Makarska (HR)

Inhabited milieu's challenges

Tourism is an integral part of all development initiatives in Makarska. The city has a hundred-year old tradition in hospitality; it could be argued that tourism is responsible for development of the town, but at the same time it has caused a number of adverse phenomena such as marked seasonality, undiversified economy, overbuilt spaces and traffic jams.
A pleasant Mediterranean climate, white pebble beaches spreading along the coast under pine trees and a 1700m high mountain that rises ‘from the sea’ are magnets that bring visitors to the city again and again, but these ‘100 year old postcards’ have to be rethought in the context of contemporary practices.The competition site is located in the historical city core, and the competitors are given the opportunity to explore and design a space that will strongly influence the city’s everyday life and create a new image and spirit of the central public space of the city.
The city of Makarska has launched a programme of revitalizing the old city center in order to prevent the situation often seen in tourist towns on the coast, where areas that were once ‘the town itself’ become a backdrop occupied by rental rooms and apartments for visitors. Life in the city center is an important building element of the «character of the place» as a determining factor of the development of tourism in Makarska. Within the project site, three separate parts are clearly defined with project tasks that define the space for the development of cultural tourism: redesign of the city market, construction of a Mediterranean cuisine center, and designing a new space that will serve as a platform for development of cultural programs.
However, these spaces, although housing different programmes, can also be viewed as a whole because their uses are complementary, with similar target users, and all three sites will provide a strong influence on the development of Makarska’s cultural and gastronomic offer. The city of Makarska is an active participant in the „Cittaslow“ initiative as, for now, its only member in Croatia.

Questions to the competitors

Competitors are expected to propose a conceptual design for transformation of the existing food market following the competition brief, and to explore (and implement) the possibility of additional programs that will define this space as more exciting, interesting and functional in the wider context of the city’s needs. Construction of a Mediterranean cuisine center is planned In the old fish market building, where traditional dishes of Makarska will be presented, and local producers will be given the opportunity to participate in presentations and workshops in addition to selling their products.
Here the interested citizens and visitors will be introduced to local products and their preparation, and students of the newly launched Faculty of Hospitality and Gastronomy will have additional space for presentations, work and interaction with the people outside of the academic community. Knowing that gastronomy is an indispensable part of a place, the ‘old fish market’ should become a venue where cultural events will take place with elements of gastronomy, book presentations, poetry evenings, art exhibitions and initiatives. The existing (preserved) empty space in the city center, close to the old fish market, is the only space available for planning of new public facilities. The use of this space as a parking lot is inadequate for the valuable zone of the central public space, so the competitors are expected to propose viable plans for its redesign and revitalization. A new platform needs to be planned in this space to provide space for the activity the main actors of the development of Makarska’s cultural infrastructure, as well as other cultural initiatives.
For this reason, we have given this space a title ‘platform for the development of cultural initiatives’.The word ‘Platform’ does not necessarily imply construction and rather leaves all options ‘open’ to competitors. Activity and life in the city center is an important building element of the «spirit of the place» as a determining factor of development of tourism in Makarska.