Light and a Fifth Facade

architect Jurij Kobe
project The New Roof of the Medical College, Ljubljana, Slovenia
written by Miloš Florijančič

 

Ljubljana Medical College is a typical example of the neat, elaborate, and inventive architecture that was cultivated in Slovenia back in the sixties. Recently, this seemingly restrained building, designed by the renowned architect Oton Gaspari, has acquired a new covering, a new hat. This is quite common in a society in which schools are no longer built but only have new wings or storeys added to them, and in which this degree of investment in school buildings is believed to be absolutely sufficient, if not generous. Unrewarding as they are, these tasks are further “facilitated” by the services of the Ministry of Education and municipal administration headed by the office for urban planning. Luckily, the task of making a superstructure was entrusted to Jurij Kobe, an experienced architect who has cultivated an intimate relationship with the period that is almost a part of the past. He has already completed several similar projects on the architecture of that period.