svet vmes is a Ljubljana-based architectural studio that exposes and explores the potential of in-between space.
We’ve always been drawn to what happens between things: between people, spaces, objects, and ideas that don’t quite fit together. That’s usually where the interesting stuff happens.
We unofficially started in November 2010, although, honestly, it was more of a slow drift. A few architects with an urge to study and fix the spaces nobody cared about — the leftover corners of schools, the hallways that led nowhere, the courtyards where nothing happened, and turning them into something worth being in. We called it an informal collective because it sounded about right, and didn’t mean too much paperwork.
In 2014, we formalized our existence as a licensed architectural practice. Same spirit, just more emails. Since then, we’ve built things, large and small, won a few awards, talked to many people, and given lectures in places we never expected to visit. This website shows some of those attempts — objects, nooks, exhibitions, schools, kindergartens, public spaces and other architectural experiments in the in-between. Some worked. Some didn’t. Some still might. All of them taught us something, usually the hard way, the only way that sticks.
Photographs: Miha Lorenčak
Founders
Jure Hrovat
studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, Slovenia and at Sint Lucas School of Architecture in Brussels, Belgium, gaining valuable international experience. His master’s thesis on Helium-based structures (2009) was awarded the Student Prešeren Award. After graduation, he worked in London before joining Sadar+Vuga, contributing to a variety of projects and prize-winning international competitions. In 2014, he became a licensed architect and co-founded SVET VMES with Ana Kreč. Their work, often guided by a strong social agenda, has been recognized through numerous awarded competitions, publications, and exhibitions locally and abroad. In 2022, their projects featured in the traveling exhibition New Praxes, New Tools across Ljubljana, Berlin, Vienna, and other venues. They received the Plečnik Medal and Golden Pencil Award (2023) for a timber kindergarten in Kočevje, followed by the Valvasor Award (2024) for the exhibition Universum Plečnik: Between Workshop and Myth.
Ana Kreč
studied at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, graduating in 2009, and at Aalborg University’s Faculty of Architecture and Design in Denmark. After formative professional experiences at the architectural offices Terroir in Sydney and Sadar+Vuga in Ljubljana, she co-founded the architectural studio SVET VMES with Jure Hrovat. In 2015, she was awarded the EU Marie Curie Fellowship at KU Leuven, Department of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas Brussels, Belgium, where she undertook doctoral research through creative reflective practice. Her research explores the realm of the in-between in educational architecture, with a particular focus on the amplification of small collective spaces. Alongside her architectural practice—which includes award-winning urban and architectural competitions, built exterior and interior interventions, objects, exhibitions, and written contributions—Ana has been teaching at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana since 2012. She regularly participates in international summer schools, juries, and conferences, and has lectured both locally and internationally, including at TU Berlin, TU Wien, NTNU Trondheim, BAU Design College Barcelona, KU Leuven Sint-Lucas, and the University of Westminster in London, among others.
Katja Paternoster
Zala Privšek
Kaja Križaj
Adéla Orságová
Jiří Zezulka
Martina Ferfila
Marko Kavčič
Awards
3rd prize - III. Maribor Grammar School Extension
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Maribor, Slovenia, 2024
Valvasor Award - Universum Plečnik Exhibition
with the Museum of Architecture and Design curators and AA graphical design studio, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2024
1st prize - Šenčur Cultural Centre and Library
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Šenčur, Slovenia, 2024
Golden Pencil - Kočevje Kindergarten
ZAPS, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2023
Plečnik Medal - Kočevje Kindergarten
Plečnikov sklad, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2023
OHS Award - Kočevje Kindergarten
Open Houses Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2023
2nd prize - Sonček Kindergarten
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Kranj, Slovenia, 2022
3rd prize - Jesenice High School renewal
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Jesenice, Slovenia, 2021
Honorable mention - Šentvid Grammar School and Gym
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2021
Increased 3rd prize - Roška Art district
Open Anonymous Master plan Competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2020
1st prize - Classroom of the Future
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, National Education Institute Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2020
1st prize - MAO Shop renovation
Invited Design Competition, MAO - Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2020
Honorable mention - University of Ljubljana, Mechanical Engineering and Pharmacy building
Open Anonymous Urban planing - Phase I Competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2020
Increased honorable mention - Primary School Preska
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Medvode, Slovenia, 2019
Plečnik Medal Nomination
Architectural-Research Project on Intermediate Schools Spaces through Construction of Case Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
1st prize - Kočevje kindergarten
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Kočevje, Slovenia, 2018
Special award - A series of interventions within existing educational buildings
ArhiED 2018 Classroom of the Future Conference, Slovenia, 2018
1st award - Pebble Atrium
7th International Biennial of Young Architects - Leonardo, Minsk, Belarus, 2017
