Dekleva Gregorič architects: bringing an innovative, human approach to urbanism, industry and product design – and introducing a little physical poetry in the process.

HS You have a number of projects on the table these days, each quite different from the next. What is your office particularly focused on at the moment? And what are some of the issues at work in these projects?
DGA We’re just finishing with an industrial facility in Slovenia, which consists of an immense production plateau and two small buildings on the edge of it. In contrast to the very rough production that goes on at the site – the company collects and recycles waste metals – we’ve embedded some abstract or one might say “poetic” content in the project. The two buildings are of the same volume, but materially very different: one is made entirely out of concrete, housing all services and a workshop. The other is all steel – from structure to cladding – containing offices which overlook the plant and materially establish a dialogue with the main materials employed. This way the two buildings and the plateau speak about the context of the industrial plant and, alongside the functional, also contain emotional value.
We’re also in the final stage of a house on Maui, which is fully integrated into the magnificent landscape there. And alongside urbanism and architecture, which constitute our main area of operations, we’ve recently branched out into product design: we’ve designed a door handle prototype for the renowned German manufacturer FSB.

HS Is there something in your thinking, approach, or execution you see as distinct or distinguishing you from other offices? Is it related in some way, more specifically, to your use of materials, sense of space or issues related to context?
DGA What might distinguish us is difficult to say. During our studies in Ljubljana and later, at the Architectural Association in London, we developed a particularly critical way of thinking in relation both to what we see around us and towards our own work as well. Our architecture always relates closely to its context, where context is understood as site, program, social structure, budget and other factors. A conceptual approach to the structuring of space, expressing some “nature” of the materials used and an all-round focus on users might best summarize what we’re about.

HS How do you keep or make projects seem strong, innovative, fresh, and in some way, beyond what we already know or are used to in the built environment around us?
DGA Questioning your own work is one way of moving towards new, interesting results, while at the same time retaining certain values or interests – like social relations, context, structuring space, use of materials – is important and necessary for coherent architectural production.
Another way of learning is through research of the architectural heritage: occasionally we’re involved in creating exhibitions about the modern period in Slovenian architecture, where the 60s and 70s represent one of the most architecturally coherent eras here.
Further, we often try to experiment on architectural concepts or on the use/treatment of different materials for our own use. This way we gain valuable feedback from these try-out solutions that may eventually end up in projects for our clients.

HS What is it in your two most recent projects – the transformation of the Tobačna industrial complex in Ljubljana, and the University Campus Livade in Izola, on the Slovenian coast – that makes them somehow, special, stand out from the other proposals?
DGA Both of these competitions we’ve recently won were programmatically complex and had very distinctive contexts. We think we’ve managed to create seemingly simple urban schemes capable of logically regulating the programme throughout the site, and which create a dialogue with the existing structures both within and beyond the site limits.
We also paid a great deal of attention to the structuring of the outdoor space. In both proposals there’s a gradient of privacy of outdoor areas, ranging from open, public event-spaces over smaller, enclosed squares in Tobačna, and the semi-private gardens at the campus, to private rooftop gardens and enclosed faculty atriums. It was interesting – and important – to learn from Barcelona’s city structure, with its “Plazas-Paseos-Patios”.

HS Working to be noticed, to be outspoken, to fascinate, is characteristic of our post-modern era – sometimes, unfortunately, at the price of the architecture. Tina (Gregorič) has been quoted as saying it’s obvious the social aspect is one of the main forces driving your projects. Are you working on the premise that architecture is made primarily for the user?
DGA Certainly. Just as human existence in general is based primarily on social interaction, architecture wouldn’t have any sense without users relating to it. Even if we took into consideration only the artistic values inherent in architecture it’s impossible to avoid a certain existential dependency on social engagement: what’s the point of creating a piece of art if no one ever gets the message or forms any relation to it?

HS Your use of materials such as bent steel, concrete walls, fibre-cement plates, and terrazzo among others is immediately apparent and particularly effective. What are you trying to say or do with these materials and the way you employ them?
DGA Architecture, besides being visual, is also a highly tactile product, so we try to be true to the materials we use. The beauty of the material is in its natural properties and these properties play an important role in creating the space. For us, a wooden floor also means you can lie naked on the floor feel the structure and temperature of the wood on your skin – you should even be able to smell the oil the wood was treated with.
HS I assume this extends to the private house in Maui?
DGA The Maui clients will enjoy both an outstanding view and feeling – and smelling – the IPE wood, whether they’re lying on their roof or sitting in the living room.
HS And your design objects, the door handle and the table?
DG The steel dining table we’ve recently designed will probably have to be powder coated – but someone, maybe us, might even prefer it rusty. Materials and treatments are as individual and specific as the solutions they’re part of. We don’t change our approach to design when we shift from a building to a product. The stitching on the leather door handle and the fixtures on the façade of an apartment block are equally important – and compelling.
Author: Alexandra Parker, with Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič; Dekleva Gregorič arhitekti, Ljubljana
Project photos: Matevž Paternoster
Graphics & portrait: Dekleva Gregoric arhitekti