Modern and contemporary Slovene architecture
The period from 1955-1960 is often considered a turning point for Slovene architecture, with the emergence of a new generation of Slovene architects under the leadership of Edvard Ravnikar (1907-1993), a pupil of Plečnik who went to Paris after graduating from the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana. There he worked at Le Corbusier’s office in 1939 before returning to Slovenia with new ideas about the concept of architectural space. In a country which was then making the transformation from a communist to a consumer society, new types of architecture were required, ranging from office buildings and shopping centres to large-scale residential areas and holiday resorts.
Ravnikar was a professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, a member of the Yugoslavian and Slovene Academies of Sciences and Arts, and an intellectual. Whereas Plečnik's teaching methodology was based on a traditional professor/student hierarchy, Ravnikar's was based on scientific research (analysis and synthesis). Under Ravnikar's leadership a new generation of Slovene architects emerged, organising architectural conferences, exhibitions and public competitions and developing the infrastructure of the sector.
Along with Edvard Ravnikar, the so-called 'second pillar' of the Ljubljana Faculty of Architecture was Edo Mihevc and his students. In 1980 both were retired by a 'political decree'; however, they were later reinstated as professors
emeriti.
Another noteworthy colleague of Ravnikar under Plečnik was Danilo Fürst, an exceptional architect whose passion for engineering was manifested in his inventions, architectural details and construction solutions. He and Plečnik shared mutual student-teacher appreciation. In 1937 Fürst began working as a municipal architect at Bled, and after 1947 he constructed many buildings, ranging from factories to schools, across Yugoslavia.
During the 1960s the common aesthetic, led by Ravnikar, was characterised by an attempt to synthesise human needs, architectural technique and natural forms. The architecture of this period has been referred to as the 'architecture of the diagonal', since triangular and hexagonal forms – geometric versions of forms observed in the topography and geology of the local landscape – became something of a fashion at this time. Perhaps the greatest project from this time, designed by Edvard Ravnikar himself, was Republic Square in Ljubljana, featuring two triangular skyscrapers which symbolise the geographical location of Ljubljana at the crossroads of eastern and western cultures and also between the northern (Germanic) and southern (Mediterranean) worlds. Ravnikar was also constructing new urbanism in Nova Gorica, laying the 'modernist foundations' of Slovene architecture.
The first generation of Ravnikar's students - who considering their age were more like his junior contemporaries - marked their projects at the time of the intermingling of modernist and functionalist principles with their own expressions and interventions. The designers of the most prominent projects, who can be compared to their contemporaries elsewhere in modernist Europe, included Savin Sever, Oton Jugovec, Stanko Kristl, Milan Mihelič, Ilja Arnautovič and Miloš Bonča. The architecture of this generation was best described in the preface to Savin Sever's monograph by Aleš Vodopivec. All architecture was based on a concept (a solution), while the final shape relied on construction. Consequently, the final form was never inferable, but a result of a carefully-elaborated idea and logical construction. The focus was on the ability to design space and its expressiveness - more precisely, on a technique based on unifying the functional design of a space, the construction and the expressive potential of a building. It is this unity that introduces poetics into construction and thus transposes architecture into the domain of art. Logical construction defining the concept of a building and its architectural expressiveness underlines Ravnikar's school, which peaked in the 1960s through the work of its most esteemed graduates.
Savin Sever is the single most prominent figure of the 1960s, having become a milestone in Slovene architecture. At that time, all the key buildings had been built: schools, kindergartens, hospitals, residential homes, factories, power plants, representative public buildings, banks, bridges, roads – in fact, everything that a modern society needs. This period also saw the construction of public infrastructure, which had been destroyed during the war, or new infrastructure to meet the requirements of a new system, but it should be stressed that Slovene architecture of this period followed modernist Western European examples rather than the East European Socialist maxim (Socialist Realism), credit for which may be attributed to Edvard Ravnikar and his school.
Subsequent students of Ravnikar included Marko Mušič, Branko Kocmut, Borut Pečenko, Janez Lajovic, Peter Gabrijelčič, Vojteh Ravnikar (member of Skupina Kras, founder of
Piran Days of Architecture in 1982), Jurij Kobe, Bogdan Reichenberg, Janez Koželj, Aleš Vodopivec, Janko Zadravec, and Andrej Hrausky (Director of
DESSA Architecture Centre and Association). This is the generation of the
Architects' Bulletin (ab), first published in 1972 with Janez Koželj as editor, who stepped into the shoes of their professors in 1980s.
From the late 1970s through the 1980s Slovene architecture was influenced by the Kras Group of Sežana, which practiced a modern Venetian style of architecture. One of its leading lights was Vojteh Ravnikar, whose design for Sežana Town Hall (1980) heralded the arrival of post-modernism. Ravnikar has since emerged as one of Slovenia's leading architects, designing other important buildings in Slovenia's coastal region, among them the Piran Hotel, the
Meduza 2 Gallery, Piran, Perla-Privee Casino and the
Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Nova Gorica. Ravnikar has received a number of awards, among them the 1987 Plečnik Award, the national prize for outstanding achievement in architecture. He founded
Ravnikar-Potokar Architecture Bureau in 2003.
