Vevče housing

On Vevška Street in Ljubljana, on land where dilapidated buildings stood, a multi-apartment building was erected with a partially buried reinforced concrete basement and three above-ground storeys constructed with cross-glued wooden panels. The shape of the plot dictated an elongated architectural design running north-south, starting at the street in the north and running south to the Stara voda stream. The volume is divided into six virtually identical vertical blocks, with the west side terminating in sloping balconies. The basement floor opens completely to the south onto green areas with play areas and a wider riparian zone along the creek. The orientation of the one-sided residential units is the central element of the floor plan organisation of the whole block, as this orientation is away from the industrial areas on the other side of the creek. There are 18 residential units in the building, each of which has access to a balcony or terrace. The balconies are structurally separated from the main timber structure, thus avoiding potential thermal bridges. The west façade consists mainly of balconies enclosed by panels of expanded aluminium sheet and vertical metal slats, with the whole finished with fibre cement board cladding. Timber joinery with triple glazing and thin-film façade render cover the rest of the façade surfaces.