8
Villa “under” extension, Bled, Slovenia (2001-2004) Photos: Tomaz Gregoric needed a new wing to house the new archeological layers were being exposed. We wanted to present them as they were found, as an excavation. The circular form emerged as the purest way of displaying them. A spiral route was an ideal solution for connecting the different levels.” Rok: “When you’re inserting a new element into an old context, it’s usually best to make a clear distinction between them. It doesn’t make sense to just repeat the existing forms. By creating a contrast you treat what is old with greater respect. The orthogonality of the old City Museum building benefits from the spiralling form of our intervention.” - The spiral appears again as a prominent feature in the staircase of Villa Bled. What is the thinking behind that staircase? The City Museum, extension Ljubljana, Slovenia (1998-2004) Photo: Tomaz Gregoric Špela: “Villa Bled is an eighteenth century house in beautiful, hilly countryside. The client wanted to extend the house to almost four times its previous size. But that was forbidden by the national heritage committee because it is situated in a protected landscape area. We came up with a solution that was quite unlike anything the other architects submitted to the competition. We proposed building an extension that was lower than the house so that it would be invisible from the opposite side of the lake. It would be largely concealed and thoroughly integrated into the landscape. A spiral staircase connects the flowing curves of the new extension to the rectangular block of the existing villa. The client insisted on a spiral staircase. Back in the eighties people were crazy here about American TV series like Dynasty, because they showcased a sumptuous lifestyle that was unknown in Slovenia at the time. A grand staircase was the ultimate status symbol, so we based our design on the one from Dynasty.” Rok: “The staircase connects the areas for the parents and the children. It’s about seeing and being seen, and it helps improve contact between the generations. There are great views as you ascend the staircase but at the same time you get a sense of the whole layout of the house around you. Communication between the spaces was what mattered most. And the design seems to work: they hardly go out any more!” - You could have chosen to maximize the openness of the interior. But you have been more subtle about it, as though you were giving hints and clues but hiding what will come next, building up the suspense like in a film. Špela: “Perhaps you are right. We didn’t try to have openness alone; we preferred to design specific rooms for dining, listening to music, working, etc. So the communication between spaces matters more than openness. You could say that we were creating a sequence of events that are somehow connected. You could call that cinematographic.” - What about the context? How important is the context to you? Rok: “The context is very important, and it’s the core of every project in my opinion. But for each project there are many different contexts, such as the site, the social context and the climate. So you always have to choose what is the real context for the project, the context that makes the difference.” Špela: “Often the context is the site, the landscape or surrounding buildings. The context of the Farewell Chapel is clear enough. The chapel adjoins a cemetery and it is embedded into a grassy hills. But sometimes the project site is surrounded by mediocre and monotonous buildings, especially in the case of social housing. In that situation, we try to relate to some other aspect of the context, or 9 Ofis Architects