Written in stone

Rehabilitation of quarries on island Brač is an unprecedented case. The search for the solution starts with researching the problem. The island. The industry. The Death and Life of the Great Brač quarries. After discovering there are more than 20 active and 15 abandoned quarries it became clear that it is necessary to develop a strategy for a sustainable transition of these industrial landscapes. Perhaps starting from more simple interventions, we could give the society a chance to see their potential. Meanwhile, aspiring to make them representative epicenters of the island's identity.

Considering that the problem I was facing wasn't an isolated case but rather a complete social negligence of industrial archaeology - three different quarries have been carefully selected for further developing plans of their rehabilitation. Complexity and built volume increases with each quarry in order to prove how adaptable these places are for different programs and ambitions. Zečevo - an "active" quarry, demonstrates how certain quarries are already on their own places of extraordinary ambient with great acoustics and could be used as occasional or permanent stages for certain events. Žaganj Dolac – an inactive quarry of unique stone, where the work has temporarily stopped while the decision is reached whether it will continue working or will they turn its surroundings into a tourist zone. I propose we can have both. Industry and tourism. Very neatly intertwined in time and space. Bobovišća- an abandoned quarry on the south slope of the deep bay area. With its unique shell-like shape it offers a chance to absorb a big program on which the island's economy depends, while creating spaces for the local community. The main approach to their rehabilitation is sought in the appreciation of the found void. In every example, carefully imagined architectural framework aims to outline the existing spatial qualities of these extraordinary places. Sometimes we don't have to design a space ourselves, but rather recognize that it already exists. I believe that recognizing existing patterns as well as seeking answers in their sustainable reinterpretation is the hallmark of the 21st century. Especially if its a space that is today a living witness to the fulfillment of its purpose. A space which that same initial purpose has now left as a legacy to the people it nurtured.