VISITOR CENTER LOZOVAC won the first prize at the public architectural-urban competition for the main entrance of the National park Krka in Croatia, Europe.
Krka river has cut a 25 km long, wide canyon through the vast Miljevac limestone plateau. Merciless nature raises summer temperatures over 40 0C, while winters are characterized by a cold, strong wind called bora, often reaching the speed of over 200 km/h.
The building of the visitor centre was designed as both a shelter and a viewpoint. The upper side is a triangle-shaped square – sloped surface – viewpoint overlooking a fundamental phenomenon: Krka and Cikola canyons cut in the stone. The shelter beneath provides protection from bora, a strong northern wind most common in the winter, and from strong sun during summer.
The visitor centre offers a multimedia centre, office, restaurant, public restrooms, and service facilities. Its main function is to introduce, direct and distribute tourists to all parts of the National park Krka.
This whole project is developed in detail using BIM methodology and contains all necessary specifications. The studies on insolation have been conducted for each month of the year from sunrise to sunset in order to gain enough information to decide on glass structure and shelter ratio.
model for the center
section for visitor center Lozovac
For the calculation of the construction and preparation of a detailed plan, we have hired world-renowned structural engineers, Cecil Balmond and Antonio Adao de Fonseca. Their participation in all phases from static calculations to final static project drawings has immensely contributed to the simple and elegant aspect of the triangle-shaped roof.
