New City Stairs in Ploče

In one specific town, built during the 1960s and 1970s, many of the urban planners’ ideas remained unrealised.

In the 1987 master plan, precisely at the location of today’s new city steps, staircases were planned to connect two essential parts of the town – the administrative centre and the cultural, educational, and sports centre of the town. Following historical circumstances, the unrealised urban design concepts resulted in a lack of certain essential communication links in the town.

Just how essential this pedestrian link is for the city was best demonstrated by the very first site visit to the subject scope, which revealed a clearly visible mapped path formed by residents over years of forging through brushwood and macchia, showing in the most direct way possible where and how to place the new city steps.

In order to achieve the core concept of the project, two highly important guidelines were determined: 1. to achieve comfortable, natural movement and allow the flights to bend freely according to the demands of the terrain, and 2. to enable nature to partially reclaim the newly urbanised landscape. The first guideline was achieved by forming a series of stair flights (serpentines) that vary from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 8 steps, enhancing the feeling of a natural ascent up the slope, without the strictly rhythmed, straight-line movement usually encountered when climbing stairs that bridge such a large height difference. The second guideline was interpreted in such a way that, while respecting the existing pedestrian route, the stairs occupy the space by hovering above the ground, allowing the surroundings to pass through undisturbed, with minimal disruption to the existing Mediterranean landscape. The immediate environment remains natural and Mediterranean, with minimal interventions in the form of a laid rockery made from excavated stone.

In plan view, the stairs are placed within their own orthogonal system which, following the logic of the serpentines, rotates and positions itself from flight to flight at the most logical slope and at an angle that best fits the terrain. This creates various interrelationships of strictly orthogonal landings that overlap differently each time depending on the angle of the bend. Accents, bends, and eccentricities occur at the resting points, where the landings, placed at the appropriate height, occasionally assume the function of benches. On the upper part of the route, a larger landing is formed, intended for short breaks. In this section, a composition of several large-format slabs that can be used as benches has been placed. After the rest, the steeper part of the route begins, where additional verticals are added and the handrail assumes a protective function. At the very top of the route, a viewpoint is formed, which by its position provides an impressive view of the entire city centre.

The selected materials (precast concrete, steel) are robust and suitable for high-frequency and long-term use. The treads themselves are prefabricated and made of white cement, while the remaining elements of the handrail and waste bins were designed and executed in painted black metalwork. All joints were resolved on the underside of the precast elements, so the walking surface was achieved without redundant details and connections. The lighting poles, in their own loose arrangement, follow the route and emphasize the changes in the direction of movement and the stopping points. This very simple and highly “low-tech” urban space requires almost no maintenance except for occasional painting of the metalwork elements – handrails and waste bins.

Evidently exceptionally necessary for the residents of this city, the new city stairs in Ploče represent a small intervention in the public space of the urban tissue with a high frequency of use. The stairs have been extremely well received by the residents and have thus become an indispensable, fast link in the path of movement through the city.