The building housing the Slovenian School Museum has a rich history related to education. Despite the modest spatial conditions of the museum, the building has many positive features that work in favor of the museum. Location in the heart of the capital offers greater exposure to passers-by and tourists, while offering the experience of the city to children from all over Slovenia otherwise not living in a city as part of their Culture Day visits. The ceiling height of the Austro-Hungarian building gives the museum an airy quality and the large windows offer attractive views to the city. The whole conjures up the experience of a historical memory of the times when the building was an Ursuline School.

 

For practical reasons, it was necessary to arrange the longest possible museum path. With this in mind, we proposed a thick wall in the hallway opposite the arcades, which serves as an experiential presentation wall. In the room, we inserted a central volume – a black box - containing the spatial presentations of different historical periods to prolong the museum path. The experience of the permanent exhibition is completed by leading the visitor to the mezzanine, which serves as the “classroom of the future”.

 

The designing of the exhibition was guided by the belief that, despite the continued, increased pace of technological progress, and virtually limitless opportunities offered even by today's technology, we cannot and should not move away from creating opportunities for physical contact and interaction between the visitor and the exhibits. Exhibition with its thick wall and inserted volume enables a multitude of possible ways to experience the exhibition, so that it can remain interesting for children, adults as well as professionals from the field.

 

The path through different historical periods is accompanied by cartoon characters - the mascots of the museum, which show the history of education in a way that can be easier for children to perceive. For adults and expert public additional elements are provided through which they can deepen their knowledge of certain topics. The path through the exhibition ends with a classroom of the future, which by its design and content aims to present one of a multitude of options. In an increasingly digital world, where the level of information and experiences that are available to us are practically endless, the main aim of the school should more than ever become educational in the sense of creating individuals that will be able to co-habitate with each other. Like the educational process the exhibition is a process of discovery.

 

 

 

Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Project date: 2016
Completion date: 2022

Area: 300 m2

Type: educational, culture, public

Client: Slovene School Museum 

Photography: Matevž Paternoster

 

Project team: svet vmes, d.o.o.: Jure Hrovat, Ana Kreč, Ana Križaj, Katja Paternoster, Ana Kosi, Jure Henigsman, Barbara Žunkovič, Tereza Korbelova, Marko Kavčič

Graphic design: Padalci (Irena Gubanc, Teja Jalovec, Mateja Škofič, Andraž Vončina)

Carpentry: Mizarstvo Trunkelj, s.p.

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Awards: 1st prize at the invited competition

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