MOMA卢布尔雅那翻新项目丨Bevk Perović arhitekti

bevk perović arhitekti

renovation of MOMA ljubljana

Modern gallery Ljubljana, a building

designed in the late 1930’s

by slovene Modernist architect Edvard Ravnikar and protected as a monument, was originally

conceived as a stone pavillion

flanking the Tivoli park, Ljubljana’s main green area.

The project is not based on dramatic superposition of old and new, but on the

power of the original conception and its qualities

. It is a conceptual rather than ‘designerly’ approach, trying to ‘clean’ and ‘stress’, rather than ‘change’ the nature of the original.

renovation of MOMA ljubljana

address: Tomišičeva 14, Ljubljana

client: Moderna galerija, Ljubljana and Ministry of Culture, Slovenia

project: 2006-2009

built: 2008-2009

Bevk Perović project team:

Matija Bevk

Vasa J. Perović

Ida Sedušak

Nataša Šprah

Modern gallery Ljubljana, a building designed in the late 1930’s by slovene Modernist architect Edvard Ravnikar and protected as a monument, was originally conceived as a stone pavillion flanking the Tivoli park, Ljubljana’s main green area.

The building, symetrical in plan, has been partially appropriated many times through its history, so that its initial spatial concept slowly became completely obscured.

The concept of the renovation is based on the recognition of the buildings original qualities and their reestablishment in a manner that is even more pronounced than in the original project. The project is therefore not based on dramatic superposition of old and new, but on the power of the original conception and its qualities. It is a conceptual rather than ‘designerly’ approach, trying to ‘clean’ and ‘stress’, rather than ‘change’ the nature of the original.

The exhibition spaces are cleaned out and the central service core is inserted, connecting the entire building vertically and establishing the building basic functionality, but simultaneously establishing the never-existent continuity of ground floor enfilade of exhibition halls. Circulation through all exibition spaces begins/ends in the central museum hall containing the new information desk and a small museum bookshop.

The curatorial offices are located on the first floor, overlooking the roofscape dotted with reconstructed toplights, and are conceived as small individual study spaces opening onto a communal meeting area, cafe and library, shared by all.

Basement level, a former ‘base’ of the exhibition pavillion, had to be partially excavated to receive the required museum cafe, lecture hall, as well as art storage for large scale artworks and a large photographic studio. This is the only part of the architects intervention that is indeed ‘visible’ – the concrete ‘pools’, sunken below the former level of the cellars, are clearly indicated – as vessels for the new programs.