VII, 2006/2

Editorial

Before you is a new thematic issue. The leading topic is mentorial work, with emphasis on masters and doctorate thesis. My proposal to the mentors was that in their descriptions they also mention other mentored activities, which are important in the teaching profession. Many are involved with education and operative management of work outside the school (herewith connections with other universities are gaining in importance), which can lead to good results, both for the mentors and for execution of other projects undertaken by groups in this manner. Moreover, we are architects, yet as teachers at the school our role in architecture is profoundly educational. The issue brings three articles. To analyze the Architectural biennale in Venice dr. Domen Zupančič took with him a sketchbook and his eyes. He prepared a good presentation.

I visited the biennale together with my students, occasionally we were truly amused, but couldn’t hide our disappointment by some of the national exhibits. Some of the pavilions really evaded comprehension: not even as provocations. Yes, everything around us is architecture, we can make fun of each other, but to present our ideas, opinions, knowledge, capabilities or culture, more is needed. A gag is always welcome: on scaffolding one can walk only helmeted, the helmets are provided at the entrance. But when the last helmet is taken, an amusing warning appears: none, no more! Truly amusing. But this is only a detail that can follow only when the seriousness of our work has been shown and above all the results. We were oppositely bemused in the Arsenali, some with the layout, others with the content. Both are important. We were especially enraptured by the graphics of the exhibit Citta di pietra, City of stone. With its uniform approach the exhibition showed superb data, details, execution and finesse, not to mention the exceptional computer graphics (more theoretical than practical). Mention has to be given to the authors of the first and second part, thus the sad representation of other exhibitors can simply be forgotten – without much discomfort.
The biennale was worth seeing: some personal observations have been stringed by our colleague, Zupančič. An especially interesting article is written by our colleague Čerkez, an associate professor at the Pedagogic faculty, where she presents the estancia, the layout of a homestead in South America. It deals with spatial placement, design of the surroundings and the central building itself. Because of the size of the property, local conditions and of course Southern hemisphere, solutions are quite different than in our circumstances. Doytchinov, our colleague and professor at the Graz technical university presents a detail from the architecturally always thrilling Graz. This time he presents the atelier ZT Arquitectos LDA, from Lisbon and Graz. The presentation brings three cases: The Federal educational centre in Tamsweg (Austria), Campus of the higher vocational school in Graz and Ponte de Barca in Portugal.

The issue continues with mentors presenting their work. Of course, a lot of their effort went into devising methods for cramming all the information about associates, projects, data, texts and images into the limited allotted space, which wouldn’t infringe on realistic and correct presentation of the undertaken mentorial work – an apparently simple task, which it is not.

Živa Deu: IMPLEMENTING COMPREHENSIVE PROTECTION OF BUILT HERITAGE IN RESEARCH APPLICATIVE PROJECTS The article is about three Studio tasks or workshops that deal with different topics.

The first is a workshop titled Street furniture in old town cores of Gorenjska, which combines the old and new street furniture in towns and squares in that part of Slovenia. The second workshop stems from a real issue and deals with maintaining the variety of Slovene space with the “Riko House”. The third is a studio project by Jernej Markič, titled Lio Piccolo – culture between the lagoon and the sea and is a specific excursion into a somewhat different architectural arena.

Peter Gabrijelčič, Alenka Fikfak: MOBILITY AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ARCHITECTURE, Matevž Frančič The diploma work of Matevž Frančič responds to all principles of mobile, technologically advanced architecture with various contents of “self-sufficiency” and their application to a chosen site. Development and optimisation of such systems are understood as a process that will reach optimal operation only in the future.

Borut Juvanec: VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE AND HERITAGE, Dr. Aleksander Homadovski Zagreb, Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez Pedagogic faculty Ljubljana, Christiane Rhodius Heidelberg In his post-doctorial study dr. Aleksander Homadovski (Study of a virtual university) described possibilities for distance learning with a “virtual university”, whereby he organised one of the first distance conferences between Ljubljana and Zagreb in 1995, when even the purchase of a simple camera demanded specific artistry. In her doctorate Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez (Experiential teaching of spatial design) dealt with the case of experiential teaching of young people in fine arts. She used the findings of common, lead work of a group of children, which give the doctorate special gravity. The work was nominated for the A. Trstenjak prize in 2006.

Christiane Rhodius (Luminiszenzdatierung von Gesteinsoberflaechen am Beispiel der Glattjochkapelle), working at the research institute Max Planck at the University in Heidelberg, developed a method for establishing the age of stones used for building in archaeological monuments, specifically with the method of luminescence. The method could be useful in architecture, but utilised only in close cooperation with archaeologists and physicists.
Igor Kalčič: THREE DOCTORIAL THESES, Peter Marolt, Rupert Gole, Špela Šeme The significance of art for architectural space, the doctorate thesis by Peter Marolt, emphasises the complexity of ideas about architectural space and defines architectural design as a unique, indivisible entity. He views architecture and the significance of art in its design as two virtually indivisible entities that mutually create architectural space.

In his doctorate thesis The use of digital media in architecture, Rupert Gole claims that contemporary architecture of the real world is a hybrid of the real and virtual, material and immaterial – digital. Špele Šeme, in her doctorate thesis The influence of consumerism on contemporary architecture, finds that consumerism affects all aspects of contemporary living, influences architects and the architectural profession and that the general void between the profession and public has existed for a long time, but is becoming even wider.

Jože Kušar: THE VARIENTY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN ARCHITECTURE, Jasna Hrovatin, Tomaž Novljan, Petra Čeferin Jasna Hrovatin (Defining criteria for evaluating the structure of furniture for seating) dealt with furniture, mainly with theoretical foundations in the field of construction.

Tomaž Novljan (Fractals in architecture – structure, texture, colour) deals with the field of theory of graphics, where serious scientific work still demands deliberations in many areas.

Petra Čeferin (Constructing a Legend: The International Exhibitions of Finnish Architecture) presents the model used in representing Finnish architecture from 1957 to 1967.

Ljubo Lah: INTEGRAL PROTECTION OF BUILT HERITAGE The contribution shows successful mentorial results achieved with various groups of students during the last three years. The results of two workshops are shown by detailed presentations: Burgundy and Tržič. The third case is a third year student’s studio work – the renewal of an abandoned complex of a former inn in Dutovlje, Kras, which will be used as a promotion centre for the Kras Consortium of Teran producers.

Jože Marinko: RENEWAL AND CONSTRUCTION O ECCLESIASTIC BUILDINGS IN SLOVENIA, Leon Debevec This is a research completed by Leon Debevc in 1997 as a doctorate thesis. Our colleague merges two until recently separate research fields and shows the causal connection between the development of places of worship and changes in lithurgical practises from the beginning of building Christian places of worship till today.

Tomaž Novljan: FIRST THREE DIPLOMAS, Klemen Tavčar, Katarina Prekovič, Katja Juvan The first diploma is about theAviation museum at the Brnik airport, where the author develops the museum’s layout, execution and representation technique. The second diploma is about the Residential-offices complex in Šiška, whereby dispersed housing from the recent past is replaced with collective buildings of various forms.

The third diploma, titled Ljubljana’s parallel spaces – the linkage of Aškerčeva Street, Zoisova Street and the French revolution square, deals with a new feature – a subterranean space.

The next issue will again be a regular one; we will publish some articles, reports of research work at the FA in 2006, participation of our pedagogues at congresses. The second issue in 2007 will be a thematic one, where we will present books written by our pedagogues, even those that weren’t published by the University of Ljubljana. It is a fairly interesting selection.

Have a good day and enjoy the reading,

editor