Universum Plečnik

The conceptual basis for the exhibition design comes from a reinterpretation of Plečnik's design approaches and his interventions in public space where through adding, subtracting, opening, closing, symmetry, asymmetry, flexibility of scale, repetition, and hidden symbolism, he skilfully connects existing and added architectural elements into a new whole.

The space of the architectural museum became a field of spatial interventions, where newly inserted architectures take advantage of the spatial conditions and limitations of the castle complex, symbolically connecting them with the content of the exhibition, which is designed around four research themes that are conceptually related but visually separate in four rooms: Ritual Hall, Public Space, Common Roof, and Myth.

The first room is marked by a "colonnade of columns", which indicates a symbolic axis that visually connects the adjacent exhibition rooms and forms a new sub-space – the RITUAL HALL, where Plečnik's sacral architecture is revealed through models and drawings, positioned on a long table made of plumbing pipes – a paraphrase of the gallery fence of the National University Library reading room.

The PUBLIC SPACE room is conceived as a "parkour with a viewpoint", partially raised and placed between the two existing pillars, which enable visitors' views to all sides of the room – Plečnik's Ljubljana is represented by large photographs by Adam Štěch, showing the atmosphere and details of Plečnik's interventions.

The lighting fixture of the Triple Bridge connects the public space to the THE COMMON ROOF room, where two rows of steel formwork support the existing wooden ceiling, creating a "room within a room" (a paraphrase of Plečnik's lesser-known residential project for Ljubljana "Under the Municipal Roof" from 1944), under which various sub-themes are displayed on stacks of building materials.

The last exhibition room – MYTH is designed as a memorial room, containing a "ziggurat" made up of wooden boxes with models of Plečnik's works and surrounded by "bekleidung" that represents the emotional background, the collective memory of the nation, Plečnik's students, testimonies, and numerous positive and negative writings about the master.