The expert jury of the 2026 Open House Slovenia architectural festival
We are pleased to introduce the members of the expert jury for the 17th Open House Slovenia festival, who will work together with the OHS team to curate this year’s festival program.
The OHS festival, taking place from 17 to 19 April 2026, offers visitors a direct experience of high-quality architectural projects, uncovers the stories behind architectural achievements, and fosters dialogue between professionals and the general public. It is also an opportunity for architects and project clients to present their work to a wider audience.
Members of this year’s expert jury are:
Matjaž Bolčina
Matjaž Bolčina graduated in 2005 from the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana. As part of a Herder Scholarship, he completed a one-year study at the Technical University of Vienna.
Since 2019, he has been co-leading the architectural office ARP Studio together with Ernest Mičinović. ARP Studio’s work spans diverse areas, including renovations and interventions in existing buildings, restorations of cultural heritage sites, urban design projects, and single-family homes. Their projects have received multiple awards and have been widely published.
About OHS he said:
“Architecture, like all other arts, requires emotional, spiritual, and intellectual attention. We devote ourselves to a book by reading it, watch a film, theatre, or dance performance in the quiet of the space, pause in front of a painting in a gallery, or focus solely on music during a concert. But with architecture, we enter it. “We must walk, we must take in the space with our bodies, we must become and feel that we are part of and a measure of the architectural organism, we ourselves must wander through the space,” says Bruno Zevi.
It is precisely this kind of experience that the OHS festival has been offering us for many years.”
Katja Cimperman
Katja Cimperman is an architect and head of project work at the Ljubljana-based architectural office studio abiro. In her practice, she is drawn not only to pressing architectural challenges but also to contrasts: large scale – small scale, system – chance, coarse – subtle. She engages with these ideas constantly, both through her own award-winning projects and by observing the work of fellow architects, as well as through a continuous reflection on the surrounding space.
Thoughts about OHS:
“Architecture, like other forms of art, is not necessarily immediately understood or universally liked. Yet it carries meaning and tells numerous stories connected to space, the client, the user, creation, and construction—stories of personal struggles and frustrations on one hand, and satisfaction at achieved goals on the other. These narratives can be discovered at festivals such as OHS, as visitors walk through their materialized forms, and they are key to understanding both architecture and the architect’s practice.
Recognizing that architecture is not merely about universal appeal or widespread acceptance, but about careful, deliberate, and interdisciplinary work that seeks not only to provide an aesthetic experience but also to improve living environments and open new possibilities, makes a significant contribution to the promotion of spatial culture—and perhaps also to fostering love and respect for architecture.”
Ana Kosi
Ana Kosi graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana in 2011 and later served as a teaching assistant at the same faculty in courses on architectural theory, criticism, and history (2017–2022). She studied both in Ljubljana and at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. She was a co-founder and partner of the architectural office Svet vmes (2010–2016) and, in 2017, co-founded the architectural firm KIP. Kosi contributes to the publication Outsider, where she was a member of the editorial board from 2018 to 2020. She also served as curator of the Slovenian pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
About OHS she said:
“OHS operates on the level of research, participation, and architectural experience. Through its approach, it plays a unique role in raising the standard of spatial culture and making architecture accessible and visible both to the general Slovenian public and to professionals. OHS opens up and connects the otherwise fragmented space in which we live, and in doing so, it also brings us, as people, closer together.”
Uroš Rustja
Uroš Rustja is an architect, co-founder of the architectural office VOID, and a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana. Many of his built projects have received awards and recognition as examples of high-quality architectural practice, both in Slovenia and internationally. His work focuses primarily on architecture within complex landscape and historical contexts, as well as socially responsible design.
Thoughts about OHS:
“Open House Slovenia is like open people. Sincere, lively, relaxed, and knows how to draw you in – not through shouting or self-praise, but by letting its optimism touch you. As Dane Zajc says: “Houses speak of the people who live under their roofs. They especially speak of joy. You can see it in the windows.”
Open House festival invites us in, so that we do not just observe this joy through the windows, but experience it ourselves. And it is precisely this personal experience that is essential for a full understanding of architecture and all its material, social, and environmental dimensions. That is why we rejoice in engaging with good architecture. Open House Slovenia, above all, speaks of open architecture, an open society, and open people.”