Dinko Kovačić arrow Nikola Polak: Please let me introduce myself
Please let me introduce myself

During an informal chat in a caffe, architect Perković, his colleague and friend, explicitly defined the key to the success of his last project. It is the departure from regionalism: "A large villa cannot imitate a small fisherman's house by its forms". The construction of a large structure on small piece of land, to which we are witnesses everyday along the coast, is avoided by modernism. He learned that this villa must not be restrained by regional ideas and, thus, he was able to test himself to the fullest.
Prostor za pijanstvo
This is timeless architecture seems to follow Kovačić into the classroom. At summer school on Brač one student asked him what he expects from them. He said: "Now your most important task is to have a good vacation..."
I am quite sure that Kovačić takes a rest before taking a pencil in his hand. This the reason his first priority is regionalism, then redefining modernism. The wisdom of such an attitude is realizing that an architect cannot just take a pen in hand and draw. He must first think about the project. Houses are not only drawings; they are someone's dreams.
Frano Gotovac, a famous Split architect, wrote: "Kovačić is a poet. His architecture is a symbol of his poetic soul; in fact, he confirms this orally and in writing as an author. This can be seen in the names he gives his projects, the details of his buildings and designs of micro-zones."

I would add that Kovačić's poetic soul is a mirror of his honesty. This was best described by a friend of mine, Bruno Queysan, a French theoretician of architecture:
"Architecture is not limited by time; it has nothing to do with the present; it is determined by "presence". One must give his maximum in that moment when this "presence".


Nikola Polak
April 2000.





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