CONSTRUCTIONOF RESIDENTIALNEIGHBOURHOODS

Modernist Neighbourhoods of Ljubljana

At the beginning of the 1960s, residential

neighbourhood planning played a key role

in the larger urban planning scheme of

Ljubljana. In 1965, the General Urban Plan

of Ljubljana established neighbourhoods

as the central organizing principle underly-

ing Ljubljana's spatial planning policy, and

became the reference tool according to

which further major enlargements of the

city were organized.

The residential neighbourhood model

emerged as an answer to the first big

housing estates built after World War

II. These estates were sited alongside

factories and were characterized by the

repetition of a single type of long and

low apartment block, which made them

uniform in appearance and unappealing to

the residents. The residential neighbour-

hood planning method came to Slovenia

via Sweden. It was based on the work of

Clarence Perry, an American who in his

1920 Regional Plan for New York proposed

building neighbourhoods for 5,000 resi-

dents, and included criteria like a pedes-

trian walkway and an elementary school at

the centre of each. Following World War II

this model was adopted in England and the

Nordic countries, from where it was then

introduced to Slovenia.

The first residential neighbourhood

studies for Ljubljana were produced in the

1950s in the studio of Professor Edvard

Ravnikar at Ljubljana University’s Faculty

of Architecture. These studies encom-

passed the technical and sociological

sides of housing developments, from

construction, materials and industrial

construction methods and technology to

planning and design of open public space.

Urban planners paid considerable atten-

tion to the distances between schools and

apartment buildings, and even maintained

that school grids serve as the framework

around which neighbourhoods were

to be structured.

One particular project proved key for

the further development of Ljubljana's

neighbourhoods – one developed in

Ravnikar's studio by Majda Dobravec,

Janez Lajovic, Janja Lap and Mitja Jerne-

jec. They designed a residential neigh-

bourhood for 5,000 residents divided

into residential blocks for 300 to 1,000

residents and organized around a central

area. Central areas included shops and

service establishments, schools, day care

centres and sports playgrounds. Resi-

dential blocks were further divided into

communities with children's playgrounds

as their central points. A neighbourhood

includes di0erent types of housing, from

apartment buildings to terraced houses,

and has extensive green areas. Its central

area is typically emphasized by high-rise

apartment buildings and is sited along a

major arterial route with a bus stop nearby.

The Bežigrajska soseska 6 (BS 6) neigh-

bourhood, between Dunajska, Šarhova, Po-

horskega bataljona and Hubadova Streets

was the first real-life on-site test of this

theoretical model, followed by all bigger

residential neighbourhoods developed in

Ljubljana up until the 1980s.

MODERNIST NEIGHBOURHOODS OF LJUBLJANA

1954By providing long-term loans to self-builders numberof new family houses inLjubljana reaches half of thetotal housing construction.

1966The number of apartments for the market reaches a third of the total number of apartments built.

1948–1954Litostroj factories build 15 apartmentblocks for their workers at thetramway depot in Šiška.

1977Murgle neighbourhood, III. phase, urban planning, Marta and France Ivanšek

1946Residential area at the tramway depot (Litostrojski blocks), research by the studio of Edvard Ravnikar at the Faculty of Architecture

1947Regulation plan for the residentialarea at the tramway depot, plan by theO7ce for the Regulation of Ljubljana

1958Savsko naselje neighbourhood, urban planning, Božidar Gvardjančič

MODERNIST NEIGHBOURHOODS OF LJUBLJANA

More information on guided tours

Museum of Architecture and Design

Pot na Fužine 2

1000 Ljubljana

T: 01 548 42 70

E: mao@mao.si

www.mao.si

Opening hours

Tuesday–Sunday: 10:00–18:00

Published on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the birth of the architect Max Fabiani.

© 2015 Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana

Idea & Concept by: Matevž Čelik

Edited by: Špela Vidmar

Written by: Matevž Čelik

Translated from Slovene: Darja Horvatič

Proofread by: Je0 Bickert

Graphic design: Matej Koren Studio

Photo: Miran Kambič and MAO archive

PROJECT FINANCED BY

PARTNER

1945Shortage of 2,000homes in Ljubljana at the end of the war.

1945 1950 1975 19801970196519601955

HOUSING POLICY

Construction of BS 7 neigbourhood in the middle of the seventies.

1955The establishment of the Institutefor the Housing Construction in Ljubljana.

