Beach and Recreational area of the Sumartin Bay, Dubrovnik

The area of the coastal strip of the Sumartin Bay on the Lapad Peninsula, one of a few areas preserved as public beaches in the city of Dubrovnik, was considered in a stratified manner: an endeavour was made to create within the area a suitable and stimulating public space, formed and programmed in both the narrow and the wider context, taking into account its cultural, historical and horticultural importance. This topographically demanding terrain which has been developed partially and in an unplanned manner over the years has turned into a series of unconnected and undefined zones. Thus, the need to establish an integral zone and continuous pedestrian area was defined as the basic idea of the proposed solution.

At the same time, the need has been recognized to establish different regimes of the utilisation of space, such as – in season vs. out of season regimes, and also to define a different character of the formed spatial units. The preservation of autochthonous vegetation has been set as a priority, and new construction has been reduced to the minimum: redevelopment and adaptation of the existing facilities (half-buried storages at the eastern edge of the lot and the changing rooms and showers facility by the sea). The tearing down of the inappropriately positioned and low quality existing restaurant building at the beach has been envisaged with the aim to augment the beach area and better connect spatial units into a whole.