The Dinamo Stadium – Ill-reputed in Croatia, Acknowledged Abroad?
The events surrounding the stadium in Maksimir, as we are all well aware of, are one long irrational story with no easy solution in sight, the end result it being scoffed at as a sports disgrace with an international reputation. A bad reputation, of course. The one-time harmonious stadium designed by the architect Vladimir Turina started going progressively downhill when additional adaptations were initiated thirteen years ago, and left unfinished to this day. “Experimenting” with various alterations of the stadium had started even sooner, before the 1987 Zagreb Universiade. It’s important to note that the Dinamo Stadium has been under precautionary protection since 1985, but that hasn’t stopped the city authorities from starting with the project of remodeling which was undertaken by the architects Branko Kincl and Nikola Filipović in the second half of the nineties. In doing so, one of the most important and internationally acclaimed realization of Croatian sports architecture has been completely altered. That investment cost the citizens no less than 500 million HRK, while the stadium is nevertheless nowhere near completion.
Branko Kincl gave an interview to Globus entitled “Go Ahead, Tear My Stadium in Maksimir Down”, where he commented on the events surrounding his or Turina’s stadium in Maksimir. Kincl, among other statements, says in the interview: “The protection of the existing facility which was built by my professor, Vladimir Turina, was wrong from the get-go. Namely, Turina proceeded with alterations on a fairly frequent basis. The memory of the old stadium should have been upheld or a part of it should have been preserved as a monument to architecture of the 60’s. Today everyone is tearing down existing and building new stadiums”. Kincl considers the stadium’s biggest misfortune that “society has incomprehensibly pounced upon that particular stadium”. “The biggest misfortune is when a single facility becomes the item of collective hysteria, thus everyone has their own idea and feels free to offer their opinions and suggestions”, says Kincl.
As opposed to the general, and even expert opinions in Croatia, Kincl says that his and Filipović’s design of the stadium is recognized abroad and internationally acknowledged through professional reviews and being published in professional journals, as well as being displayed at two world exhibits, along with receiving a series of positive reviews. Kincl says that the stadium would have already been completed by now had we passed the Euro 2012 nominations. However, he confirms that it doesn’t meet the prescribed requirements for the velocity of loading and draining, as well as earthquake-proof prerequisites, namely, the east, south and west bleachers in particular.
The reasons due to which the stadium has become dangerous in the first place – a fresh reminder being the stairwell wall ceramic coating which fell on workers – is found within the fact that the bleachers aren’t covered. “Today ceramic tiles are falling, tomorrow it’ll be something else, what building can last an infinite number of years without a roof”, rhetorically wonders Kincl.
As a side note, Branko Kincl is preparing a major exhibition of his works this June at the Graphics Art Cabinet of the Croatian Academy od Science and Arts, among which are the Kaptol Center, the Jabukovac Tennis Courts, Presidential Residence Entrance and Galleries, renovation of the Kulmer Castle and others.