1955Rapid growth of the population ofLjubljana. 16,000 families withouthousing registered.

195635 housing cooperatives registered in Ljubljana.

1958At the exhibition »Family and Household«,organized at the conference of TownPlanners in Zagreb, Faculty of Architectureof Ljubljana presents the program and theconcept of an ideal residential neighborhoodfor 5,000 people.

1959177 housing cooperativesregistered in Ljubljana.

1960The establishment of the Institute for Cooperative Building.

1960The establishment of the UrbanPlanning Institute.

1960Changes in housing legislation allow the construction of housing for the market.

1965Housing reform. Commercialbanks take on the task of crediting and financing of housing construction.

1965General Urban Plan of Ljubljana (GUP)

1961Residential high-rises built in Savsko naselje, architects Milan Mihelič and Ilija Arnautović.

1964–1972ŠS 6 neighbourhood inŠiška, urban planning,Janez Vovk, Aleš Šarec

1963BS 6 neighbourhood at Bežigrad, urban planning, Janez Berdajs

1968Murgle neighbourhood, II. phase, urban planning,Marta and France Ivanšek

1968ŠS 10 neighbourhood,Draveljska gmajna, urbanplanning, Janez Vovk

1968–1974Koseze neighbourhood, urban planning, Mitja Jernejec, Viktor Pust

1968–1986MS 4 and MS 5 neighbourhoods, Fužine, urban planning, Boris Novak, Stanko Štor, Milena Macarol

1964–1973Ferantov vrt neighbourhood, urban planning, Edvard Ravnikar

1964VS 4, Bonifacija neighbourhood,urban planning, Roman Rems

1965Murgle neighbourhood, I. phase, urban planning, Marta and France Ivanšek

1967–1981Bežigrajska soseska 7 (BS 7) neighbourhood, urban planning, Braco Mušič, Marjan Bežan, Nives Starc

1971–1982Bežigrajska soseska 3 (BS 3) neighbourhood, urban planning,Mitja Jernejec

1972VS 1 neighbourhood, Trnovo, urban planning, Roman Rems

1972Nove Jarše neighbourhood, urban planning, Stanko Štor

1973ŠS 7/1 and 8/2neighbourhoods, Dravlje,urban planning, Janez Vovk

1973–1985MS 2-1 and MS 3-2 neighbourhoods,Štepanjsko naselje, urban planning,Mirko Mrva, Justin Bevk

Koseze neighbourhood after construction in 1974.

Janez Vovk, Aleš Šarec, Šišenska Soseska 6 (ŠS 6), model, 1964

SOURCE

Breda Mihelič, Urbanistični razvoj Ljubljane,Partizanska knjiga, Ljubljana, 1983

1956New types of residential buildings, neighbourhoods, housing cooperatives and prefab systems are presented at the exhibition »Appartment for our situation« accompanying a conference on housing construction.

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LITOSTROJSKO NASELJE

The Litostrojsko naselje settlement is the only residential area to have been built during the first wave of renovation after World War II. Initially, this area was planned to include only a single residential neighbourhood with 38 apartment buildings built around communal areas, a canteen, a day care cen-tre, a shop, a school and children's playgrounds. The first layout was designed in 1946 by students in Ed-vard Ravnikar's studio at the Faculty of Architecture. They sited apartment buildings along the north-south axis, i.e. the direction in which this former ag-ricultural area was subdivided into individual plots. Later, the building parcel was divided between two contractors: residential buildings to the north were built by the Litostroj factories for its employees, while those to the south were constructed by the People's City Council. In 1947 a new building layout was drawn up by the Ljubljana Regulation O7ce. The layout retained the basic construction concept but changed the area’s inner tra7c grid, dividing it into two parts along Obirska Street. The centre of the residential area, with a school, day care centre and shops, was never built. Instead, the ground levels of apartment buildings, which were built on supporting pillars according to Le Corbusier's model, were walled in to accommodate these facilities.

