‘WHY DOES EVERYTHING ON THIS WORLD HAVE TO BE GLOBAL AND INTERNATIONAL?’ 4 Photo: Tomaz Gregoric
For the architects of Ofis Arhitekti, the context is the core of every project. But there are always many contexts, they say, so it is a matter of choosing which is the context that makes the difference. “Our work has a touch of Pleˇ as of Le Corbusier.” cnik as well D Farewell Chapel, Krasnja, Slovenia (2005-2009) Photo: Tomaz Gregoric The very different temperaments of the architects of Ofis Architects were evident from the start of the interview. This young architectural office in Ljubljana has been attracting attention from the international architectural press with some original, playful, beautiful and conceptually interesting designs for social housing, villas, museums and football stadiums. “All our projects, whether housing, a chapel or a football stadium, begin with a focus on function. The functionality and the context of the site is primary,” Špela Videc ˇnik assu- red me. For Rok Oman, who studied with her in Ljubljana and then at the Architectural Association in London before they started Ofis Architects together, it was less certain. “There is no rule. It depends. It is whatever comes first. The client might stipulate some quite impossible demands, so you are restricted from the outset. You have no choice but to take the limitations as a starting point. Social housing, for instance, is always subject to strict limits. There is hardly any budget for architecture, and the interior is totally prescribed in advance. The only freedom is to design the outer skin. For the Farewell Chapel, on the other hand, we had almost unlimited freedom.” - You are clearly two very different personalities. Špela: “We are. But somehow we combine very well. Our approaches are complementary and over the years it has proved to work well.” - Your designs for the chapel and the football stadium suggest a very different architectural outlook from, say, your social housing. Is that a correct impression? Špela: No, in my opinion our approach is always the same. We start with some pretty simple ideas about functionality. Then we define the volumes that are needed. And next we ask ourselves what extra we can do. At the Honeycomb Apartments in Isola, we looked at the apartment buildings that were already there in the vicinity and noted how people used their balconies. Outside space is very important in the Mediterranean climate but people use it in a special way. They cover the balcony with awnings, close off the sides with cardboard and install a small air conditioning unit. That way they can sit outside but stay cool. So we thought let’s integrate these devices into the design and build balconies that are partly enclosed to give more protection from the sun and with perforated side walls to provide natural ventilation. In the stadium design, on the other hand, our main aim was to maximize the visibility of the field. The highest level of the stands has the best view while lower down, especially at the corners, the view is much more restricted. So it was logical to place the entrances at the corners. The form of the stadium was the logical outcome of this functional consideration.” Rok: “In the case of social housing, almost everything is Ofis Architects 5