Hasta La Ideas

Slovenian firm Studio 360 built walls of modular white shelving inside every room of this L-shaped apartment in Ljubljana to maximise space whilst removing clutter (+ slideshow).

Studio 360 renovated a 100-square-metre apartment in the heart of the Slovenian capital to create the modern home, which contains a large living and dining room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a study.

The designers didn’t make any changes to the layout of the apartment, but gave each room a different arrangement of shelving based on simple geometric shapes. This inspired the project’s name, Geometric Residence.

The studio also made small structural adjustments by changing windows and doors, replacing the flooring and rewiring the electrics.

“When the client approached us, this apartment was vacant and ruined,” explained studio director Lidija Dragisic. “In order to bring it back to life, the renovation was absolutely necessary.”

The interior combines basic materials and natural colours, with white walls, oak furniture and detail accents in black. “This approach allowed the residents the freedom of doing any additional decorations without disrupting the overall design statement,” said Dragisic.

Entering the space, the apartment opens onto the open-plan living room, accessed by walking under a strip of mirrored glass.

The lounge area is dominated by block white shelving, with gaps made of oak deliberately inserted to allow the addition of books, a TV and speakers.

In contrast, the adjacent kitchen features uniform white units, which surround a custom-made 3.5-metre wooden table with a parquet finish.

In the master bedroom, oak storage units are suspended from the wall above a bed made from the same wood. Both this room and the second bedroom feature full-height white wardrobes.

Sandwiched between the two bedrooms is a small study with shelving divided into squares and rectangles.

The two main bathrooms are finished in slate grey tiling and feature mirror-lined walls and white inlet shelving.

Photogaphy is by Miran Kambic.

Here’s a project description from the designers:

 Geometric Residence, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

The apartment is located in the heart of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is divided into living area (consisting of a large living room with kitchen and dining room) and more intimate / sleeping area (two sleeping rooms and a study room). In between these two spaces there is a service part offering two contemporary bathrooms and one utility.

When the client approached us, this apartment was vacant and ruined. In order to bring it back to life, the renovation was absolutely necessary. The adaptation didn’t make any significant changes to the floor plan, besides some bathroom enhancements, windows & door replacements, new flooring and electrical installations.The interior furnishing design is simple, with design-scheme combining basic materials and natural colours: oak, white furniture and some detail accents in black. This approach allowed the residents the freedom of doing any additional decorations (art, coloured cushions, carpets, accessories etc.) without disrupting the overall design-statement.

The furniture along the walls is in a neutral white and designed in a geometrical pattern, which magnifies the flat’s ambience. Several carefully selected accents are wood, which create a pleasant and cozy atmosphere. The furniture is custom and unique – for example, a big 3.5 m long wooden table in the middle of the dining area or a huge pantry with parquet-finish, which brings the living and private spaces together. The marriage of white and oak is implemented in the master bedroom as well (master-bed and a geometrically-shaped wall closet above). The massive curtains throughout the apartment achieve additional intimacy, softness and consistency (they are also in a neutral black & white combination). The bathrooms are simple and without any unnecessary decorations, which allows the beautiful concrete-like tiles to stand out. These spaces are visually enhanced with the clever use of built-in mirrored walls.

Our aim was to adapt this interior to the versatile, ever changing needs of the modern customer. Besides the functionality, we wanted to create many different lighting scenarios and environments. This is achieved by combining basic lighting with the indirect led lighting, which are hidden in the furniture elements. The ceiling in the bedroom adorned with a crystal chandelier, which (along with the other vintage accessories) gives this residence a unique soul.

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and storage to Slovenian apartment appeared first on Dezeen.

Slovenian firm Svet Vmes Architects has converted the unused entrance of a school in Ljubljana into an undulating green lounge featuring spotty walls and big cushions (+ slideshow).

The 144 year-old grammar school, one of the oldest in the city, was built with two entrances that were originally used to separate girls and boys entering the building.

Svet Vmes Architects was tasked with transforming the defunct second entrance into a space where students can relax and socialise, which they named School Landscape.

The architects retained existing mouldings and architraves, but printed a dissolving pattern of green polka-dots on the lower half of the walls.

Wavy green benches used for lounging and sliding run along the side walls and are covered with large squishy cushions, while a staircase is sandwiched in between.

“The enclosure is formed with wavy bands with different gradients of one material,” said the architects. “With this element we broke the hard, uneven space and transformed it into a new, soft, single space.”

A projector screen, loudspeakers and WiFi were also installed so students can watch movies and study in the space.

