An African proverb says It takes a village to raise a child. Today, when the village is gone, when traditional social forms, relatives, one’s partner and family have fallen short and a mother is left alone and helpless with her child, the community has to jump in. There is no house or a task as bitter-sweet as the one of designing a mother’s home, where the joy of a new life blends with the fear of a precarious future. Architecture can be nourishing and act therapeutically, it builds bridges between people and edifies them spiritually.

 

The City of Ljubljana, unlike the state, can have a real social impact in many significant areas, as can be seen in this project. When my partner Katarina Pirkmajer Dešman and I designed the first mother’s home in Ljubljana 25 years ago, the subversive potential of the task was particularly pronounced. Something was being created that was outside the institutions, as a result of a decision of a group of enthusiasts almost outside the system, that they would, regardless of the risk, solve the burning social and personal problem. It is different today. We have a social state and a smart city. Only one problem remains: the fact that the PR effect of building a mother’s home is more marginal than expected. A mother’s home is usually a building half-hidden from view as to avoid trouble with violent former partners. The story of the new mother’s home was characterised by numerous relocations from one temporary location to another throughout the years, after it had been made clear that the old building that used to house it would not be able to welcome them any longer due to the spatial needs of a kindergarten. It took some time before the planned building was started to be built. And then, thanks to the will and vision of the client, users and architects, all obstacles were removed, the construction started and was completed in record time. Mothers and children now live in an almost ideal environment.