Roška Art District

The site is a historic and diverse green stretch, one of the few rare spots yet to be developed as Ljubljana shifts from urban centre to suburbs. Roška cesta frames it from the North, Poljanska from the West. It brushes against the old Roška barracks and the Secondary School of Economics. To the east, apartment blocks fan out, and on the southern edge lies the wild Stupi embankment. Looking across the Gruber canal, you catch the green rise of Golovec hill.

The competition solution pursues a strategy of sustainable renovation that builds on the importance of preservation, respect, and implementation of the built and natural heritage elements. The strategy of the so-called "heritage urbanism" dictates diverse contextual responses that respect the existing geometric and historical footprint, integrating the newly built tissue into a comprehensively designed educational creative area near the city centre of Ljubljana – the new "art district".

The design proposal for the new art district considers the revival and strengthening of the existing heritage structures in the spatial, urban and landscape context and offers a model for their integration into contemporary life. Heritage is not treated as a solitary structure but as an integral part of the immediate and wider surroundings.