On Belonging to a Place

arhitects Tomaž Krušec, Lena Krušec, Vid Kurinčić
project Family House, Golo, Slovenia
written by Lovorka Prpić

 

Let us go back to the beginning of the year 2006, when the team of Arhitektura Krušec won the competition for the administrative building of the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana, which was executed four years later. The restrained appearance of that building, which contains the spaces of a large lecture hall, a dean’s office, and a central library is underlined by a controlled selection of materials: white concrete for the construction, terrazzo for the floor, wood for partitions – enough! A composed combination of these three materials, and the immediate sensory experience of frequent staying in the building struck one user so much that he commissioned the same architects to design a house for his family. He asked only that the house be made precisely of concrete, terrazzo and wood. He had no other requirements later as well, although he was actively involved in the overall process of the emergence of his family home. Five years have passed since the order; the house is now built and inhabited. For that achievement, the authorial team of Arhitektura Krušec has received this year’s Zlati svinčnik (Golden Pencil), the award of the Slovenian Chamber of Architects. In addition to professional recognition and personal authorial satisfaction  the long-term process of creating a house finally brought to the architects a deeper satisfaction, extremely rare in this business – a customer ennobled by the house, a client who became their friend.