Apartment on Velika čolnarska Street, Ljubljana

Designing the interior of a dwelling in a modern existing building is a relatively thankless, yet extremely challenging task for architects. We are confronted with another architect’s spatial design, which needs to be recognised and understood. We can continue, build on or even negate it with our work. All three require, above all, that we understand the baseline situation in its entirety and in all the potentials that our fellow architects have set out to achieve with their work.

The project of furnishing an apartment on Čolnarska Street in Ljubljana was conceived as an extended (and content-enriched) living space for two people, where intimate life, a rich social pulse and the client’s artistic creative potential mutually merge. The entrance corridor, which leads us into the relatively large apartment from the “corner” directly into the so-called “night intimate” area – the spatially worst and least suitable solution – is designed as a gallery of the owner’s paintings. The high floor height, which monumentalises the utilitarian part of the apartment and gives it a public character, fortunately helps to resolve the complex situation in terms of mixing the public and private spheres of a representative apartment. The high gallery “fast-forwards” us into a large living and living space where socialising, living, food preparation and daily rest merge into a unified but structured whole. The slope of the roof plane was a great help in designing the interior, lowering the more public part of the space (food preparation and dining area) linearly towards the more intimate part.

All the furnishings are conceived as an anonymous yet marked framework, articulating the wall planes of the spaces, the transitions from ambience to ambience, and giving them a human scale. The wall surface softens in certain areas, taking on textile qualities, especially where the hustle and bustle of socialising is to be calmed, muted and isolated. The apartment is a series of explorations, small surprises that chance visitors merely encounter, while its everyday users establish an intimate spatial relationship with them.

Authors:BLENKUŠ Matej; CIMPERMAN Katja