Platana Bar and Bistro + DESSA Gallery

We will begin the tour with a morning coffee at Platana Bar and Bistro, before taking a walk through the centre of Ljubljana to DESSA Gallery. The two interiors by architect Boris Podrecca, designed in the late 1980s, offer two distinct interpretations of space, materials and cultural references that shaped the architecture of that period.

At Platana Bar and Bistro, Podrecca transformed the existing sequence of varied spaces into a series of distinct interiors, symbolically linking them to Trieste and Vienna – two cities that played an important role in his life and architectural career. The café, with its long bar counter, mirrors and blue accents, evokes Trieste’s café culture, while the bistro refers to Vienna and the architecture of Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann.

We will then continue to DESSA Gallery on Židovska steza, designed by Podrecca and his collaborators between 1987 and 1989. The interior of Slovenia’s first architectural gallery draws on Gottfried Semper’s architectural theory and the tradition of the Viennese school of architecture, introduced to Ljubljana by Jože Plečnik. Here, stone, wood, ceramics and textiles are not merely materials, but carriers of architectural ideas and symbolic meanings.

Both interiors are characterised by a carefully considered use of materials, custom-designed elements and numerous architectural references revealed through the spaces and their details. The joint tour offers an opportunity to experience the two interiors in direct succession and, through these two distinct projects, explore Podrecca’s approach to interiors, the city and the cultural context of the 1980s.

More about the projects:
Platana Bar and Bistro
DESSA Gallery

The tour will be led by architect Andrej Hrausky.