Photography is by Matevž Paternoster and Agencija Umer.

Here’s a project description from Svet Vmes:

School Landscape

Ledina is one of the oldest grammar schools in Ljubljana. It has operated for 144 years. The school plan has a characteristic ‘U’ shape, with two main entrances that were once used as separate entrances – for boys and girls. Due to safety reasons only one is in use today, while the second one is closed and has no function.

The idea was to create a new ‘semi-public’ school space for leisure activities of students during recess, before and after school. The enclosure is formed with wavy bands with different gradients of one material. With this element we broke the hard, uneven space and transformed it into a new, soft, single space.

As internet is indispensable in everyday life of pupils, the room has wireless internet, loudspeakers and a projector to ensure a more relaxed ambience. The place becomes a multi used school landscape where students can rest, socialise, watch movies, get information, listen to music, and organise lectures or performances by school DJs.

Interior and graphic design: SVET VMES Jure Hrovat, m.i.a., Ana Kosi, u.d.i.a., Ana Krec, m.i.a., Tina Rome, m.i.a.
Wallpaper printing: Neoprint d.o.o.
Construction works: GP KB gradbeništvo d.o.o.
Rubber waves: INTERFLOORING d.o.o., talne obloge, inženiring, interier
Carpenter: Mizarstvo Meznaric d.o.o.
Investor: Ledina Grammar School
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Year of completion: 2013

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replaces an old school entrance appeared first on Dezeen.

A conceptual space station that was conceived in the 1920s inspired the spiralling structure of this culture and technology centre in Slovenia.

OFIS Arhitekti teamed up with Slovenian studios Sadar Vuga Arhitekti, Bevk Perovic Arhitekti and Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti to design the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies, which functions as a visitor facility for a nearby cultural centre in the small town of Vitanje.

Referred to as the Space Habitable Wheel, the building’s form is derived from the space station that rocket engineer and local resident Herman Potocnik Noordung described in his 1929 book, The Problem of Space Travel.

The architects replicated the looping structure of Noordung’s design using a series of interlocking rings. They explain: “The rotating habitable wheel, a circular construction setting up artificial gravity with the centrifugal force, is the best and at the same time a simple solution for long-term human habitation of weightlessness.”

A ramp curls around the edge of the building, providing a sloping exhibition area that connects the ground floor hall with an auditorium and space technology research centre on the level above.

From the exterior, the building appears as a pair of tangled cylinders, hovering over two glazed entrance facades.

“There is a dynamic effect between the cylinders, accentuated by the full glass rings around the building,” explain the architects. “The building appears to float and rotate on its southern and western sides towards the road.”

Both rings are made from concrete and are clad with a screen of shimmering metal panels.

We first revealed images of the design in 2011, when construction started on the project.

See more architecture by OFIS Arhitekti, or see more projects by Bevk Perovic Arhitekti.

Photography is by Tomaž Gregorič.

Here’s some more information from OFIS Arhitekti:

The Cultural Center of European Space Technologies (KSEVT) will supplement the cultural and social activities of the Arts Center in Vitanje, the town in Slovenia that was home to Herman Potocnik Noordung, the first theoretician of space.

The concept design for the building of the KSEVT derives from the habitation wheel of the first geostationary space station described in Noordung’s 1929 book. It will have a public significance and generate social, cultural, and scientific activities, with fixed and temporary exhibitions, conferences and club/study activities.

Noordnung’s space station was designed as a geostationary satellite out of three parts: a solar power station, an observatory and a habitable wheel. After several decades of ponderings on the habitation of space, this idea remains to be the most revolutionary, yet not realized. The rotating habitable wheel, a circular construction setting up artificial gravity with the centrifugal force, is the best and at the same time a simple solution for long-term human habitation of weightlessness. Since we are not accustomed to that kind of condition, it exerts negative influence upon our body in the long run. A station in this orbit could also represent a perfect point of departure for longer spaceflights, considering that the Earth’s force of attraction is still the greatest obstacle for that.

The building is a monolithic concrete structure, positioned freely between a main road on one side and a stream with a green hinterland on the other. The exterior and interior of the building are made of two low cylinders. The bottom one is larger and rises from the North to the South, while the upper cylinder is smaller and joins the larger one on the south while rising to the North. The bottom cylinder is supported by the transparent surface of the entrance glazing.

From the exterior, there is a dynamic effect between the cylinders, accentuated by the full glass rings around the building. The building appears to float and rotate on its southern and western sides towards the road. The entrenchment of the building into the surface on the other side gives a connection to its immediate surroundings. The spatial effects give the building the effect of artificial gravity from floatation and rotation. The building has two entrances- a main one to the central space from the square in front of the building on the south-eastern side and the northern entrance from the gravel surface above the stream.

