Lecture / A "taste" for structure
Lecture A "taste" for structure: architecture and structural figures in Slovenia 1960−1975
UGM| Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva 6
Tuesday, 28 February 2012, at 18.00
Lecture by: Dr Luka Skansi, lecturer at IUAV Faculty of Architecture in Venice
In the 1960's and 1970's, Slovene architecture experienced an interesting and unique prosperity spurred by different factors: economic growth, demand for business and residential premises, special professional relationships between architects and building companies. Architects, such as Milan Mihelič, Savin Sever, Stanko Kristl, Oton Jugovec, Miloš Bonča and last but not least Edvard Ravnikar, have, during this period built an image of modern cities with a rapidity that was never before witnessed in Slovenian urban space. Especially interesting is the relationship between the professional willingness of architects to control all the stages of architectural projects and the quality of building companies that realised them. Prefabricated construction, complex concrete constructions, new building technologies (such as pre-stressed concrete or steel constructions) represented topics, which Slovene architecture was confronted with for the first time, up to this period being traditionally structured on a low-technology craftsmen level. One of the main themes by Slovene authors of the period was the constructional expression of their architectures. The construction elements represented the basic, and in some cases also exclusive subject of architecture. In this sense, the edifices were never designed according to certain stylistic principles, but expressed their static genuineness, or as they referred to back then, their "brutality": their constructions developed from the status of standardised building and functional elements into "construction figures", into static and simultaneously sculptural elements. The elegance of static elements − "the cores of architecture" − represents the chief formal value of the buildings. Luka Skansi obtained PhD in History of Architecture and Cities at IUAV university in Venice (2006), where he lectures at the Faculty of Architecture. His field of research concentrates on history of architecture. He is the author of numerous studies and essays on European and Russian architecture in 20 century. He curated the exhibition Meister & Szene, which took place in Vienna in 2008, where he presented an overview of Slovenian architecture in 20 century. For a historical-critical esay on Russian architecture in 1920s he received ‘honorable mention’ by Bruno Zevi Foundation from Rome.
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