Affordable Utopias

Hrvoje Njiric completed his studies in architecture at the Architectural Faculty at the University of Zabreb in Croatia. From 1990 to 2001, he was a partner in the provocative young practice njiric+njiric arhitekti. Since 2001, he has been the principal of njiric+ arhitekti, and has grown to become one of the most prominent architects in Europe, where he has won numerous competitions and awards.

Njiric’s projects are inspired by what he sees as the necessity to tackle a variety of issues and to push them to the limits. He feels that architecture firms should be as open as possible to different projects and opportunities, and believes it is vital for architects to promote and protect public space.

Njiric’s recent housing designs are inspired by critiques of the overproduction of dwellings in post-war Croatia. His firm has also investigated the typologies of public buildings such as schools and libraries — a process that has led to new design ideas which may soon be realized for the city library in Rijeka, the law faculty in Split, and the university library in Zadar. 

But it is visionary projects that question the constraints of current architectural production that Njiric sees as the most essential part of his practice. He advises young architects to “go beyond stereotypes, patterns and typologies that exist within architectural manuals, developer's portfolios, tourist guides, government's laws,” arguing that a radical examination of present-day conditions are necessary in order to create a morally diverse framework for action.

Njiric has been engaged in teaching since the mid 90's. He has served as a full-time professor at the TU Graz, the GAF Split, and ETSAM Madrid. He has been a guest professor in schools such as Ljubljana, Ferrara, Aarhus, and Trieste, and a visiting critic at the HAB Weimar, the ETSAB Barcelona, the TU Wien, the AA School of Architecture London, ETH Zurich, the Strathclyde University of Glasgow, Politecnico di Milano, the Southeast University of Nanjing, and the the University of Calgary. Njiric has also been a unit master of various international workshops and lectured in many cities worldwide.