Multi-apartment building in Rožna dolina, Ljubljana

Any construction in Ljubljana’s Rozná dolina valley is much more a problem of the question than a question of the challenge. Any architect who has been through the planning process, communicating with the administrative authorities, the public and local residents will agree that the urban renewal and revitalisation processes in this part of the city have not been well thought out. Compared to other typical areas of urban transformation, such as Mirje, Tabor, Prule or lower Bežigrad, where the same conditions of increasing permissible density and gradual transformation of the prevailing urban morphology are followed, there are a number of other unresolved issues in the Rožná dolina. The key issues are the extremely unfavourable geological and hydrological composition of the soil, the large areas of building islands, the mix of industrial and sub-agricultural typology of the residential houses, the symbolic role of this settlement in the collective perception of the city, and finally the chaotic urban development of the mix of the initial individual typology, the student settlement, and the self-initiated construction and reconstruction of buildings in width and height. The complexity of the interventions in this urban area is also increased by the unregulated and uncoordinated relationship between the conservation regime for the protection of built heritage and the urban planning conditions for intervention in the area. Therefore, more relevant than the question of who is building and planning the “blocks” in Rožna Dolina is the question of why and how these processes were initiated in the first place.

The residential building on Skapinova Street is located on a disproportionately large irregularly shaped building plot in direct contact with the protocol building of the Republic of Slovenia, in relation to the otherwise surrounding morphology. In accordance with the general urban planning conditions of the zoning act in force at the time, it is permissible to place a larger building on a larger plot of land, which by its mathematical dimensions is already dominant in relation to the surrounding buildings. By dividing the building in height into a base and a terrace superstructure, the urban body was adapted to the rhythm, proportions and height of the street series. The terrace is divided into two sections, visually splitting the building into two smaller parts. The “oversized” balconies, which do not contribute to the built-up area according to the prescribed urban planning key, are conceived as independent bodies in space. In the lower part, the floor plans of the individual floors are related to each other, while the top floor is a self-contained residential complex with a large terrace, a four-sided orientation and a high degree of privacy.

The design and choice of materials are as restrained as possible. We follow the principle that residential buildings in the urban profile represent a dominant, but visually and contextually anonymous urban fabric, in contrast to the more important buildings of a public character.

Authors of the project: BLENKUŠ Matej, CIMPERMAN Katja, GAZVODA Matevž