2nd award - 9 Frames Hall
7th International Biennial of Young Architects - Leonardo, Minsk, Belarus, 2017
Wooden Icon Award - Physiotherapy Clinic 'Three Containers'
Interior category at the Month of Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2017
3rd prize - Nova Gorica Health Center extension
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Nova Gorica, Slovenia, 2017
2nd prize - Office Interior 'Rotating Wall'
ArhiOF 2017 Office of the Future Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2017
Equal honorable mention - New Water Sculpture
Open Anonymous Architectural Competition, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2016
2nd award - Loggia
6th International Biennial of Young Architects - Leonardo, Minsk, Belarus, 2015
1st award - Muze Showroom Design
Muses project, Month of Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2014
Interior of the year award
Month of Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2013
Exhibitions
22-24 Architectural Inventory
DAL, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2025
Golden Pencil Awards Exhibition
ZAPS, Municipality building, Nova Gorica, Slovenia, 2023
Plečnik Awards Exhibition
Plečnik house and DESSA Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2023
20-22 Architectural Inventory
DAL, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2023
New Praxes, New Tools - Emerging Slovenian and Austrian Architectural Practices
Pop-up exhibition, presentation and panel discussion, TU Wien, Festsal Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria, 2022
New Praxes, New Tools in Maribor
House of Architecture, Maribor, Slovenia, 2022
New Praxes, New Tools: Emerging Slovenian Architects
Pop-up exhibition, presentation and panel discussion, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Overview exhibition of ZAPS competitions
Novi trg, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2022
New Praxes, New Tools Exhibition
Škuc gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2022
The World Inside: The Design of Modern Interiors
Museum of Architecture and Design - MAO, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2021
Can Future have a Rerun? exhibition
Exhibition of Slovene Interiors 1990 - 2015, Kresija Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2020
We're renovating!!! Exhibition of contemporary renovations
Museum of Architecture and Design - MAO, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
Plečnik Awards and Nominations Exhibition
DESSA Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
41st Architecture Salon 'On the Edge'
Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade, Serbia, 2019
OHS Architecture in Society - Society in Architecture
Open Houses Slovenia Exhibition, Tivoli Park Promenade, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
Architectural Inventory 2016-18
DAL, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
Practice in a Box: A Travelling Exhibition
Europe, Australia, 2019
7th International Biennial of Young Architects - Leonardo 2017
Minsk, Belarus, 2017
Architectural Inventory 2014-16
DAL, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2017
Wooden Icon 2017, Month of Design
Tiskarna Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2017
ZAPS retrospective exhibition & awards
Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2016
Drifting Architecture, Bucharest Architecture Triennial
Bucharest, Romania, 2016
Beijing Design Week - Future Urban Space Creative Design
Beijing, China, 2016
ADAPT-r Final Exhibition
Ambika P3 Hall, University of Westminster, London, UK, 2016
Ziviltechnikerinnen gestalten Zukunft, travelling exhibition
Graz, Salzburg, Radgona, Wien, Ljubljana, Linz, Klagenfurt, 2016
Muji Box - ADAPT-r Framework Travelling Exhibition
Aarhus, Barcelona, Ghent, London, Ljubljana, Berlin, 2015
International Biennial of Young Architects - Leonardo 2015
Minsk, Belarus, 2015
Interiors of SE Europe, Month of Design
Tiskarna Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2014
Presentations
Worldmaking
svet vmes at XII. Architectural Summer School Ohrid, North Macedonia, July 2025, presenting: Jure Hrovat & Ana Kreč
Resilient School in Declining Demographies
svet vmes at XII. Architectural Summer School Ohrid, North Macedonia, July 2025, presenting: Jure Hrovat & Ana Kreč
Politike pohištva: Vloga interierja pri oblikovanju družbeno-kulturnih konstruktov
Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2025, presenting Ana Kreč
Contemporary Architectural Approaches in Educational Systems
Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 2025, presenting Ana Kreč
Exploring Artistic, Reflective Architectural Practice
Ars et Mentis, Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 2024, presenting Ana Kreč
#33 Podcast Odprto / Open
On intermediate zones and school spaces with the studio svet vmes, Open Houses Slovenia, Ljubljana, October 2024
The Art of Listening Symposium
Round table discussion with architects Jure Grohar, Ana Kreč, Danica Sretenovič, landscape architect Zaš Brezar, moderator: Miloš Kosec, Day of Architects ZAPS, October 2024, Novo Mesto, Slovenia
Worldmaking
svet vmes at Grožnjan Summer School of Architecture, Croatia, August 2024, presenting: Ana Kreč
Schools of Architecture and Architecture of Schools
Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2024, presenting: Ana Kreč
Renovation of the Slovene School Museum
Expert consultation on the installation of a new permanent exhibition Šola = zakon! (School = Law!), Slovene School Museum, Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 2023, presenting: Ana Kreč
Build higher, bigger...with wood
BIG SEE Debate with architects prof. Janez Koželj, Ana Kreč, Matija Goljar, Ogledaljarna, Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 2023
Kočevje Kindergarten
Department of Forestry, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 2023, presenting: Jure Hrovat
The Story of a House - Kočevje Kindergarten
Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 2023, presenting: Ana Kreč
How to renovate single-family houses?
