Zdenko Strižić (19 May 1902 – 1 November 1990) was a Croatian architect, urban planner and teacher.
Education
Strižić was the son of Dr. Miroslav and Irena pl. Strižić od Visnjevca and brother of Božidar, Jaroslav, Marcel and Ivan. He studied in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
(1921–3). In 1924, he went to Paris to study drawing and painting, creating views of the city and portraits of men and women. Tiring of the transient bohemian life of artistic Paris, in 1925 Strižić went to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, where he enrolled at the Academy. His teacher was the prominent German architect
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncerta ...
. Also during 1925, Strižić went on a short study tour of Venice, drawing
veduta
A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''.
Origins
This genre ...
s with characteristic Venetian motifs, some of which he was to translate into his architectural design. As a student he met and married a German-born textile designer (maiden name: Steiner), who was then studying sculpture, painting and craft in Berlin and who later contributed to Zdenko's practice. Their son Marko was born in 1928.
Architect
After finishing his studies, Strižić continued working for Poelzig's "Meisteratelier" as an assistant. Poelzig entrusted him with work on the
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
housing estate near Berlin in 1927. Given the influx of population into major cities in Germany after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, in the mid-1920s, German architects increasingly turned to a new formal repertoire of social housing, characterized by economisation and efficiency of construction techniques and new layout plans for apartments, settlements and cities. For this purpose, in 1927, architect
Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
, then head of the German Werkbund, brought together a team of eminent architects, including Poelzig and his studio. The assembled architects were tasked with jointly designing the
Weisendorf
Weisendorf is a municipality in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It belongs to the administrative region of Middle Franconia.
Geography
Weisendorf is located 15 km west of Erlangen.
Division of the town
Economy
Mos ...
neighborhood near
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
, a prototype of future housing estates, in addition to a large exhibition of different types of houses. Some of the Weisendorf experiences, particularly the replacement of artisanal methods of construction with new, industrial methods and the design of ambiences according to the requirements of a new way of life, influenced Strižić's work, so that he also began interior decoration of apartments, designing, with his wife's textiles, ensemble furniture integral to the design, a practice in the spirit of the fundamental principles of CIAM ( Congres Internationaux d 'Architecture Moderne).
Military service in Maribor briefly interrupted his collaboration with the Poelzig studio before, in 1928, he undertook, together with his mentor, a succession of projects for apartment houses (1929) on the Bülowplatz (now Luxemburgplatz), Berlin with a complex of seven apartment buildings with two hundred apartments and associated furniture; in collaboration with Josip Pičman, he participated in the Bacvice baths project and oversight of Firulo in
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
; the famous Babylon theatre/cinema (1929), Berlin; and a casino (1930) for I. G. Farbenindustrie,
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in collaboration with architect Hans Holzbauer.
Major award
Strižić achieved considerable success by winning his first international award (1930) for the Opera House, Kharkov (now
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Le Courbusier, Gropius, brothers Vesnin,
Max Taut
Max Taut (15 May 1884 – 26 February 1967) was a German architect of Prussian Lithuanian heritage.
Biography
Max Taut was born in Königsberg, the younger brother of Bruno Taut. He, his brother and Franz Hoffman formed Taut & Hoffman, an ar ...
and
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret (12 February 1874 – 25 February 1954) was a French architect and a pioneer of the architectural use of reinforced concrete. His major works include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the first Art Deco building in Paris; the C ...
among them. Strižić's project was awarded the first prize, ''ex aequo'' with Alfred Karsten and of a group of Russian architects called Kolektiv, bringing international renown for modem Croatian architecture.
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, who was then enforcing Soviet Realism, attacked the project in ''Pravda'' for displaying bourgeois tendencies.
Under the influence of modernist trends, in 1930 the city of Zagreb announced an international competition for supervision and tenders for the construction of a Jewish and Foundation Clinical Hospital. The project plan by Strizic was developed in cooperation with Hans Holzbauer in Berlin. From 1931 to 1933 Strižić operated his own practice in Berlin designing, with Franz Xaver Holzbauer (1900–52), several buildings in Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden. He was mainly involved in solving
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
issues, regulation of cities, city quarters, and historical city zones, as well as in designing residential houses in a series of projects including row houses in Zagreb for the
First Croatian Savings Bank
The First Croatian Savings Bank ( hr, Prva hrvatska štedionica, german: Erste kroatische Sparkasse) was a significant Croatian bank headquartered in Zagreb. The bank was founded in 1846 and liquidated in 1945.