SAVSKO NASELJE

The Savsko naselje neighbourhood is the first post-war housing area to include all the elements of a residential neighbourhood. The apartment buildings of Savsko naselje were built by di0erent contractors, including the Yugoslav Army, the Housing Construc-tion Institute, and various construction companies. Even before the construction layout plan was completed in 1958, single-storey houses with brick woodsheds reminiscent of pre-war workers’ colonies were built there. They were placed on a street grid designed before World War II by Jože Plečnik in his regulatory plan for the Svetokriški okraj district. A neighbourhood supplies centre was also built. The period after 1958 saw the construction of long, five-storey apartment blocks that were sited along a NE-SW axis in order for the apartments to better take advantage of daylight. With the construction of 14-storey apartment buildings along Linhartova Street at the beginning of the 1960s, the neighbour-hood’s boundary was established. At the end of the 1960s, the residential area spread westward, where a new part of the area with apartment buildings, an elementary school and a day care centre was built. Today, Savsko naselje is considered one of the greenest parts of the city and is popular for its proximity to central Ljubljana.

ŠIŠENSKA SOSESKA 6 (ŠS 6)

The Šišenska soseska 6 (ŠS 6) neighbourhood is one of the first comprehensive neighbourhoods to be built according to the 1965 General Urban Plan (GUP) of Ljubljana. It was built to provide housing for 10,000 people and carefully designed as a set of several smaller neighbourhoods. Urban planners in-tended the area along the major tra7c artery enter-ing the city to be more densely built, with the density easing towards the interior of the neighbourhood. The centre of the neighbourhood, with its high-rise apartment buildings and tower blocks was there-fore placed along the Celovška Street, while lower residential buildings were situated closer to the interior of the area. Apartment buildings are placed in dynamic lines, bays and horseshoe shapes, with abundant park greenery, children’s playgrounds and gardens in between; car tra7c is limited to only a few bordering streets. At the green heart of the neighbourhood are an elementary school, a day care centre and a gym. Pedestrian walkways were carefully planned so that no distance from home to school would be more than 600 metres. With its for-mal, fan-shaped design and typical traditional town elements like a street, a square and a closed urban block, the ŠS 6 neighbourhoods represented one of the first deviations from functional urbanism.

FERANTOV VRT

The Ferantov vrt housing complex was designed by Edvard Ravnikar as a cluster of housing units to complement the existing body of apartments in the city centre, and to lend the southern part of the city a more metropolitan character. New buildings in conjunction with older houses along Rimska Street form a residential island with several commercial establishments on the ground floors. The housing complex is situated on the site of an ancient Roman forum. Architect Edvard Ravnikar incorporated this into the design of individual buildings, while at the same time displaying the remains of the Roman Em-ona (the first incarnation of present day Ljubljana) in the Jakopič Gallery on Slovenska Street. Apartments run through the building, facing both the street as well as the courtyard. The courtyard is designed as an open public park with garages hidden under-neath. Belts of balconies and windows alternating on the façade together with a combination of brick and concrete lend the buildings a special character. They are further brought together into a unified whole by certain architectural details, like the characteristic brick corner “stitches” and concrete flower boxes, which residents have planted with abundant greenery.

SOSESKA MURGLE (VS 103)

Comprehensive planning and quality construction of family houses was not particularly commonplace after World War II. Only a small number of such pro-jects were designed, among which the Murgle neigh-bourhood project is the largest. It began as a model settlement of single-family prefabricated houses. The neighbourhood was built in three stages, with some parts also built at a later stage. The layout of the neighbourhood is modelled on the scheme fol-lowed by the fields and canals of the Ljubljana Moor and bordered by rows of trees. The neighbourhood is divided into residential islands 100 × 100 metres in size, separated from each other by streets intended for car tra7c. Streets are lined with tree avenues and named after trees that were planted there. Facing the streets are garages, while houses are accessible on footpaths leading through greenery. A residential island consists of 30 to 35 single-storey atrium houses. As the entire settlement is built on a drained bog with damp soil the houses are low and have no cellars. It took almost 30 years to complete the construction of the neighbourhood, yet its predetermined design elements such as brick walls and wooden fences made it possible to retain their conceptual uniformity. Some of the best qualities of this neighbourhood include its extensive greenery and its quiet, car-free residential environment.

BEŽIGRAJSKA SOSESKA 7 (BS 7)

The Bežigrajska soseska 7 (BS 7) neighbourhood was designed as a megastructure along two streets. The two streets serve as the leitmotif of the entire neighbourhood and were conceived as a live space intended for pedestrians only, who find themselves a half-storey above street level, and opening up parking space below street level. According to the initial project, the ground floors of all apartment buildings were intended to accommodate retail shops and catering facilities. The Ruski car neigh-bourhood (as it was nicknamed) was designed in the spirit of a functionalist city looking to apply larger, universal solutions. The project served as something of a playground for town planners in which to test the dynamic planning method. They specified key reference points and design elements that would characterize the neighbourhood as a whole while allowing room for diverse design projects within this framework. Once it was completed, the neigh-bourhood o0ered a wide variety of di0erent housing units, ranging from apartments in both flush and ter-raced apartment blocks, to lofts and atrium houses. One of the most appealing areas of the neighbour-hood is the park with its carefully designed relief and groups of trees.

