Kokošvaroš, Chickenville
Creative direction Maša Vukmanović
Visual identity, signage, design and verbal communication Maša Vukmanović, Teo Drempetić Čonkić
Architecture Margita Grubiša, Marin Jelčić, Daniela Škarica, Ivana Žalac, Dorotea Klinčić (SKROZ)
Year 2017
Client Franja obrt
Photography Bosnić+Dorotić, Marko Mihaljević
Award Integrated project / product Award, Croatian Designers’ Association 17/18
The project represents the total architectural-design work on a farm intended for raising various breeds of chickens and chicken eggs based on ecological principles. It has been given the name Kokšvaroš (Eng. Chickenville) and the slogan ‘Eco home of happy chickens’. What makes this chicken farm special is that it has been designed to serve not only its primary purpose but also for tourist and educational purposes.
This ambivalent function, bringing visitors into the chicken coop, guided the idea of forming the chicken coop as a small settlement with all basic functions in the form of accommodation units, services, squares, streets, and public buildings.
The visual identity is based on the crest of the ‘town’, which displays stylized chicken eyes and beaks and four crests that represent the four ‘settlements’ into which Chickenville is actually divided.
A system of signage in the space has been designed: from signs approaching the ‘town’, as well as ‘town’ plates and wooden totems that bring content closer to visitors and contain a map of all ‘town’ objects, to signs of ‘town’ squares and ‘house numbers’. Various souvenirs have been designed, such as tote bags, T-shirts, flyers, egg packaging, magnets, cups, and in addition, the creation of the project website is underway.
Names have been added to spatial contents such as the ‘Main Cluckstation’ (‘Glavni Kokodvor’ in the source, referencing the real railway tracks located along the promenade), ‘Chick Boutique’ (a facility designated for a souvenir shop), ‘Chick Nursery’ (‘Pileći vrtić’, a facility where chicks grow), and ‘Golden Hen Square’ (‘Trg Zlatne Koke’, for which a large wooden ‘Monument to Mother Hen’ was designed for children-visitors to hide and crawl in for photos).
You reach Chickenville via ‘Corn Avenue’ (‘Avenijom Kukuruza’), and considering the various world chicken breeds there, there is also an ‘International Cluck College’ (‘Međunarodni Kokokoledž’). Hens lay chicks in the ‘Cluck Nursery’ (‘Kokorodilištu’), and at the ‘First Egg Square’ (‘Trg Prvog Jajeta’), the unveiling of the ‘Thrush’s Egg Monument’ is being prepared.
Chickenville opened its doors for the first time on World Egg Day in 2017, after the ‘Hen Mayor’ (‘Kokonačelnica’) allowed other species to visit this unusual ‘town’ without hindrance.
In addition to the town’s features, educational information related to, for example, the breed of chickens living in each facility, and a fun story about them, has been added to each of the facilities and ‘town districts’