It has been described as "the ...
estate in
Trešnjevka Trešnjevka is a neighborhood of Zagreb, Croatia. Forming one of the city's inner neighborhoods, it is located in the city's southwestern area. At approximately 15.67 km² in area and a population of slightly over 121,000, it is one of the most ...
, 1935. Strižić was engaged throughout this time in numerous urban-planning competitions (many unexecuted), including for Jelačić Square (1929), Zagreb; and for a beach development.
Imbued with the spirit of modernism, during the 1930s Zdenko Strižić turned to theoretical work, defining the role of architecture in urbanism, and its relation to the social community at large. By then renowned, Strižić, with a group of then-eminent Croatian architects, presented their understanding of local modernity in the book "Problems of Contemporary Architecture". Simultaneous with the book's release, a large exhibition of architecture was opened in the Art Pavilion in Zagreb, where most of the architects who collaborated on the book also exhibited.
At that time, Strižić's multi-storey residential building in Ribnjak was realised. Among his other projects from this period were the Pedagogical Academy in
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
and the crematorium building in
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
. Although Strižić had been active mainly in Zagreb since 1930, his permanent residence was until 1933 in Berlin.
That year, under pressure from the National Socialist regime, Strizic left Berlin. He worked in Sweden, which was by then exemplary in its application of functional modernism in residential developments. Strizic also drafted a project for a museum building in
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
.
At the end of the war, in 1946 Strižić was elected to the Faculty of Architecture of the then Technical College of Zagreb as a professor in the department of design (1946–1955), where he worked on the completion of the Susak-Rijeka bridge and the landscaping of its surroundings and design of the
Plitvice Lakes National Park
Plitvice Lakes National Park ( hr, Nacionalni park Plitvička jezera, colloquially ''Plitvice'', ) is one of the oldest and largest national parks in Croatia. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage lis ...
with projects for the hotel pavilion, restoration, bathing area and pier on the lake.
Photographer
In 1955 Strižić exhibited a collection of photographs of the traditional architecture of his beloved Zagreb, and published them in a limited-edition book of high-quality reproductions of them, ('Light and Shadows').
Escape from Yugoslavia
In 1955, Strižić escaped illegally from what was then
. A party of Australian architects had travelled through Yugoslavia, and one of them, David Saunders, a senior lecturer in architecture at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
who had stayed with Strizic's parents in 1952 carried a letter from Strižić's son, the photographer
Mark Strizic
Mark Strizic (Croatian sp.: Strižić) was a 20th-century German-born Australian photographer, teacher of photography, and artist. Best known for his architectural and industrial photography, he was also a portraitist of significant Australian ...
who had been in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
since 1950. The group sent an invitation to him to join the Melbourne faculty of architecture. He arranged to conduct students on a tour of Italy and left the party in charge of a colleague to join his wife in Germany. But despite being forced to leave, his work was uninterrupted. After emigrating, Strižić collaborated in Berin with Peter Poelzig, son of Hans Poelzig for a time, and at the beginning of 1956 he went to Australia.
Professor of architecture
After fleeing Yugoslavia, Strižić joined the faculty of the University of Melbourne (1956–1961),Alan Nicholls, 'Single units and tall buildings: Yugoslav architect brings us a new approach,' In ''The Age'' Saturday, January 11, 1958, p.2 writing a thesis, collaborating on many publications, and returned to designing. His project for the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
(1956–1962) was awarded the first prize in a major competition. In the late 1950s, Strizic taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, and later collaborated with the International Academy of Architecture and Town Planning at the UN. He was invited to
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
in the 1960s to establish a third design department at the university of the time and from 1962 on, he lectured at the High Technical School in Braunschweig. There, Strižić became interested in the current topic of airport architecture and planning, which he followed with some notable studies. In 1968, Strižić's book "Wohnbauten", the third sequel to previous books on architectural design, was published.
