XIII, 2012/1

Editorial

2012 is proving to be a busy year, busier than 2011, when we were saying that we could not get any busier…

Alongside the stacks of work, there was also no shortage of issues of a financial nature which were most unnecessary; and the Slovenian Book Agency was abolished as well. But AR does not give up, and neither do we.
This is why this first number is before you a little late; nevertheless it contains interesting contributions and a host of reports on activities at our school. I feel that the latter is what matters above all.

The articles begin with the contribution of our colleague Zbašnik-Senegačnikova, who returned from a visit to the United States and brought back enough material for several numbers of AR. Unfortunately, the present number includes only one; it is about the great architect we know all too little. The article bears the title Sustainable Origins in the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and it addresses one of the greatest international architects, who was recognised as the greatest American architect even by the American Institute of Architects. He started his creative work at the end of the 19th century in Chicago under the mentorship of L. Sullivan, from whom he adopted and later perfected quite a few concepts which had a profound influence on architecture. He applied large glazed surfaces to connect the surroundings of a building to its interior. The landscape of the prairies inspired the horizontal lines which are characteristic of his work. His buildings are close to human scale and designed with a great sense of the natural environment in which they are situated. He would select natural building materials originating in the environment, and the natural structure of the material was the principal ornament of his architecture.

Vanja Skalicky and Metka Sitar of the University of Maribor have prepared a review of the second post-war construction period in Maribor. The article is entitled Concepts of the Quality of Life in Maribor Post-War Housing Estates. They claim that the quality of life depends on a series of functions which must meet the needs of both the tenants and other residents of the town. Public spaces and green areas play an important part in this process. Furthermore, they consider the influence of settlement patterns on the quality of life of the residents. These raises new issues, stemming particularly from the increase in the number of cars and the shortage of space for them. This constantly creates new conflicts, especially since privatisation, when public spaces are abused by other uses previously not envisaged. It is especially the construction of oversized housing estates that raises new contraversies in the town, which are also related to public spaces and green areas the impact of which on the quality of life is fundamental.

In their article Evaluation of the Stability of a Masonry Minaret in a High Seismicity Region, our colleagues from Sarajevo, Amir Čaušević and Nerman Rustempašić, present issues related to the restoration of the Ferhat Pasha Mosque. In their project, they gave consideration to authentic construction methods, local materials and the achievements of the builders of the past, alongside respect for the aesthetic elements of the period in which the mosque was built. What matters is that the reconstruction will represent the original form as well the materials and structure. It was especially important because the mosque is the work of the Sinan school in which the designer, the 'mimar', was applying the solutions of the 'muhendis', the engineer.

The doctoral candidate Gašper Mrak, Alma Zavodnik Lamovšek and Alenka Fikfak in their contribution entitled Tourism and Settlement Patterns in the Countryside in the Case of the Development of Settlement in the Slovene Alps write about tourism as peaceful migrations which alter settlement patterns, thereby producing economic effects which influence the conception of forms, the way of life, and the results. The conversion of abandoned dwellings and cheese dairies in tourist accommodation buildings, apartments and refuges is a way of keeping them alive, while at the same time it enables visitors in many significant locations to find a dwelling or a mountaneering starting point. The familiar idea of a 'dispersed hotel' could be upgraded and enriched by contacts between residents and guests so that new programmes would shape new relationships, improving the culture of both parties.

Alongside the interesting contributions, we also include some technical data. The magazine AR architecture research is listed on the DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals of the Univerity of Lund in Sweden. The quality of the editorial policy, contributions and accessibility was also recognised by the ProQuest organisation which resulted in our listing in the Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory. The magazine has been listed in this directory since 2006. The magazine is becoming recognisable as a high quality scholarly publication. Our colleague Domen Zupančič says we can be happy and proud that it has been with us already for 12 years, which is a respectable age.

The Editor