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• Focus 11: Access Great Design
• Sleep Event, London: 24-25 November 2010
• REBEC: 21-22 June 2010
• Hospitality Architecture + Design Conference: Macau, June 2010
• Visit to Belgrade: 2-3 June 2010

Belgrade: 2-3 June 2010

Such was the significance of ReardonSmith's Porto Montenegro project to the entire Balkan region that the architectural team was invited to Belgrade to coincide with the near completion of part of the waterfront development and to speak at several events in the city. Patrick Reardon, Kirsten Goosen, Ross Blunt and Milica Pesut were truly fêted during the team's first trip in early June. Opportunities were graciously extended to them to meet regional business people, officials and press, to make presentations about ReardonSmith, our international work and Porto Montenegro, to join a panel of speakers previewing rebec, the Real Estate Balkan Exhibition and Conference scheduled for the end of June, and — for Patrick — to appear on prime time Serbian television.

One theme emerged during the visit — the value of employing a specialist architect to design a hotel or resort. For a start, specialist architects understand how hotel operators think which means that practices such as ReardonSmith can successfully design hotels even when the operator has not yet been appointed and, of course, they are in a place to introduce operators to a project, should that be needed. Specialist architects know the operators' individual brand standards, so, if the operator is on board, there is a shorthand to the design solution that the operator expects. Experience means that a specialist architect handles clients' budget wisely and well; it also means that the design is more likely to be right first time with the result that projects are delivered more quickly. In other words, it is often a myth that leading overseas architects are more expensive than local firms; in the full course of the project, in fact, it is quite likely to prove the other way around. Finally, specialist hotel and resort architects are used to working internationally so they will have the resources and expertise to handle long-distance communications and the relationships with other members of the project team.

Patrick took his audience through the chronology of ReardonSmith's work on Porto Montenegro:

The practice was appointed by the development company, Adriatic Marinas DOO, towards the end of 2007 following an international architectural competition. The task was to masterplan, design and realise not only a premier destination for superyachts and more modest craft, but a small town that would entice land-based holiday makers and local people to visit and, at the same time, provide a practical location for crews to make their home during the many months not at sea.

Key to ReardonSmith's success in winning this extraordinary project was the architectural team's interpretation of the massing of several historic towns in the region, cross-referenced with the principals of the 20th Century urban planner, Kevin Lynch. The masterplan concept respected both the local architectural vernacular and inheritance, but it also created something genuinely new and avoided pastiche.

As architectural planning got underway in early 2008, the bay was cleared of most of its decayed naval relics, although selected items were kept, cleaned and are now in storage awaiting a new future in the maritime museum or as an architectural feature in the town itself. The old yacht repair facility remains and will be converted in a later phase and one of the iconic dockyard cranes has been refurbished to stand astride the end of the main jetty. Since none of the other structures merited saving, they were razed to the ground with the stone and brick crushed to become aggregate and the timbers preserved for re-use. The new buildings have been constructed using a mix of local stone and render with roofing in terracotta and clay tiles.

The apartments that are being completed now range in size from studios to exclusive four-bedroom residences, many with large terraces looking out towards the Adriatic, and some with the luxury of their own private pools. A constant among all the apartment blocks in phase one is a large first-floor landscaped courtyard complete with a pool deck. These form private oases where residents can bask in the sunshine and enjoy the stunning views towards the marina, yet remain connected to their immediate locale thanks to the sounds from the narrow streets below. Shops, restaurants and cafes are scattered at considered intervals along the quayside in a progression designed to flow logically from the intimacy of residential zone to the vibe of the marina with its superyacht culture. The Porto Montenegro Yacht Club — the facility at the heart of this town for many of its visitors — is included in this first phase.

Concluding, Patrick said: "Porto Montenegro is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and significant projects on which we have had the privilege to work. It certainly provided a unique platform for us to demonstrate our abilities on a much wider scale than our usual projects and I am delighted to say that I think we rose to the challenge."