Center
Obala will house education, occupation and rehabilitation facilities for children
and adults with moderate, severe and profound learning disabilities and sensory
impairments. Center Obala is set in idyllic Mediterranean park of existing Red
Cross Youth health centre, with lush protected vegetation and distant views of
the Adriatic. The curious shape of the building was prescribed in the urban act,
avoiding the protected vegetation. Internal organization avoids formal
institutional design of narrow corridors and introverted rooms. Space and
program is instead organized in compact clusters that shape informal meandering
communal space. Full size glazing, oriented towards the park greenery, can be fully
opened, merging interior and exterior. Building is designed as light, almost
abstract pavilion characterized by uniform strips of shutters that filter the
sunlight and create shaded, relaxed, almost holiday like atmosphere resembling the
historical holiday villas typical of the surroundings.