A designer’s task is to know how to respond to the client’s requests and needs with his/her design proposal. We have been asked to create a project proposal to satisfy a high demand of tourism for the new tourist settlement in the island in Croatia. The requirements for the accommodations is that all buildings, apartments and hotels must have a panoramic sea view and consist of:

• Two buildings with a number of 500 luxury five-star apartments, each 100 square meters large.

• Two buildings of 250 rooms each destined for a five-star hotel and each connected by functions and services different from those offered in the two luxury five-star apartment buildings.

• Two apartment buildings of 110 square meters of medium-high level and with a number of 250 units in each of the buildings.

• Two four-star hotels with 300 rooms each.

The volumes needed to satisfy this demand created an imbalance between full and empty spaces. In order to overcome the imbalance and to create an equilibrium of the space, while also preserving the natural habitat, we decided to develop upward rather than horizontally. This enabled us to also safeguard the island’s environment. 

The Croatian coast, with its distinct characteristics, is constituted by a rocky landscape surrounded by the Mediterranean scrub. Cognizant of the fact that an intervention of this scale would have dire impact on the island, we added greenery and local vegetation interventions to building coverings and terraces to camouflage the invasive edifices among its natural habitat.  The recovering of the autochthonous vegetation will be accessible and equipped for outdoor leisure and outdoor activities. 
 
The project takes inspiration from the marriage of two characteristic elements of the Croatian territory, uniquely conjugated. They unify the harshness of the coast and the delicacy of the Iris, the symbolic flower of the nation. The flower’s upward leaning shape creates a connection between the earth and the sky, a concept evoked by the buildings from the central nucleus part of the project.

This element is depicted in the first illustration of the project proposal. In its description you can denote a series of angular volumes that succeed each other and tortuously ascend, ending with tapered elements that reflect Croatia’s rocky coast and Iris petals. 
 

The low buildings are camouflage by greenery from the terraces and building coverings, which are disposed on the superior margins and the low areas. You then move into the central nucleus of the development, which is represented by four high volumes with a very articulated and non-regular appearance. The curved and angular shapes create very impactful and expressive architecture. Two of the buildings contain the luxury five-star apartments and the other two the four-star hotels. The buildings’ design have a dual purpose. First, to create a solution that will contain in one area the large demand of apartments and hotels rooms with a panoramic sea view without creating an invasive urbanized area. Second, to create an unrecognizable and emblematic skyline from a distance for those arriving by sea.
 
In alignment with the request, at the center of the four towers we inserted the following facilities: fitness and wellness center, medical facilities, congress halls, shopping mall, casino and other retail businesses that would satisfy the demands of the residents and hotel guests. 

Between the buildings we left large areas equipped to incentivize socializations and large assemblies. Most of the services and infrastructures are deemed below the buildings which can be accessible also through a large geometric tear in the ground that welcomes natural light into the underground facilities. 
 
On the hillside, on each side of the central nucleus, we positioned two apartment complexes of medium-height. These have a low configuration to take advantage of the decreasing orographic sway of the land and are almost completely camouflaged by greenery and local vegetation.