Lecture date: 1999-10-05
Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik transformed Ljubljana from a regional town (severely damaged by an earthquake in 1895) into the capital of the Slovene nation. As city planning becomes an ever more important concern, Plecnik's output reveals a body of work from which all those interested in the field of urban design have much to learn. Plecnik studied under Otto Wagner at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After a period in Prague, he returned to Slovenia where an intensive collaboration with the municipal authorities and engineers of Ljubljana allowed him to develop an integrated series of promenades, passageways, bridges, steps, squares and other spaces. These projects reflect his interest in human behaviour and the use of architecture as a dramatic framework for life in the city.
Peter Krecic places Plecnik in the context of the design connections between Vienna, Prague and Ljubljana at the start of the twentieth century. Krecic is an art historian and Director of the Museum of Architecture and Design of Ljubljana. He has written extensively on the work of Joze Plecnik.