Slumbering Concrete

The episode "Brief Encounters Along the Adriatic Highway" takes us on a road trip along the route that has drastically changed the life on the Croatian coast, and become part of collective memory for many tourists. Along the way, we stop at motels and other overnight rest stops, paying special attention to the architecture of Ivan Vitic. His elegant and modern architecture has been left to decay.

We explore the possibilities of revitalising a mysterious building of unusual beauty in the small town of Krvavica, near Makarska. The building cannot be found in any urban development plans nor land registers; it was built by the Yugoslav People's Army as a place to treat children suffering from pulmonary diseases. At the initiative of architects, it was granted the permanent status of a protected monument, which was resisted by the local authorities. Today it stands abandoned, dilapidated, and looted, while the State Property Management Office is still at a loss what to do with this priceless building.

We deal with the phenomenon of mass tourism and mega-structures, huge city-like buildings whose accommodation capacities often surpassed the population count of the historic settlements where they were built. The designs of these hotels teach us about the ideas of modernism, planned development of the Adriatic coast, and the ways of achieving balance between economic growth and the preservation of existing values, between mass tourism and the lives of local residents.