PHOTOS: New Zadar Airport presented

(Photo: Zadar Society of Architects)

ZADAR, 12 December 2019 – After recent upgrades to airports in Dubrovnik and Split, Zadar Airport will be the latest in Croatia to undergo major development. 

The airport will undergo a €70 million upgrade, which will include reconstruction and upgrading of the passenger terminal building. 

This week, the conceptual design of the new Zadar Airport was presented to the public. The design, created by architect Ante Kuzmanic and his team, was selected from a competition organised by the Zadar Society of Architects. 

(Photo: Zadar Society of Architects)

“What most inspired us was the pine forest through which the airport is accessed and the landscape of Ravni Kotari. We felt that there should be no steps that would spoil that landscape. In this way, with the roof, we practically pulled in the nature with the detail of the pillars, and at the same time maintained the connection with the glass towards nature,” Kuzmanic said. 

Zadar Airport director Josip Klišmanic said: “I am extremely pleased, the winning design is such that it will allow us many years of development, and provides us with the modularity of the building as one unit at all times and, after its full construction, also gives the possibility of further expansion while maintaining the unique construction.”

(Photo: Zadar Society of Architects)

The conceptual design, which can be viewed at the Museum of Ancient Glass in Zadar along with the other submissions, allows construction in phases that will not interfere with the operation of the airport – which was one of the main conditions. The first phase is set to start in 2020.

(Photo: Zadar Society of Architects)

“The strength of the (winning) design is that it somehow has a ‘homely feel’ because the giant waiting areas look almost like living rooms, there are light pillars in which bamboo, trees, and lavender grow, which also contributes to the feeling that you are not in some barracks or container of some kind,  but that you are in a living room,” said architect Goran Rako, who was on the panel of judges for the competition to find the winning design.  

(Photo: Zadar Society of Architects)

Petar Kozina, president of the Zadar Society of Architects and organiser of the competition added: “This is certainly one of the most challenging projects that we have worked on, because when we look at the types of content we can design for the airport, along with the fact that we are becoming a Schengen border, there are so many conditions that you have to satisfy, there are so many roads that intersect, that’s why teams of people worked on this.”