Podčetrtek Traffic Circle | ENOTA

The Podčetrtek Traffic Circle is built on a regional road located between the municipal sports hall with open-air sports grounds on one side and a spa centre with numerous swimming pools and hotels on the other side. It is primarily intended to slow down the traffic in this consequently very busy area as the main accesses to both complexes also connect to the traffic circle. The design of the roundabout's central island thus references the appearance of both facilities and marks the entrance points to the destinations of the visitors to either of the programme centers. The large, dark concrete blocks allude to the design the monolithic volume of the sports hall. The play of light on the irregular arrangement of the elements forms a composition of surfaces, which corresponds to the expression of the hall's folded volume. The layout of the inner part of the roundabout as a whole suggests a tectonic shift somewhere beneath the Earth's surface having caused the road surface to bloat and belched out the massive blocks. In combination with the water, which sporadically rises to the surface between the clefts, it is somewhat reminiscent of geyser-strewn basalt strata, its appearance thus also evoking the spa complex.