Visitors centre “The sands of Đurđevac”

Visitors centre “The sands of Đurđevac” thematizes the natural phenomenon of the unique desert habitat near the town of Đurđevac in Croatia. The formation of sands is the result of natural processes in the geological history of the Earth, which are presented in the Visitor center through architectural and scenographic discourse through the synergy of natural sciences, technology, design, illustration, scenography and architecture.

Diverse disciplines and the spatial logic of visitor movement are articulated at the level of the dramaturgical film tool: through the stage narrative and film plans. The overlapping density of Terry Gilliam's dystopian films and the minimalism of Kubrick's Odyssey creates an ambience that aims to inspire a wide range of visitors - from children to the scientific community. Gradual chronological progress through thematic spatial units from timelessness of space through the tectonics of the Earth's crust and the Pannonian Basin to the origin and life of sand and man's role in it, is told in the language of architecture and design.

The relationship between the natural and the artificial in the interior is a constant motive for the design of the exhibition. It has been embodied from the imaginary position of a benevolent observer who, from the distant future or indefinite timelessness, forms a kind of "cabinet of miracles" with artifacts that narrate the Earth's evolution and the richness of life. The role of this imaginary subject contains a component of subversion in the form of subliminal communication of the fragility and value of natural heritage and the need for its protection, both globally and locally, in one and only Croatian desert landscape.

Design effects lend themselves to focus the visitors’ interest to the fact that human nature is inextricably connected to the planet Earth, and even more broadly: to the universe. Dramaturgical narrative from total to detail is achieved in the final realization that "local" is "cosmic" – in the final scene of cathartic virtual contact of man and butterfly. The exhibition is ultimately a story about ourselves, the heirs of this planet, told by an imaginary cosmic storyteller.