MODERNIST
NEIGHBOURHOODS
OF LJUBLJANA
PARTNER
construction, materials and industrial
construction methods and technology to
planning and design of open public space.
Urban planners paid considerable attention to the distances between schools and
apartment buildings, and even maintained
that school grids serve as the framework
around which neighbourhoods were
to be structured.
One particular project proved key for
the further development of Ljubljana's
neighbourhoods – one developed in
Ravnikar's studio by Majda Dobravec,
Janez Lajovic, Janja Lap and Mitja Jernejec. They designed a residential neighbourhood for 5,000 residents divided
into residential blocks for 300 to 1,000
residents and organized around a central
area. Central areas included shops and
service establishments, schools, day care
centres and sports playgrounds. Residential blocks were further divided into
communities with children's playgrounds
as their central points. A neighbourhood
includes different types of housing, from
apartment buildings to terraced houses,
and has extensive green areas. Its central
area is typically emphasized by high-rise
apartment buildings and is sited along a
major arterial route with a bus stop nearby.
The Bežigrajska soseska 6 (BS 6) neighbourhood, between Dunajska, Šarhova, Pohorskega bataljona and Hubadova Streets
was the ﬁrst real-life on-site test of this
theoretical model, followed by all bigger
residential neighbourhoods developed in
Ljubljana up until the 1980s.
PROJECT FINANCED BY
Idea & Concept by: Matevž Čelik
Edited by: Špela Vidmar
Written by: Matevž Čelik
Translated from Slovene: Darja Horvatič
Proofread by: Jeff Bickert
Graphic design: Matej Koren Studio
Photo: Miran Kambič and MAO archive
Koseze neighbourhood after construction in 1974.
Published on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the birth of the architect Max Fabiani.
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MODERNIST NEIGHBOURHOODS OF LJUBLJANA
At the beginning of the 1960s, residential
neighbourhood planning played a key role
in the larger urban planning scheme of
Ljubljana. In 1965, the General Urban Plan
of Ljubljana established neighbourhoods
as the central organizing principle underlying Ljubljana's spatial planning policy, and
became the reference tool according to
which further major enlargements of the
city were organized.
The residential neighbourhood model
emerged as an answer to the ﬁrst big
housing estates built after World War
II. These estates were sited alongside
factories and were characterized by the
repetition of a single type of long and
low apartment block, which made them
uniform in appearance and unappealing to
the residents. The residential neighbourhood planning method came to Slovenia
via Sweden. It was based on the work of
Clarence Perry, an American who in his
1920 Regional Plan for New York proposed
building neighbourhoods for 5,000 residents, and included criteria like a pedestrian walkway and an elementary school at
the centre of each. Following World War II
this model was adopted in England and the
Nordic countries, from where it was then
introduced to Slovenia.
The ﬁrst residential neighbourhood
studies for Ljubljana were produced in the
1950s in the studio of Professor Edvard
Ravnikar at Ljubljana University’s Faculty
of Architecture. These studies encompassed the technical and sociological
sides of housing developments, from
Janez Vovk, Aleš Šarec, Šišenska Soseska 6 (ŠS 6), model, 1964
Construction of BS 7 neigbourhood in the middle of the seventies.
HOUSING
POLICY
1956
New types of residential buildings,
neighbourhoods, housing cooperatives
and prefab systems are presented
at the exhibition »Appartment for our
situation« accompanying a conference
on housing construction.
1960
Changes in housing legislation
allow the construction of housing
for the market.
1956
35 housing cooperatives registered
in Ljubljana.
1960
The establishment of the Urban
Planning Institute.
1955
The establishment of the Institute
for the Housing Construction
in Ljubljana.
1955
Rapid growth of the population of
Ljubljana. 16,000 families without
housing registered.
1954
By providing long-term
loans to self-builders number
of new family houses in
Ljubljana reaches half of the
total housing construction.
1945
Shortage of 2,000
homes in Ljubljana
at the end of the war.
