Book Description

Opening a long-closed window into the 1960s Communist Eastern Bloc, Motel Trogir explores the history and planning culture that produced a modernist utopian architecture in Yugoslavia. Conceived and built in 1965 by renowned architect Ivan Viti during a period of increased transit tourism, the motel stands by a highway on the Dalmatian coast. A fine example of 20th-century modernism, the motel is in a derelict state today due to unresolved property issues, and stands as a reminder of the former political economy. In 2013, to help rescue the buildings from development, Loose Associations, an association for contemporary artistic practices, argued for protection of the motel as a valuable architectural work. In this modest publication, ample historical images and informative texts tell the story of 1960s socialist Yugoslavia, its tourist architecture and planning as reflected in Vitic's Adriatic motels, and the turbulent decades that have followed as the architectural culture is caught between the socialist agenda and market forces.