In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, Strižić produced notable projects; in 1967, in conjunction with the Schweitzer Atelier, he received the first award for the Brake-Niederweser School Centre, and in 1970 he was awarded the performance of the Kanzelerfeld Centre with over two hundred apartments. He published articles and reviews in the field of architecture and urban planning in, Croatian and foreign journals. He was lecturer and mentor of
Vjenceslav Richter
Vjenceslav Richter (; 8 April 1917 – 2 December 2002) was a Croatian architect. He was also known for his work in the fields of urbanism, sculpture, graphic arts, painting and stage design.
Career
In 1949, Richter graduated at the Department o ...
, influencing his respect for Bauhaus principles.
Zdenko Strižić died on 1 November 1990 in Braunschweig, where he was buried.
Publications
* Strižić, Zdenko (1947). 'Regulaciona osnova Zadra.' ''Arhitektura'', 1(1-2), 9-12.
*
* Strizic, Zdenko (January 1, 1953). Zadatci prostora: Odlomak iz knjige u pripremi: "Arhitektonsko projektovanje, 2. dio - Problemi stanovanja". ''Arhitekt'', 6-11. ('Tasks of Space: An excerpt from a book in preparation: "Architectural Design, Part 2 - Housing Problems."' ''The Architect'', 6-11.)
* Strizic, Zdenko. (1953). ''Der jugoslawische Nationalpark: die Seen von Plitvice und die touristischen Bauten''. W. Jegher & A. Ostertag.
*Strizic, Zdenko (1954) 'Der Architekt und das architektonische Erbe in Jugoslawien,' in ''Schweizerische Bauzeitung'', Vol.: 72 (1954) Issue 15, 1954
* Strizic, Zdenko (1955). . hotographs, with text in Serbocroatian, French, English and German. With a map. 222 pages. Zagreb
*
* Strizic, Zdenko (1965). ''Architekt und Fotografie''. (Place of publication unknown).
* Strizic, Z., & Braunschweig (Germany). (1966). Einfamilienhäuser. Braunschweig: Technische Hochschule.
*
* Strižíc, Z., Koschel, R., & Technische Hochschule Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig. (1967). Flugempfangsgebäude: Ein Forschungsbericht. Braunschweig: Technische Hochschule.
* Strizic, Z. (1978). Elemente und Ordnungsprinzipien der islamischen Stadtstruktur als konstiuierende Merkmale einer humanen Umwelt: Ein Forschungsbericht. Braunschweig.
*
Publications about
* Premerl, T. (1989.), ''Hrvatska moderna arhitektura između dva rata''. Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske, Zagreb (Premerl, T. (1989), Croatian Modern Architecture Between the Two Wars. Matica hrvatska Publishing House, Zagreb)
* Gjuro, S., Zdunić, D., Strižić, Z., Dabac, T., Kirin, V., & Petlevski, O. (1990). Stari Zagreb. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske.
* Radović Mahečić, D. (1993). Socijalno stanovanje međuratnog Zagreba. ''Radovi Instituta za povijest umjetnosti'', 2(17), 141–155.('Social housing in interwar Zagreb'. ''Papers of the Institute of Art History'')
* Laslo, A. (1995). 'Arhitektura modernog građanskog Zagreba.' ''Život umjetnosti'', 56(57), 58–71. (Laslo, A. (1995). 'Architecture of Modern Civic Zagreb.' ''Art Life'', 56 (57), 58–71.)
* Galović, K. (1997). Architect Zdenko Strižić—Project for the theatre in Harkov (1930). Peristil: zbornik radova za povijest umjetnosti, 40(1), 137–147.
* Lozić, V., Kuzmić, Z., & Strižić, Z. (January 1, 2004). Struktura, obris i sjena: Iz zbirke hrvatska fotografije Fotokluba Zagreb : Zdenko Stržić. Vijenac. ('Structure, outline and shadow: From the collection of Croatian Photography by the Zagreb Photo Club')
* Uchytil, Andrej (2008) Smjernice za studiranje hrvatske arhitekture 20. stoljeća : Arhitekti, II. dopunjeno izdanje. (Guidelines for Studying Croatian Architecture of 20th Century : Architects) Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Arhitektonski fakultet, Zagreb
*
Solo exhibitions
2004: ''Zdenko Strižić: Lights and Shadows'', Zagreb City Museum, Zagreb, Croatia