location: Rijeka, Croatia

project: 2020

Bevk Perović projektni tim:
Matija Bevk
Vasa J. Perović
Irene Salord Vila
Valentin Tribušon Ovsenik

The location of the new ‘beach’ – a piece of land ‘lost’ between the port facilities, the railway and the helipad – is a new space of intervention and, coincidentally, the location of the former city bathing area – the place where the public life of the city once ‘touched’ the sea.

The location has a strong (post)industrial character, typical of Rijeka today, combined with almost romantic views of the Kvarner that opens before it. In a way, the location ‘condenses’ the Rijeka paradox – a port city ‘without’ the sea.

The new – somewhat post-apocalyptic – Rijeka 20/20 beach is a proposal that tries to unite these two characters. A series of prefabricated concrete ‘towels’ (prefabricated in the same way as port pontoons) ‘occupy’ the space of the industrial ‘wasteland’ and establish the possibility of new beach programs.

The concrete ‘towels’ become the foundations for the installation of a series of standard port containers, which define the edge of the beach towards the city and enable additional program contents (café, exhibition space, storage for boats, etc.).

The new beach – organized and chaotic, industrial and ‘natural’, romantic and ugly at the same time – thus becomes a new point of contact between the (new) Rijeka and the (old) sea.