A REVIEW ON CONTEMPORARY SLOVENIAN ARCHITECTURE, LIVING IN REAL WORLD
After the reconfiguration of communist regimes, Slovenia found itself, like other Eastern Central European countries, in a time of major social changes. Sociopolitical developments were a turning point in the process of renovating the Slovene society with respect to the emergence of a parliamentary democracy, free market economy and the establishment of an independent government. The deep changes happening at the core of a society certainly have considerable effects on architecture too. Now the important question arises: what hap- pened in the field of architecture in this society either before or after those developments? The period between 1950 and 1970 was a time when architects played an important official role in constructing the post-war Yugoslavia. Advanced heavy industries enabled architects to use updated material in their designs. The condition changed for Slovene architects at the beginning of the 90s. After Slovenia’s declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia, the question was no longer how to recreate the society and cleanse the existing socialist and modernist vistas, rather how this newly independent country can progress quickly, immensely and efficiently. These archi- tects, like those of other former socialist countries, found themselves after years of isolation on an equal footing with older members of the European Union. This generation of Slovenian architects continued their education in countries like the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Finland paving the way for Slovenia, upon their return to their home country, to enter the free world of architecture. In such conditions, Slovenian architects succeeded in developing strategies for meeting the demands of the market while creating public spaces and serving the society through enhancing the quality of architecture. Through their encounter with the international culture they learnt how to develop their problems and position in the best manner, and to reflect upon their situation. That generation realised better than ever how ar- chitecture belongs to a greater whole and thus how architects need to bring into their work the commercial, cultural, philosophical, historical and technological aspects. The international skills of this generation have resulted in the development of approaches which are influential in local contexts through their impact on the global culture. Although one can see in the projects of Slovenian archi- tects several experiences with regards to spatial design, arrangement of functions, use of building material or the relation of a building to its surrounding environment, similarities can also be found in problems as well as in approaches applied. In a time when architecture goes hand in hand with a spectrum of signs and messages and reproduces itself through communication techniques, Slovenian architectural offices (particularly in their recent projects) look for a new symbolism. The roots for this can be found in the monumental works of architects such as Jože Plečnik and Edvard Ravnikar: i.e. a tendency to design spatial functions for the sake of producing a communicative object. In other words, form no longer follows sculptural beauty and function, rather the logic and form of the building follows the aesthetics of design, an aesthetics which, apart from keeping the prices low, con- vinces the client and the user to pay a higher price for constructing a different structure conveying the sense of belonging to an elite class, to a particular style or a luxury situation. This type of architecture is focused on imagination and interactive experiences. Programme and hardware are well combined in it so as to interest users in using spaces and changing them. The communicative symbolism is not a representation of a mythical world in exotic forms; they rather have a real, physical and bodily presence. In their work, everything is about today: being present in the current moment where narratives, the un- natural/imaginary, the graphic/spatial, as well as colorfulness and fun are accompanied by reality.
Palace of the Soviets, Lofan, Shchuko, Gelfreich, 1933, drawing
Tito on the cover of the Life magazine, September 1948
Panoramic view of the new socialist town of Velenje built beside a coal mine, Architects: Janez Trenz, Franc, Šmid, Ciril Pogačnik, 1953– 61
Honeycomb Apartments, 2003-2005
Residential and commercial complex of Kemija Impex, inspired by Unité d‘Habitation, but built in the urban context of Ljubljana‘s main street. Architect: Edo Mihevc, 1955–57
Tetris Apartments, , 2005-2007
Brick Neighbourhoods, 2005-2011
Situla Complex, 2010 2010،مجتمع سیتولا
Space Habitable weel, 2009-2012
:منابع - Van Toorn, Roemer, No More Dreams? The Passion for Reality in Recent Dutch Architecture. - Whiting, Sarah; Somol, Robert, “Notes Around the Doppler Effect and Other Moods of Modernism”, in Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal, 33 (“Mining Autonomy”), 2002. - New Trajectories: contemporary architecture in Croatia and Slovenia, Ruth Walker. - Revising Practice: Strategies and attitudes for architecture in the next century. Edwin Gardner. - Van Toorn, «Roemer Gizmo Architecture.» 2G Architecture. - Rupnik, Ivan, «Conditionalism.» El croquis, no.160.
Nova Gorica Bazaar, SADAR+VUGA
Farewell Facility, Bevk Perovic 2015 ،Bevk Perovic ،مرکز ترحیم