SOSESKA KOSEZE (ŠS 9 AND ŠS 10)

The Koseze residential neighbourhood is a scaled-back version of the winning development proposal for the area of Šišenska soseska neighbourhoods 9 and 10. Its terraced apartment buildings are a combination of residential apartment blocks and single-family houses. Built closely together in a dense configuration, all of the apartments in the upper storeys feature large outside terraces while those on the ground level have gardens. Modelled on a German example, the Koseze apartment blocks were the first terraced blocks in Ljubljana and were considered a quality typological innovation at the time of their construction. They are designed as “hills” and grow narrower as they gradually increase in height, creating a more human-friendly scale, while at the same time the property below is put to good use. Entrances to apartment buildings are accessible on footpaths lined with greenery and run-ning between parallel rows of identical blocks. Tra7c is restricted to the perimeter of the neighbourhood, with parking spaces in underground garages. Thus, the neighbourhood stays rich with greenery and remains tra7c-free.

BEŽIGRAJSKA SOSESKA 3 (BS 3)

The Bežigrajska soseska 3 (BS 3) neighbourhood covers an area 800 metres long and 250 metres wide and is one of the largest neighbourhoods in Ljubljana. Its complex, hyper-urban structure was designed by Mitja Jernejec, with architectural design by Ilija Arnautović. Like many other neighbourhoods in Ljubljana, the construction of BS 3 was never completed in full. Despite this fact, however, it boasts many interesting features that contribute to its special character. According to the initial design, there should have been two enormous apartment blocks constructed on its eastern border. Instead these were replaced with tower blocks with pointed caps at the top, which are the identifying feature of the neighbourhood today. Tower blocks are posi-tioned in two clusters along Vojkova Street, while the interior core of the neighbourhood evolves into long rows of low-rise apartment buildings with access roads running underneath. The friendly character of the neighbourhood is accentuated by generous outdoor spaces – green areas, parks, squares, alleys and footpaths. They are designed as green alleys separating apartments from each other, with playgrounds, rest areas and recreation islands lined up along them.

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1957–1961between Linhartova, Savska, Topniška and Šmartinska StreetsBožidar GvardjančičIlija Arnautović, Milan Mihelič, Dušan Bohinec

SAVSKO NASELJE

1967Bratovševa ploščad, Glinškova ploščad, Mucherjeva StreetBraco Mušič, Marjan Bežan, Nives Starc Braco Mušič, Marjan Bežan, Nives Starc

BEŽIGRAJSKA SOSESKA 7 (BS 7)

1968Ul. Bratov Učakar StreetMitja Jernejec, Viktor Pust Viktor Pust

SOSESKA KOSEZE (ŠS 9 AND ŠS 10)

7

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ARCHITECTURE

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ARCHITECTURE

1946–1947between Litostrojska, Celovška and Goriška StreetsEdvard Ravnikar, Ljubljana Regulation O7ceEdvard Mihevc, Dušan Bohinec

LITOSTROJSKO NASELJE

1

1964Trg komandanta Staneta SquareJanez Vovk, Aleš ŠarecIlija Arnautović, Aleksander Peršin

ŠIŠENSKA SOSESKA 6 (ŠS 6)

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2

DESIGN

ADDRESS

URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

DESIGN

ADDRESS

URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

1964-1975between Slovenska, Rimska, Igriška and Gregorčičeva StreetsEdvard Ravnikar Edvard Ravnikar

FERANTOV VRT

4

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URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

1971Reboljeva, Maroltova, Trebinjska and Puhova Streets Mitja Jernejec Ilija Arnautović

BEŽIGRAJSKA SOSESKA 3 (BS 3)

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DESIGN

SITE

URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

DESIGN

ADDRESS

URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

SOSESKA MURGLE(VS 103)

5

1965-1977between Cesta v Mestni log, V Murglah and Koprska StreetsMarta in France Ivanšek Marta in France Ivanšek

DESIGN

SITE

URB. PLANNING

ARCHITECTURE

Trnovo