1945
1950
CONSTRUCTION
OF RESIDENTIAL
NEIGHBOURHOODS
1946
Residential area at the tramway depot
(Litostrojski blocks), research by
the studio of Edvard Ravnikar at the
Faculty of Architecture
1947
Regulation plan for the residential
area at the tramway depot, plan by the
Office for the Regulation of Ljubljana
1948–1954
Litostroj factories build 15 apartment
blocks for their workers at the
tramway depot in Šiška.
1955
1960
The establishment of the Institute
for Cooperative Building.
1959
177 housing cooperatives
registered in Ljubljana.
1965
General Urban Plan of
Ljubljana (GUP)
1958
At the exhibition »Family and Household«,
organized at the conference of Town
Planners in Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture
of Ljubljana presents the program and the
concept of an ideal residential neighborhood
for 5,000 people.
1965
Housing reform. Commercial
banks take on the task
of crediting and ﬁnancing
of housing construction.
1960
1958
Savsko naselje
neighbourhood,
urban planning,
Božidar Gvardjančič
Modernist
Neighbourhoods
of Ljubljana
1966
The number of apartments
for the market reaches a
third of the total number of
apartments built.
1965
1961
Residential high-rises built in Savsko
naselje, architects Milan Mihelič and
Ilija Arnautović.
1970
1967–1981
Bežigrajska soseska 7 (BS 7)
neighbourhood, urban planning,
Braco Mušič, Marjan Bežan, Nives Starc
1963
BS 6 neighbourhood at
Bežigrad, urban planning, Janez Berdajs
1964–1972
ŠS 6 neighbourhood in
Šiška, urban planning,
Janez Vovk, Aleš Šarec
1964–1973
Ferantov vrt neighbourhood,
urban planning, Edvard Ravnikar
1964
VS 4, Bonifacija neighbourhood,
urban planning, Roman Rems
1965
Murgle neighbourhood,
I. phase, urban planning,
Marta and France Ivanšek
1975
1971–1982
Bežigrajska soseska 3 (BS 3)
neighbourhood, urban planning,
Mitja Jernejec
1968
Murgle neighbourhood,
II. phase, urban planning,
Marta and France Ivanšek
1972
VS 1 neighbourhood, Trnovo,
urban planning, Roman Rems
1968
ŠS 10 neighbourhood,
Draveljska gmajna, urban
planning, Janez Vovk
1972
Nove Jarše neighbourhood,
urban planning, Stanko Štor
1968–1974
Koseze neighbourhood,
urban planning,
Mitja Jernejec, Viktor Pust
1973
ŠS 7/1 and 8/2
neighbourhoods, Dravlje,
urban planning, Janez Vovk
1968–1986
MS 4 and MS 5 neighbourhoods,
Fužine, urban planning, Boris Novak,
Stanko Štor, Milena Macarol
1973–1985
MS 2-1 and MS 3-2 neighbourhoods,
Štepanjsko naselje, urban planning,
Mirko Mrva, Justin Bevk
1980
1977
Murgle neighbourhood,
III. phase, urban planning,
Marta and France Ivanšek
SOURCE
Breda Mihelič, Urbanistični razvoj Ljubljane,
Partizanska knjiga, Ljubljana, 1983
1
Sa
va
3
7
DESIGN
ADDRESS
BEŽIGRAJSKA
SOSESKA 7 (BS 7)
1967
Bratovševa ploščad,
Glinškova ploščad,
Mucherjeva Street
URB. PLANNING Braco Mušič, Marjan
Bežan, Nives Starc
ARCHITECTURE Braco Mušič, Marjan
Bežan, Nives Starc
DESIGN
ADDRESS
BRATOVŠ EVA PL.
DUNAJSKA CESTA
1964
Trg komandanta
Staneta Square
URB. PLANNING Janez Vovk,
Aleš Šarec
ARCHITECTURE Ilija Arnautović,
Aleksander Peršin
GLINŠK OVA PL.
