Strips and functional flows

The new Zamet multifunctional centre, built recently in the eponymous quarter of Rijeka, Croatia, will serve as the new functional hub of a district that grew up in the 1970s a few kilometres from the old city centre.
The project extends over an area of more than 16,800 square metres and features structures with mixed functions, including a multifunctional sports centre, a new library, a civic centre, local administration offices, a bar, shops and a car park.
The project’s key characteristic is the way it has been successfully integrated into the urban fabric, minimising discontinuities such as the height differential created by the raised ground opposite the school pedestrian area. Located at a crossroads of communications in the centre of Zamet, it connects the north-south pedestrian routes with the park area, thus becoming integrated into the flows of everyday life.
The project meets various objectives: it redefines public space and creates a new topography, introducing an urban element that is visually discordant with the context while creating a strong sense of identity.
The project brings together different and seemingly incompatible functions within the same building, recreating a form of hybridisation that enriches the life of the city. Nonetheless, the community services, the shopping centre, the library and the district committee emerge from the topography of the land and connect the square located in front of the gym and the school with the intention of integrating into the general context of the western part of the city.
The strips that create a conceptual and design connection between the handball gym and the Zamet Centre are a distinctive element of the project. Project northwards and southwards, they have an architectural and urban zoning function, serving both as a public square and as a connecting element between the north (park and school) and the south (the road). One third of the volume of the gym is built underground.
The public space on the roof of the gym also represents an extension of the park located to the north.
The gym was built with a telescopic system that adapts to the type of event and the number of spectators (up to 2,380 when all the stands are open).
The Architech (bush-hammered) ceramic wall tiles from Floor Gres play a key role in defining the Zamet Centre. This bold choice was inspired by the form and colour of a local rock, in this specific case a wall tile of irregular size designed specially for this project. Interestingly, the inspiration for the strips comes from « gromača », a typical rock from the Rijeka area which is used throughout the structure starting out from the external ceramic tile cladding.