158 159Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

Inherited, Testamentary

Željka Čorak

fotografije photographs by

portret portrait

¶ If the nineteenth century was a century which strived to remember, a great part of the efforts of the twentieth century was dedicated to the goal of how to forget. There was a no­tion (as happens to occur cyclically between evolution and revolution) that it was necessary to delete the old in order to build the new. Nevertheless, even in the most dogmatic phases of searching for the new, an awareness of the need for continuity survived; a kind of suppressed breathing of har mony which was repeatedly disputed and settled as se­diment during the centuries. The sensors of a high level of civilization have always reacted to this breath of harmony by joining in. To learn the lesson, analyze the existing, isolate the important, express anew. The art of inheriting is at the present time perhaps the most significant spiritual discipline, the one closest to the issue of survival. And this discipline has its predecessors. One of the protagonists of modernism in Croatian architecture in the twentieth century is just such a predecessor of creative memory. Villa Robić (Rosenberger) on the island of Korčula, the work of Drago Ibler from 1933, qualifies its author as a first­rate master of inheriting. Since the issue of inheriting here develops more between the buil­ding and context than within the building itself, it will be presented in accordance with this problem­oriented layer. ¶ Two versions of the villa were designed, and the second

Drago Ibler

Villa Robić, Korčula, Island of Korčula, Croatia, 1933

(DF)

arhitektiarchitects

¶ Ako je 19. stoljeće bilo stoljeće koje se trudilo kako zapamtiti, velik dio napora 20. stoljeća bio je posvećen cilju kako za­bo raviti. Mislilo se, kako se to već ciklički zbiva između evo­lucije i revolucije, da je nužno izbrisati ono staro kako bi se stvo rilo novo. Ali i u najdogmatičnijim fazama traženja novog preživljavala je svijest o potrebi kontinuiteta, neko suspreg­nuto disanje osporavanog, stoljećima nataloženog sklada. Senzori visoke civiliziranosti uvijek su na taj dah sklada rea­girali pridruživanjem. Naučiti lekciju, analizirati zatečeno, izlučiti bitno, iskazati iznova. Umijeće nasljeđivanja danas je mož da najznačajnija duhovna disciplina, ona koja je bliska problematici opstanka. I ta disciplina ima svoje prethodnike.

Vila Robić, Korčula, otok Korčula, Hrvatska, 1933.

Naslijeđeno, oporučeno

napisalawritten by

Damir Fabijanić (DF)Sandro Lendler (SL)ljubaznošću/ courtesy OAF Drago Ibler, HMA, HAZU

160 161oris, number 59, year 2009 Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

version was built. The difference between them occurred in contracting the layout, from a T­shaped plan to a rectangular one, with added outhouse. Drago Galić, already at that time Ibler’s constant collaborator, made the drawings and supervised the execution. Although Galić was always very reserved about acknowledging his role in Ibler’s projects, this role was not insignificant and it probably enhanced precisely sensitivity to the local and individual. ¶ Historical Mediterranean summer houses and architecture on the whole are characterized, to ge­neralize, by whiteness (of stone), clarity, readability, stereo­metry, and tension in rhythmical and volume relations. When

classical symmetry and balance are obvious on these, they are not the result of superficial demands of form, but suit the structure’s composition. Without regard to the clear se­paration of the respective domains of man and nature, of buil­ding and landscape, their contacts are materialized in a num­ber of nuanced relations. Also, the dwelling space is situated on both sides of the wall membrane, thus creating a small nucleus of urbanity out of every building. ¶ All these Drago Ibler applied to his villa on Korčula. It is elevated above the sea shore, like a sculpture on a pedestal: separated from the sea by two sets of stone steps; the hill on which it stands is

(SL)

oris, broj 59, godina 2009 Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

Jedan od protagonista modernizma u hrvatskoj arhitekturi 20. stoljeća upravo je takav prethodnik stvaralačkog pamćenja. Vila Robić (Rosenberger) na Korčuli, djelo arhitekta Drage Ible ra iz 1933. godine, kvalificira svoga autora kao vrhunskog majstora nasljeđivanja. Budući da se problem nasljeđivanja ovdje odvija između građevine i konteksta više nego unutar građevine same, po tom će problemskom sloju ona biti i preds­tavljena. ¶ Vila je projektirana u dvije varijante, a izvedena prema drugoj. Razlika među njima dogodila se u sažimanju tlocrta, od T­tlocrta do četverokuta s dodanim potezom gos podarskog trakta. Crtao ju je i nadzirao izvedbu Drago

162 163oris, number 59, year 2009 Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

sketch

1st floor plan

ground floor plan

west façade

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Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