ŠIŠENSKA
SOSESKA 6 (ŠS 6)
1968
Ul. Bratov Učakar Street
Mitja Jernejec,
Viktor Pust
ARCHITECTURE Viktor Pust
DESIGN
ADDRESS
URB. PLANNING
Sava
LITOSTROJSKO NASELJE
The Litostrojsko naselje settlement is the only
residential area to have been built during the ﬁrst
wave of renovation after World War II. Initially, this
area was planned to include only a single residential
neighbourhood with 38 apartment buildings built
around communal areas, a canteen, a day care centre, a shop, a school and children's playgrounds. The
ﬁrst layout was designed in 1946 by students in Edvard Ravnikar's studio at the Faculty of Architecture.
They sited apartment buildings along the northsouth axis, i.e. the direction in which this former agricultural area was subdivided into individual plots.
Later, the building parcel was divided between two
contractors: residential buildings to the north were
built by the Litostroj factories for its employees,
while those to the south were constructed by the
People's City Council. In 1947 a new building layout
was drawn up by the Ljubljana Regulation Office. The
layout retained the basic construction concept but
changed the area’s inner traffic grid, dividing it into
two parts along Obirska Street. The centre of the
residential area, with a school, day care centre and
shops, was never built. Instead, the ground levels of
apartment buildings, which were built on supporting
pillars according to Le Corbusier's model, were
walled in to accommodate these facilities.
Ježica
Savlje
SOSESKA KOSEZE
(ŠS 9 AND ŠS 10)
6
Hippodrome
Sava
2
REBOLJEVA
Tomačevo
Stožice
Arena
CE STA
MAROLTOVA
PUHOVA
VA
VOJKOVA CESTA
SK
OJ
TR
VA
OS
KA
L IT
VŠ
IČ E
LO
AM
CE
AD
CE
AK
AR
KA
UČ
Bežigrad
UL
ST
A
.B
RA
TO
VU
ČA
KA
Koseze
VO
R
DN
IK
OV
A
CE
BEŽIGRAJSKA
SOSESKA 3 (BS 3)
1971
Reboljeva, Maroltova,
Trebinjska and
Puhova Streets
URB. PLANNING Mitja Jernejec
ARCHITECTURE Ilija Arnautović
DESIGN
SITE
Šiška
CE
ST
A
Lj. Cementary
Žale
LO
Plečnik
Stadium
VŠ
KA
VA
A
SAVS
DU NA
KA
JS KA
A
MO
A
ST
SA
IKO VA
CE ST
CE
DR EN
A
LI N H
AR TO
ST
VA CE
ŠM
AR
T IN
SK
A
CE
ST
SOSESKA MURGLE (VS 103)
6
BEŽIGRAJSKA
SOSESKA 7 (BS 7)
The Bežigrajska soseska 7 (BS 7) neighbourhood
was designed as a megastructure along two streets.
The two streets serve as the leitmotif of the entire
neighbourhood and were conceived as a live space
intended for pedestrians only, who ﬁnd themselves
a half-storey above street level, and opening up
parking space below street level. According to the
initial project, the ground ﬂoors of all apartment
buildings were intended to accommodate retail
shops and catering facilities. The Ruski car neighbourhood (as it was nicknamed) was designed in the
spirit of a functionalist city looking to apply larger,
universal solutions. The project served as something
of a playground for town planners in which to test
the dynamic planning method. They speciﬁed key
reference points and design elements that would
characterize the neighbourhood as a whole while
allowing room for diverse design projects within
this framework. Once it was completed, the neighbourhood offered a wide variety of different housing
units, ranging from apartments in both ﬂush and terraced apartment blocks, to lofts and atrium houses.
One of the most appealing areas of the neighbourhood is the park with its carefully designed relief and
groups of trees.