In the immediate post-independence period a new generation of young architects emerged in Slovenia, known as the 'Six Pack' following the touring exhibition of that name which showcased the work of six Slovene architects' studios -
Bevk-Perovič Arhitekti,
Dekleva-Gregorič Arhitekti,
Elastik Architecture (Mika Cimolini, Igor Kebel),
Maechtig-Vrhunc Arhitekti,
Ofis Arhitekti (Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik) and
Sadar-Vuga Arhitekti - in London and Chicago and at the Berlin exhibition 'Building Site Slovenia'. All trained overseas at prominent international architectural institutions such as the at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London or at UCLA in the United States of America, the 'Six Pack' architects had returned to Slovenia to take the somewhat complacent Slovene architectural scene by surprise, winning several important competitions. The 'Six Pack' has linked Slovene architecture with the global scene, concepts of temporal dimensions, and how to think, feel, hear, smell, touch and see architecture. Relatively young architects aroused great interest among their peers abroad and gave Slovenia the (somewhat exaggerated) reputation as a country of great opportunity for young architects. Since that time several members of the 'Six Pack' generation, including Jurij Sadar (b 1963), Tadej Glažar (b 1964), Vasa Perovič (b 1965), Boštjan Vuga (b 1966), Matija Bevk (b 1972), Aljoša Dekleva (b 1972) and Tina Gregorič (b 1974) have won awards overseas, followed by considerable media coverage.
An even younger generation is now emerging hot on their heels. Apart the housing in Portorož by AA Kultura, the projects that have been implemented to date by this youthful group are so far limited to interiors (
AKSL Arhitekti) and small urban interventions (
ProstoRož - FlowerSpace Association). But in comparison to the previous generation, a deep sense of cultural responsibility can be sensed in their work. They consider what they do not as architecture alone but as activity within a broader cultural context.
Where Slovene architectural theory is concerned, the book Iz arhitekture ('From Architecture', 1987) by Aleš Vodopivec and Janez Koželj proved a turning point. The same period saw the publication of three other important works: Oikos in drugo: O Loosu in Wittgensteinu ('Oikos and Other. On Loos and Wittgenstein') by architect Janko Zlodre; Risarji: učenjaki: Ideologije v urbanizmu in arhitekturi ('Drawers: Scholars: Ideologies in Urbanism and Architecture') by Braco Rotar; and Urbanizem, družbeni konflikti, planiranje! ('Urbanism, Social Conflicts, Planning!') by urban sociologist Pavle Gantar. In the decade 1985-1995, a period which saw the production of many theoretical texts, architecture finally lost the 'consistent focus and recognisable identity' of the Slovene modernist tradition. As written by Tadej Glažar and Tina Gregorič in the catalogue Razširjeni prostori umetnosti ('Extended Spaces of Art'), the limited number of realisations of architectural designs and of high-quality original architecture point to a new plurality of architectural expression, which could be defined with the following concepts: critical regionalism: a reference to a landmark theoretical work by Kenneth Frampton; renovation: a new assessment of the history of architecture and consequently new approaches to renovation; interpolations and square designs: returning to the city following the example of IBA (Internationale Bauausstelung), Berlin; city infrastructure; public spaces and emphasis on the significance of city urban life; and urban strategies and technological architecture. The first to study the history of contemporary Slovene architecture was Stane Bernik, while Metka Dolenec Šoba focused on individual segments of history and defined them in greater detail. Nataša Koselj and Petra Čeferin examined the theory of architecture, and Bogo Zupančič studied the history of building and its inhabitants.
The youngest generation of architects continues to have an interest in theory. Headed by Miha Dešman, the current editor of
Architects' Bulletin (ab), they face the challenges of a society in transition, as in addition to reflecting society and its own position, theory should provide practical support to architects. The greatest architectural achievements from 2004 to 2006 were presented in ab's issue No 189/172 from November 2006, where the selectors, Uroš Lobnik and Miha Dešman wrote: ‘Currently, Slovene architecture focuses on form more than ever before, and disregards the content or leaves it to others. In fact, the client determines the content, which has always been the case; however, the content was socially responsible and the architect was its designer, presenter and doer.’ Contemporary Slovene architecture is extremely individualistic and creates artefacts without considering the context of space. Theoreticians and practitioners Petra Čeferin, Igor Kebel, Špela Hudnik, Maja Vardjan, Nande Korpnik, Uroš Lobnik, Tadej Glažar, Matevž Čelik and a wide circle gathered around the
Trajekt Institution for Urban Culture website creates a new story of Slovene architecture together with ab magazine. Most of them have completed their postgraduate studies abroad. This generation is establishing an international network which has begun to build 'virtual architecture' enabled by computer virtuality, working in virtual all-present studios.
The most important support organisations in the field of architecture are the
Architects' Society of Ljubljana (DAL), the ab publisher, and
Trajekt. The greatest national award for the arts, the Prešeren Fund Award, along with more specialised awards such as the Plečnik and Piranesi Awards, have in the last five years been conferred on representatives of the youngest generation. For the time being the Slovenia Cultural Profile database of
Architecture studios covers primarily the younger generation of Slovene architects.