skica Galić, tada već stalni Iblerov suradnik. Premda je Galić bio uvijek veoma suzdržan u priznavanju svoje uloge u Iblerovim projektima, ta uloga nije beznačajna, a vjerovatno je pojačala upravo osjetljivost za lokalno i pojedinačno. ¶ Povijesne me­di teranske ljetnikovce, i arhitekturu uopće, obilježava, da poop ćimo, bjelina (kamena), jasnoća, čitkost, stereometrija, napetost ritmičkih i volumenskih odnosa. Klasična simetrija i ravnoteža, kad se na njima očituju, nisu rezultati površinskih zahtjeva forme, nego odgovaraju komponiranju struktura. Bez obzira na jasnu razdiobu ovlasti čovjeka i prirode, građevine i krajolika, njihovi su dodiri ostvareni nizom nijansiranih od nosa. Prostor življenja nalazi se s obje strane opne zida stva rajući iz svakog zdanja malu jezgru urbanosti. ¶ Sve je to Dra go Ibler primijenio na svojoj korčulanskoj vili. Ona je uzdignuta nad more kao skulptura na postamentu: odijeljena je od mora dvjema kamenim stubama, a brežuljak na kojemu stoji obrubljen je kamenim stubištem čineći tlo obuzdanim i apstraktnim. Volumen zdanja zapravo je tanak, a oplošje ziđa prilično zatvoreno ili, da ponovim davni opis, vila je tanka poput slike, a otporna poput tvrđave. No premda zidovi štite od sunca i vrućine, a prozori služe da bi ciljali i uokvirivali vidik, tema rastvaranja postignuta je drugim motivom, motivom poluk ružno otvorene lođe. Taj tradicionalni lučni obris, kako

tlocrt kata

tlocrt prizemlja

zapadno pročelje

164 165oris, number 59, year 2009 Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

hemmed in by stone stairs, making the ground controlled and abstract. The building’s volume is actually thin while the walls’ surface is rather closed or, to repeat a very old description, the villa is slim as a picture and tough as a fortress. Although the walls give protection from the sun and heat, and the windows serve to direct and frame the vista, the theme of opening up was, however, achieved by another motif: that of a loggia, opened in semicircular shape. This traditional arched outline of loggias, as well as of boat storage, was executed in two­dimensional and three­dimensional variations, from the arch of the loggia to the half­cylinder of the terrace’s supporting structure, and all the way to the semicircular bend in the iron fence – because a tree has to grow. Furthermore, the staircase in the house’s interior that connects the ground floor and the first floor was built inside the half­cylinder that forms a kind of an apse in the living room. The relations of rectangle and circle – or more precisely, of semicircle – pure geometrical theme, projections of surface on volume and vice versa, all are like a music score. ¶ From heritage, Drago Ibler took the classic rectangular volume, a shallow gabled roof covered with half­round tiles, slatted window shutters, and white stone (which, to tell the truth, covers concrete and brick): one should no­ti ce the double ‘handwriting’ in the stone: the smooth, car­ved, rectangular stonework, and the rustic appearance (mo re similar to rubble) of the supporting masonry, rich in sha­dows. He was in line with heritage in terms of dimensions, outlines and materials. He aspired to almost ancient calmness and clarity. His composition of the façade, however, is anti­classical, asymmetric, dynamic, and results from the interior spatial division. He almost admitted nature into architecture, but he linked them by the same discipline. ¶ Among the techni cal details worth mentioning in relation to this building is the purifying of water with silver in the house’s reservoir. This silver, naturally, has met its ideological destiny. Also, Villa Robić (Rosenberger) is the first building with underfloor heating in the history of our architecture. ¶ By learning the lesson, analyzing the existing, isolating the important, and expressing anew, Drago Ilber affirmed the rights of landscape as cultural landscape; by his high stylization, he connected the local with universal, thus making his work a representative example of true modernism.

(SL)

(DF)

oris, broj 59, godina 2009 Drago Ibler, Vila Robić

lođa tako orsana, proveden je u dvodimenzionalnim i tro di­menzionalnim varijacijama, od luka lođe do poluvaljka pod­zidane terase, pa sve do polukružnog izmicanja željezne og­ra de – jer stablo mora rasti. I u unutrašnjosti kuće stubište koje spaja prizemlje s katom ugrađeno je u poluvaljak koji u boravišnoj prostoriji formira neku vrstu apside. Odnosi pra­vokuta i kruga, odnosno polukruga, čista geometrijska tema, projekcije plohe u volumen i obratno ponašaju se poput glaz­bene kompozicije. ¶ Od baštine je Drago Ibler preuzeo klasič ni kva dar volumena, plitki dvostrešni krov pokriven kupama, šku re na pro zorima, bijeli kamen (koji, istina, oblaže beton i ope ku): va lja primijetiti dvostruki ‘rukopis’ u kamenu, glatke, klesane kvadre ziđa i rustične, lomljencu bliže, sjenama bogatije ka­me nove podziđa. Uskladio se s baštinom u dimenzijama, obri­sima i materijalu. Težio je za gotovo antičkom smirenošću i jasnoćom. Njegova kompozicija pročelja, međutim, anti kla­sič na je, asimetrična, dinamična i proizlazi iz unutrašnje pros­torne razdiobe. Pripustio je prirodu gotovo u arhitekturu, ali ih je vezao istom disciplinom. ¶ Od tehničkih pojedinosti ko je u vezi s ovim zdanjem valja spomenuti je pročišćavanje vode u kućnom rezervoaru srebrom. To je srebro, dakako, do živ jelo svoju ideološku sudbinu. Vila Robić (Rosenberger) je, uz to, prva građevina s podnim grijanjem u povijesti naše arhitekture. ¶ Savladavši lekciju, raščlanivši zatečeno, izlučivši bitno, iskazavši iznova, Drago Ibler afirmirao je prava krajolika kao kulturnog krajolika; svojom visokom stilizacijom vezao je lokalno s univerzalnim učinivši svoje djelo reprezentativnim primjerom istinskog modernizma.