Round table discussion with architects Anja Planišček, Ana Kreč and Aleš Vrhovec, Kajža, Stičišče za prenovo in trajnostno bivanje, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Februar 2023
New Praxes, New Tools in Maribor
svet vmes, presenting Jure Hrovat, House of Architecture Maribor, Slovenia, October 2022
New Praxes, New Tools: Emerging Slovenian and Austrian Architectural Practices
svet vmes, presenting: Ana Kreč, TU Wien, Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria, October 2022
New Praxes, New Tools: Emerging Slovenian Architects
Pop-up exhibition and a debate, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin, Germany, June 2022, presenting: Ana Kreč
Classroom of the Future
Symposium The World Inside: Designing Modern Interiors, 1930–Today, Museum of Architecture and Design - MAO, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 2021, presenting: Ana Kreč
The future of habitation
Round table disscusion with Aljoša Dekleva, Maša Hawlina, Ana Kreč, Andrej Mercina, moderator Cvetka Požar, Symposium The World Inside, Museum for Architecture and Design - MAO, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 2021
The Slovenian Dream
International Conference Building Europe Rehab(il)itation – Single-family house, From Suburbs to the Countryside, Maribor, Slovenia, October, 2021, presenting: Ana Kreč and Andraž Keršič
#01 New Praxes, New Tools
svet vmes, Prostorož, PaziPark!, Round table discussion, Center for Creativity CZK, Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 2021
Architecture as usual is not an option
Visual Communications Design Department, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, March 2021, presenting: Ana Kreč
svet vmes studio
41st Salon of Architecture, Belgrade, Serbia, April 2019, presenting: Jure Hrovat
The Loaded Nook, Social Change through re-thinking in-between spaces of Slovene Educational Buildings
Educational Architecture - Challenges of Change, 1st International Conference, VGTU, Vilnius Technical University, Lithuania, presenting: Ana Kreč
Presentation of good cooperation with users in the planning of school and kindergarten space
Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 2018, presenting: Ana Kreč & Jure Hrovat
Public Architecture - Public Space
Days of Architects, ZAPS, Museum for Architecture and Design - MAO, Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 2018, presenting: Ana Kreč
Bridging the gap, Practice as a bridge between opposites
CA2RE, Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research, TU Berlin, Germany, September 2018, presenting: Ana Kreč
Spaces D - Spaces Delight
ArhiED 2018 – Classroom of the Future Conference, Zreče, Slovenia, January 2018, presenting: Ana Kreč
In Pursue of Improvement, The Loaded Nooks of svet vmes architectural practice
CA2RE Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research, Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, September 2017, presenting: Ana Kreč
What is a good house?
Hiše sveta, Oder 180, Month of Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 2017, presenting: Ana Kreč
The Loaded 'In-between' as First Space
CA2RE, Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research, KU Leuven, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, Belgium, April 2017, presenting: Ana Kreč
svet vmes: spaces of society – society of spaces
Architectural Inventory 2017, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 2017, presenting: Jure Hrovat & Ana Kreč
Society of Places
ADAPT-r, Practice Research Symposium, University of Westminster, School of Architecture, London, UK, November 2016, presenting: Ana Kreč
svet vmes projects
Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, November 2016, presenting: Jure Hrovat
Adapting to ADAPT-r
NTNU, Trondheim School of Architecture and Fine Arts, Trondheim, Norway, October 2016, presenting: Ana Kreč
Designerly Grounded Theory in Practice Based Research
KU Leuven, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Brussels, Belgium, October 2016, presenting: Ana Kreč & Hanne Van Reusel
Playscapes, Designing in the 'in-between' realm
Double lecture with Jo Liekens at the Master of Interior Architecture, KU Leuven, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, Belgium, October 2016, presenting: Ana Kreč
svet vmes studio
Beijing Design Week, China, September 2016, presenting: Jure Hrovat
Layering Communities of Practice
ADAPT-r, Practice Research Symposium ADAPT-r, KU Leuven, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, Belgium, April 2016, presenting: Ana Kreč
Rethinking the 'In-between', Designing Collective Spaces for Social Change
Practice Research Symposium ADAPT-r, BAU Design College, Barcelona, Spain, November 2015, presenting: Ana Kreč
Rethinking the 'In-between'
Lecture and student workshop, KU Leuven, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, Belgium, March 2015, presenting: Ana Kreč
Designing spaces 'in-between'
5x20 Lecture Series, Five Slovene Architects, Tsinghua University, Faculty of Architecture and Hunan University, Changsha School of Architecture, China, April 2015, presenting: Ana Kreč
svet vmes collective
Round table discussion, Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2013, presenting: Jure Hrovat & Ana Kreč
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