Implant Microsurgery

architect Jurij Kobe
project Adaptation of the Mladika Complex, Ljubljana, Slovenia
written by Tomaž Brate

 

In 1983 the TUSCH publishing house brought out a monograph by Marco Pozzetti titled Max Fabiani 1865-1962 and significantly subtitled The Architect of the Monarchy. We are more interested in the above mentioned subtitle than in the real content of perhaps the most important presentation of Fabiani’s work. The architecture of the monarchy was in many respects first and foremost architecture of a great system, great ambition, and great order. This was why skill and discipline, however dubious the actual solutions, were able to express the spirit of the empire, the principles of the great system, the indisputable quality of performance even in smaller and financially moderate projects. One such building is Fabiani’s lyceum Mladika, a piece of architecture that served as the Yugoslav army health centre and was, for decades, thrust to the margins of the urban landscape. It now accommodates the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an institution that should represent the system, order, and ambition. When Jurij Kobe undertook to remodel the building he had to deal with the stylistic preferences of the temporary master, Fabiani’s intentions while he was creating this piece of architecture, and the relations between the building as a representative of the institution and the Minister as a representative of politics. Despite the fact that the remodeled complex involved two architectures, that of Max Fabiani and of Ciril Metod Koch; Fabiani’s lyceum was the substance and the starting point which determined Kobe’s approach.