TO
PN
2
IŠ K
1
A
3
ŠIŠENSKA SOSESKA 6 (ŠS 6)
CE
LO
VŠ
KA
Mostec
CE
VILHARJEVA
A
ST
Train Station
MASARYKOVA
Center
SAVSKO NASELJE
1957–1961
between Linhartova,
Savska, Topniška and
Šmartinska Streets
URB. PLANNING Božidar Gvardjančič
ARCHITECTURE Ilija Arnautović,
Milan Mihelič,
Dušan Bohinec
DESIGN
SITE
C ES
TA
LITOSTROJSKO
NASELJE
1946–1947
between Litostrojska,
Celovška and
Goriška Streets
URB. PLANNING Edvard Ravnikar,
Ljubljana Regulation
Office
ARCHITECTURE Edvard Mihevc,
Dušan Bohinec
VE N
SK A
DESIGN
SITE
PREŠERNOV TRG
SL O
CE
ŠI
KA
ŠE
NS
V
KA
T IŠ
R IŠ
DU
RA
TO
GO
PO
.B
A
ST
UL
SAVSKO NASELJE
The Savsko naselje neighbourhood is the ﬁrst postwar housing area to include all the elements of a
residential neighbourhood. The apartment buildings
of Savsko naselje were built by different contractors,
including the Yugoslav Army, the Housing Construction Institute, and various construction companies.
Even before the construction layout plan was
completed in 1958, single-storey houses with brick
woodsheds reminiscent of pre-war workers’ colonies
were built there. They were placed on a street grid
designed before World War II by Jože Plečnik in his
regulatory plan for the Svetokriški okraj district. A
neighbourhood supplies centre was also built. The
period after 1958 saw the construction of long,
ﬁve-storey apartment blocks that were sited along
a NE-SW axis in order for the apartments to better
take advantage of daylight. With the construction
of 14-storey apartment buildings along Linhartova
Street at the beginning of the 1960s, the neighbourhood’s boundary was established. At the end of the
1960s, the residential area spread westward, where
a new part of the area with apartment buildings,
an elementary school and a day care centre was
built. Today, Savsko naselje is considered one of
the greenest parts of the city and is popular for its
proximity to central Ljubljana.
TREBINJSKA
JS KA
ŠE
DU NA
KU
A
RA
8
5
Comprehensive planning and quality construction
of family houses was not particularly commonplace
after World War II. Only a small number of such projects were designed, among which the Murgle neighbourhood project is the largest. It began as a model
settlement of single-family prefabricated houses.
The neighbourhood was built in three stages, with
some parts also built at a later stage. The layout of
the neighbourhood is modelled on the scheme followed by the ﬁelds and canals of the Ljubljana Moor
and bordered by rows of trees. The neighbourhood is
divided into residential islands 100 × 100 metres in
size, separated from each other by streets intended
for car traffic. Streets are lined with tree avenues
and named after trees that were planted there.
Facing the streets are garages, while houses are
accessible on footpaths leading through greenery. A
residential island consists of 30 to 35 single-storey
atrium houses. As the entire settlement is built on a
drained bog with damp soil the houses are low and
have no cellars. It took almost 30 years to complete
the construction of the neighbourhood, yet its
predetermined design elements such as brick walls
and wooden fences made it possible to retain their
conceptual uniformity. Some of the best qualities of
this neighbourhood include its extensive greenery
and its quiet, car-free residential environment.
Ljubljanica
GR EG
AŠ KE
RČ EV
OR ČIČ
Ljubljana Castle
EVA
Poljane
Fužine
MAO
A
ZOIS OVA
KA
Vič
TR
ŽA
ŠK
A
OV
ŠK
Štepanjsko naselje
A
Prule
4
Trnovo
A
CE
RL
ST
5
4
SOSESKA MURGLE
(VS 103)
FERANTOV VRT
KOP RSK
A
CES
TA
E
VM
S TN
G
I LO
MO KRŠ
KA
KOP RSK
RG
V MU
Golovec
LAH
A
CE ST
A DV
EH
CE SA
RJ EV
1965-1977
between Cesta v Mestni
log, V Murglah and
Koprska Streets
URB. PLANNING Marta in France Ivanšek
ARCHITECTURE Marta in France Ivanšek
DESIGN
SITE
Barje
The Šišenska soseska 6 (ŠS 6) neighbourhood is
one of the ﬁrst comprehensive neighbourhoods to
be built according to the 1965 General Urban Plan
(GUP) of Ljubljana. It was built to provide housing
for 10,000 people and carefully designed as a set of
several smaller neighbourhoods. Urban planners intended the area along the major traffic artery entering the city to be more densely built, with the density
easing towards the interior of the neighbourhood.
