LANDSCAPE DESIGN CASE STUDY

In 1991, Croatia was a war zone where many lives ended and others were altered forever. Now
those events are remembered through the great works of photographers, some of whom also fell
victim to the war. One of them was Gordan Lederer, who was recently honored with an eerie
sculpture on the hill where he was gunned down by a sniper.

On top of Čukur hill in Banovina, Croatia now stands a huge lens, cracked by a bullet hole in the
middle. 33 concrete steps lead to it, which represent frames of a film as well as every year of the
photographer’s life up to the very point when it was suddenly ended right on the same hill, where
the photographer took his last shots.

The memorial to Gordan Lederer and all other photographers and cameramen who were killed
during the Croatian War of Independence was designed by Croatian architecture firm NFO.

Gordan Lederer was killed on 10th of August 1991. by a sniper shot while filming on Čukur hill in
Bania region in Croatia. The public competition for Gordan Lederer Memorial was announced in
2014 by Croatian Radiotelevision - HRT as part of a plan to mark all the locations where HRT
cameramans and photogaphers were killed during the war in Croatia in the 90's. Competition was
won by NFO architecture studio and sculptor Petar Barišić with a proposal called 'Broken
Landscape''. The memorial was unveiled in august 2015 on the 24th anniversary of Lederer's death.

From the very start it was clear that the base of the project was already given by Lederer himself
selecting the location for his final session. The challenge of the location, Čukur hill, which offers
amazing view of the Una river valley, became the starting point of all concepts, more or less
successful. Discussions and sketches that have marked most of the creative process led to the
concept that eventually remained clean and striped of unnecessary layers of meaning or
expressiveness but still with opportunity for individual interpretations.

Memorial ‘’Broken Landscape’’ consists of access path and a broken camera lens. The path, designed
as a pathway of Lederer’s life, is encrypted in the concrete slabs laid on the grass. Coding is
performed in such a way that the concrete slabs are ‘’chained’’ in black steel frames, each engraved
with the year of Lederer's life in negative as an interpretation of film frames. The path goes tensely
through natural terrain leading to the last slab, a memorial plateu, without a number, representing
the year of his death. Bench on the memorial plateu is reduced to the maximum and is really just a
part of the path that gently raises from the ground indicating the end of the path and a final view in
real and figurative sens. Through the text placed on the memorial plateu: ‘’ ... now that August
mornings are peaceful and at ease, a bright melancholy in Gordan Lederer's eyes beams through the
dawns of Banija...’’ visitor enters the contemplation and observes the Lens.

The Lens alone, thrown in the grass in front of the plateau directs visitors view to the valley looking
at "the last shots" that Gordan Lederer took. The glass membrane pierced with a shot from a sniper,
stops visitors glance for a moment and confronts them with the reality of events on that location. In
the same time perfect stainless steel circle suggests the continuity of life, framing view of the same
landscape filmed 24 years ago at the same place. Viewed from the River Una Valley, Memorial is
dematerialized as a sun glint reflected on the broken lens surface.
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Project is nominated for European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe
Award 2017!

MATERIAL AND DESIGN

The access path consists of concrete slabs, framed with black steel frames laid on the grass. Each
slab is engraved with the year of Gordan Lederer life. Lense itself, placed 10 m from the memorial
plato is made out of three layers of laminated safety glass, in total 4 cm thick. The middle one was
pierced by a sniper shot with the outer glass layers holding it together. Lense frame is made out of
stainless steel ring (74x59 cm) wiht outer diameter 4,4 m. Lense is placed on the grass with total
height of 4 m.
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"Woman of the Millennium"

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Nehru (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984)

She was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress.She was the 3rd
prime minister of India and was also the first and, to date, only female prime minister of India. Indira
Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the 1st prime minister of India.

she was very brief when it came to speaking , but her actions were quite wordy.

Indira Gandhi's multifaceted personalies : a strong willed personality, power driven , great visionary,
nationalist, truly secular, farsighted and brave leader.

She was not only as a politicians but an obedient daughter, responsible mother, great visionary,
sensitive mother, nationalist, a strong willed personality, Durga for enemies and a fountainhead of
compassion for people, truly secular.She was a petite virago, whose identity was defined by power
and lineage rather than by gender.

Main study

Indira’s personalities throughout her life :

- As a child she hardly knew the difference between being a boy or a girl as she was brought
up amongst boy cousins , she was a “biform human being” combination of both man and
woman, and the man in her personality was more dominant than her feminine nurturing
side.
- As a daughter : Caring and concerned, truly an obedient daughter.
- Indira in her youth was radiant with good health and energetic ,driven and eager to claim
her place in the political sun.
- As a mother, she was loving and affectionate who never missed her motherly duties towards
her sons or grandchildren.
- As prime minister , she was assertive , formidable , headstrong and steadfast.

The fountain should depict her :

- Biform nature
- Drive , en ergy
- caring and loving nature
- Assertiveness, headstrong nature

The sculpture should show her as :

- Female warrior
- Brave
- Powerful
- Unwavering nationalist
- Truly secular
- Visionary
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Why the site ?

Why water ?

The fluidity and in Indira’s personality can best be depicted by a fluid material , hence the use of
water .