Conceptual design for a diffused hotel on Reber street in Ljubljana

Diffuse hotel in the old city centre of Ljubljana serves firstly as a resort for tourists, secondly as a cultural hub for the surrounding area and thirdly as a place for an alternative function in the future.

Ljubljana city center is on a declining trend, because of functional decentralization and territorial devolution and is consequently dying. Recently, we have witnessed many renovation and restoration, but most of it fall into the category musealisation, this is the principle of renovation to preserve everything as it is. Can the city center offer more than just an outdoor museum? A multi-faceted response in this master thesis, is illustrated with three key aspects. The first is the context of the old city center. Selected location is on the old city street, Reber from the city to the castle. In the condensed old town center, the hotel is designed diffuse, its individual parts are hidden behind the walls of the historic street. The roof of the hotel is designed in terraces, that is prevalent in the atriums of historical houses on the Gornji trg. The second is existential. Hotel not only offers accomodation, but a comprehensive experience of staying in the old town center. This point is argued with reference examples from the world and also by the feature film Vesna, who was mostly filmed right on the Reber, and shows the vibrant life of young people from Ljubljana, in the years after the second World War. The hotel is not intended merely for accomodation, part of it is designed as a social center for the poeple living in the surroundings. The third aspect is sociological. The design of the hotel is designed so that it will enable the division into individual segments with a new, different purpose.