The centre of the neighbourhood, with its high-rise
apartment buildings and tower blocks was therefore placed along the Celovška Street, while lower
residential buildings were situated closer to the
interior of the area. Apartment buildings are placed
in dynamic lines, bays and horseshoe shapes, with
abundant park greenery, children’s playgrounds
and gardens in between; car traffic is limited to only
a few bordering streets. At the green heart of the
neighbourhood are an elementary school, a day
care centre and a gym. Pedestrian walkways were
carefully planned so that no distance from home to
school would be more than 600 metres. With its formal, fan-shaped design and typical traditional town
elements like a street, a square and a closed urban
block, the ŠS 6 neighbourhoods represented one of
the ﬁrst deviations from functional urbanism.
1964-1975
between Slovenska,
Rimska, Igriška and
Gregorčičeva Streets
URB. PLANNING Edvard Ravnikar
ARCHITECTURE Edvard Ravnikar
DESIGN
SITE
FERANTOV VRT
The Ferantov vrt housing complex was designed
by Edvard Ravnikar as a cluster of housing units to
complement the existing body of apartments in the
city centre, and to lend the southern part of the city
a more metropolitan character. New buildings in
conjunction with older houses along Rimska Street
form a residential island with several commercial
establishments on the ground ﬂoors. The housing
complex is situated on the site of an ancient Roman
forum. Architect Edvard Ravnikar incorporated this
into the design of individual buildings, while at the
same time displaying the remains of the Roman Emona (the ﬁrst incarnation of present day Ljubljana) in
the Jakopič Gallery on Slovenska Street. Apartments
run through the building, facing both the street as
well as the courtyard. The courtyard is designed
as an open public park with garages hidden underneath. Belts of balconies and windows alternating
on the façade together with a combination of brick
and concrete lend the buildings a special character.
They are further brought together into a uniﬁed
whole by certain architectural details, like the
characteristic brick corner “stitches” and concrete
ﬂower boxes, which residents have planted with
abundant greenery.
7
SOSESKA KOSEZE
(ŠS 9 AND ŠS 10)
The Koseze residential neighbourhood is a scaledback version of the winning development proposal
for the area of Šišenska soseska neighbourhoods
9 and 10. Its terraced apartment buildings are a
combination of residential apartment blocks and
single-family houses. Built closely together in a
dense conﬁguration, all of the apartments in the
upper storeys feature large outside terraces while
those on the ground level have gardens. Modelled
on a German example, the Koseze apartment blocks
were the ﬁrst terraced blocks in Ljubljana and were
considered a quality typological innovation at the
time of their construction. They are designed as
“hills” and grow narrower as they gradually increase
in height, creating a more human-friendly scale,
while at the same time the property below is put
to good use. Entrances to apartment buildings are
accessible on footpaths lined with greenery and running between parallel rows of identical blocks. Traffic
is restricted to the perimeter of the neighbourhood,
with parking spaces in underground garages. Thus,
the neighbourhood stays rich with greenery and
remains traffic-free.
8
BEŽIGRAJSKA
SOSESKA 3 (BS 3)
The Bežigrajska soseska 3 (BS 3) neighbourhood
covers an area 800 metres long and 250 metres
wide and is one of the largest neighbourhoods in
Ljubljana. Its complex, hyper-urban structure was
designed by Mitja Jernejec, with architectural design
by Ilija Arnautović. Like many other neighbourhoods
in Ljubljana, the construction of BS 3 was never
completed in full. Despite this fact, however, it
boasts many interesting features that contribute to
its special character. According to the initial design,
there should have been two enormous apartment
blocks constructed on its eastern border. Instead
these were replaced with tower blocks with pointed
caps at the top, which are the identifying feature of
the neighbourhood today. Tower blocks are positioned in two clusters along Vojkova Street, while the
interior core of the neighbourhood evolves into long
rows of low-rise apartment buildings with access
roads running underneath. The friendly character
of the neighbourhood is accentuated by generous
outdoor spaces – green areas, parks, squares,
alleys and footpaths. They are designed as green
alleys separating apartments from each other, with
playgrounds, rest areas and recreation islands lined
up along them.