The main entrance covers the overhanging part of the bottom cylinder: one passes through a tight space past a circular vestibule and into the interior of the hall. The vestibule can be separated from the activities in the hall by a curtain. The entrance glazing can be completely opened and can connect the activities in the hall with the square. The circular hall for 300 people is surrounded on both sides by a semicircular ramp. This denotes the beginning of the exhibition area, continuing from here to the overhanging part of the larger cylinder.

On the west, there are smaller office areas along the ramp. Ascending this ramp also represents a transition from the bright space of the hall to the dark exhibition area. The vertical connection with a staircase and large elevator connects the exhibition area directly to the vestibule of the hall. The exhibition space continues through the landing between the elevator and the staircase to the smaller cylinder, the multi-purpose hall, and a raised auditorium above the hall. From here, one can observe the activity below. The smaller cylinder is concluded at the highest, northernmost portion with a club area devoted to researchers of the history of space technology, where they can focus on their work aside from the activities below.

Besides special programme and location also collaboration of four architectural offices in developing the project is unique. The idea of collaboration raised on the first meeting where investor invited the four offices to collaborate on internal competition – and office principals decided to actually rather do the project together. The idea concepts came out on serious of workshops, later project was shared in different stages of development between all offices.

Location: Cesta na vasi, Vitanje, Slovenia
Project start: 2009
Construction start: 2009
Completed: 2012

Above: diagram of the space station by Herman Potocnik Noordung

Program: exhibition spaces, library, offices, multi-purpose hall, auditorium
Type: space technology community centre
Client: KSEVT, Vitanje Community and Ministry of Culture, Slovenia
Area: site 33.305 m2
Total floor area: 2.450 m2
Materials: concrete, glass, aluminium

Above: site plan

Above: basement plan – click above for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: roof plan

Above: section one

Above: section two

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Bevk Perovic and Dekleva Gregoric appeared first on Dezeen.

Earlier this year Slovenian firm OFIS Arhitekti transformed three Baroque houses in Ljubljana into an apartment block with a secret courtyard, which is featured in this third movie from our series about the studio’s work.

Located in the city’s historic centre, the three buildings had most recently been used as the offices and bookshop of a publishing company, before OFIS Arhitekti were brought on to combine the spaces and create twelve new apartments.

Providing daylight for each apartment proved difficult so the architects added glass elevations around the existing courtyard, which they then converted from a storage area for air conditioning units into a small garden for residents.

“Since the court is very narrow and enclosed from all sides, the main concern was to provide as much light as possible to become a form of internal garden,” said the architects.

Behind the glass, rows of arches with stone pillars provide traces of the original architecture, while the street-facing elevations are restored to their original condition.

The movie was produced by Carniolus and follows one about an Alpine holiday hut and another about a social housing block inspired by hayracks.

Other projects by OFIS Arhitekti on Dezeen include student housing inspired by wooden baskets and an apartment with staggered floors.

See all our stories about OFIS Arhitekti »

Photography is by Tomaz Gregoric and Jan Celeda.

Above: level 1 plan – click above to see larger image

Above: level 2 plan – click above to see larger image

Above: attic level 1 plan – click above to see larger image

Above: attic level 2 plan – click above to see larger image

Above: north section – click above to see larger image

Above: south section – click above to see larger image

Above: east section – click above to see larger image

Above: west section – click above to see larger image

Above: sun diagram – click above to see larger image

The post Movie: Baroque Court Apartments
by OFIS Arhitekti appeared first on Dezeen.

Film studio Carniolus has produced a series of movies to document the architecture of Slovenian practice OFIS Arhitekti and the first gives a tour of the 6×11 Alpine Hut, a holiday home in Slovenia’s Triglav National Park.

Completed in 2009, the house was designed by OFIS Arhitekti in line with a set of plans for a traditional Slovenian hut that had already been granted permission on the site. The architects designed a contemporary version with the same dimensions, roof pitch and materials, meaning a new construction permit was not required.

The house is used as an alpine retreat for a family, so the architects added three bedrooms and a sauna on the top floor, as well as a large living and dining room on the ground floor that opens out to a sheltered veranda.

See more photographs of 6×11 Alpine Hut in our earlier story.

See all our stories about OFIS Arhitekti »

Photography is by Tomaz Gregoric.

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by OFIS Arhitekti appeared first on Dezeen.