Idis Turato (1965) is a Croatian architect, born in 1965 in Rijeka, Croatia.
He graduated in 1991 from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb. In 2004 he received his master’s degree from the same Faculty, completing his built heritage graduate studies. In 2012 he earned his PhD with a thesis entitled “The architecture of prefabricated elements – a design method combining and adapting previously prepared elements and fragments”.
In 1992, together with Saša Randić, he co-founded a Randić Turato architecture office. In 2009 he started his own practice, Arhitektonski biro Turato. He lives and works in Rijeka. He teaches in Split, at the FGAG’s School of Architecture, and is a guest professor at both the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb and the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade.
Among numerous architecture awards, he won the Viktor Kovačić Award three times so far; first in 2003 (Faculty of Engineering extension, Rijeka), then in 2008 (Pope John Paul II Hall, Trsat) and in 2009 (Katarina Frankopan Kindergarten, Krk). The Award is given to the best architectural project of the year and is awarded by the Croatian Architects’ Association (CAA). This year he has been nominated for the same Award once more, for his Sports Hall and Public Square in Krk.
In 2005, Croatian Ministry of Culture awarded him the annual Vladimir Nazor Award for his Fran Krsto Frankopan Elementary School project in Krk. The prize is given to the very best works of art in general. He was awarded the international “Piranesi Award” for the same school as well.
Four times he was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award, together with 40 other best European built architecture projects; in 2007, for his Fran Krsto Frankopan Elementary School in Krk (Randic Turato), in 2011, for his Katarina Frankopan Kindergarten, also in Krk (Randic Turato) and then in 2015 for two projects, Sports hall and square in Krk and Villa Gumno on Krk. In 2012 he received the CAA’s Drago Galić Award for his Nest and Cave House in Volosko, near Opatija, in the best residential architecture category.
The Randić Turato office projects and their respective histories were gathered in a monograph published by Arhitekst in 2000, entitled “Randić-Turato – The Architecture of Transition”. In 2006, together with Saša Randić, Idis Turato was representing Croatia at the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale with a project “In Between”. In 2010, in collaboration with fifteen other Croatian architects, Idis Turato represented Croatia once more, at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale with a project “Pavilion”.
For the past three years, on his blog idisturato.com, Idis Turato has been publishing weekly – his articles, reviews and thoughts on space and inspiration.
Selected built works
• Gumno Family House (2014)
• Sports Hall and Public Square, Krk (2014)
• The Thalassotherapia Pavilion, Crikvenica (2013)
• The Nest and Cave Family House, Volosko (2012)
• Veli Vrh Elementary School, Pula (2010)
• The Katarina Frankopan Kindergarten, Krk (2009)
• The Pope John Paul II Hall, Trsat, Rijeka (2008)
• Mixed-use Building in Agatićeva Street (2008)
• The Zagred Center, Rijeka (2007)
• Novigrad Lapidarium, Novigrad (2006)
• Fran Krsto Frankopan Elementary School, Krk (2005)
• Restaurant Mandrać, Volosko (2004)
• Faculty of Engineering Extension, Rijeka (2003)
• Adriatic Highway Pedestrian Bridge, Rijeka (1998)