HSV Apartment

The Dukič apartment buildings in Ljubljana, built in the nineteen thirties, have a high reputation among locals. The high value of these apartments is certainly due to their location in the city center, close proximity to Tivoli Park and distinctive, quality architecture that is thoughtfully placed within its location.

SADAR+VUGA designed the renovation of a 130m2 multi-room apartment which builds on certain Bauhaus modernist motifs of apartment buildings and interprets them to create an enduring and timeless quality. It is a place, which inspires discovery, stimulates curiosity, a space that simultaneously excites and calms us. The place is full of contradictions and ambiguities: open, closed, hidden, exposed, hard and rough, soft and warm, physical and virtual.

The program organized into two parts: daily public area and nightly private area. In the daily area, there are various ambiences organized around the cube in the centre; a large dinning table, a leather chair for tea at five, a soft sofa and a comfy chair. There are hidden service rooms in the middle of the cube; a utility, a cloakroom and a storage room. In the open part of the cube, there is a kitchenette, surrounded by lamellas, which mask activities when viewed from a certain angle, and open views through the central cube under other angles. In a separate room, there is a cabinet with a library. The other open area is private and combines a bathroom and a bedroom.

Light is an important part of the ambience in an apartment. The suspended ceiling is shaped like a lamp. The graphical network of large floating lines and squares seems abstract in the space. Different atmospheres are created by lighting the various illumination ways in the apartment.

Installed materials are made in various shades of grey. High gloss epoxy on the floor, rough mat structure of concrete panels, soft reflex linings with fine texture of steel sheets which reflect blurred silhouettes. Glossy sliding panels made of Plexiglas at windows create sharp shadows when drawn in direct daylight and create soft diffused light when the apartment is not directly bathed in the sunlight. The selected furniture is of classic forms, such as Thonet and Nelson Pretzel chairs, Chesterfield sofas, a velvet sofa, a solid oak table. Equipment that is usually being touched is soft, comfortable and warm.