Centar Zamet

Three dimensional puzzle

In the Kvarner Bay, in the northwest of Croatia, lies the port city of Rijeka. The slope of this region is characterized by retaining walls piled up with boulders, the so-called Gromača, which are located between a rocky, steeply rising plateau and the Adriatic Sea.

Designed by 3LHD Architects, the Zamet Centre, with an area of more than 16,000 m², houses a sports hall, the local administration, a library, an underground car park and 13 rooms that can be used flexibly as bars, offices or commercial units.

The whole complex is covered by a sea of ceramic tiles in shades of beige and grey, with a colour scheme that is reminiscent of Gromača. Whether stairs, ramps, walls, roofs or the surfaces of the large square – all elements are tiled. To this end, some 51,000 pentagonal, 10 cm thick tiles designed by 3LHD and manufactured especially for the centre were assembled into hexagonal patterns and sometimes laid conventionally in a mortar bed, sometimes ventilated on an aluminium or steel construction. SYSTEA developed special frames for the ventilated structures, onto which the tiles were first glued in prefabrication. The resulting elements were then attached to the roof and facade surfaces on the construction site. Thanks to their special construction, all elements are revisable and thus allow easy access to the surfaces below.

Project details

  • Project: Zamet Centar
  • Place: Rijeka
  • Country: HRV
  • Building type: Sports + Culture + Recreation
  • Completion: 2009
  • SYSTEA profile system: ALWI-V special construction
  • Cladding material: Ceramics tiles 
  • Fixing: Concealed
  • Architect: 3LHD, Zagreb
  • Photos: Domagoj Blazevic; Systea GmbH

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