Extension of the Slovenian National Drama Theatre in Ljubljana

SNG Drama is housed in a historicist theatre with a small stage, inadequate stage technology and a functionally modest auditorium. The rehearsal spaces are inadequate, and the changes in the set-up of individual performances require severe compromises in terms of content and scenography. This unsustainable situation has persisted for several decades, and drama theatre has consequently been unable to keep pace with the development of the artistic discipline.

Two competitions have been launched in the past. By participating in the second one, we tried to present a competitive idea. Even though we were not selected as one of the winning entries, the competition jury wrote in its explanatory note: “The authors treat the façade of the new extension as a stage curtain, partially revealing its internal programme in the folds and thus creating a dialogue with the city. They are not alone in this approach, but they are the only ones to propose a heavier, more durable material for such a façade than the convenient curved sheet. This gives them a more structural, tectonic object, which they articulate horizontally according to the rhythm of the existing building. The design of the façade, its articulations and materiality are given special attention, and the approaches are informed by the relationship of the new building to the city on the one hand, and a deep, sometimes contemplative reflection on the role of theatre on the other.

This attitude, which preserves the integrity of the existing building, at least externally and in appearance, was recognised by the Commission as the best possible approach to dealing with the existing building volume.”

We follow the view that the area around the Ljubljana Drama has developed gradually, with buildings from famous historical periods, historicism, modernism and critical regionalism. Over the decades, the relationships between the façade envelope, the building’s tectonics and its materiality have succumbed to the principles of warping, folding, peeling and finally layering. Modern techniques of forming thin flakes of high-quality concrete allow the scale of Ravnikar’s layering to grow into a larger, urban scale. This brings the relationship between the structural and protective forms of the façade back into contact. The design is at once historic, as it carries all the experience and knowledge of the past, but at the same time extremely modern, based on state-of-the-art building technologies.

If the theatre is a space of an illusory life, a play that is so very fake on the one hand that it becomes more real than real life, should the same questions be asked through the prism of space when designing a building for this kind of institution?

Authors: BLENKUŠ Matej; CIMPERMAN Katja; CVETREŽNIK Anja; VALENČIČ Grega; REZAR Tadej; KLOBČAR David; BANKO Matic; STAUDACHER Rok; BARTOL Ambrož