Renovation of two terraced houses of the housing cooperative “Progres – Mirje” Ljubljana

The renovation of terraced houses (1957), designed by Marko Šlajmer et al., respects their architectural heritage. The spatial concept of the existing building is innovative, but the grid in which spaces are arranged vertically is rather rigid. The renovation respects the unity of the façades of all the houses in the development, facing the street and the garden. The newly defined vertical articulation allows for two distinct living units in size and character: a larger one (on seven levels) for a family with young children, and a smaller one (on five levels) for one elderly person. We used radical spatial interventions that are, in fact, simple, small architectural interventions.

The renovation brings light in and connects spaces by opening up views through the staircase and between the floors. The larger unit has been given direct access to the garden by lowering part of the living area to ground level. A surprising volume, a one-and-a-half-height dining area, connects the kitchen on one side and a raised living room on the other. The former basement window becomes the lower part of the composition of the dining room window. Large convex window with a seating alcove connects the living room to the library through an additional opening in the ceiling, which allows light and sound to pass. The material diversity of the rooms follows each other like sequences in a film.