city of Bozen in the Italian Alps. Mak is fluent in German, English, Croatian and Spanish. His work is his personal gravity. He currently lives in Munich and is working on the temporary installation "Textile façade" for the German Theater (Deutsches Theater) in the central part of Munich and on the "House of four elements" in the Velebit Nature Park, as well as on several other projects.
The exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.
The exhibition can be viewed during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) until 19.10.2021.
