DESSA Architecture Centre

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DESSA Arhitekturni center

Židovska steza 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.dessa.si

ljdessa1@guest.arnes.si

Phone386 (0) 1 251 4074

The acronym DESSA stands for "Delovna skupnost samostojnih arhitektov", which is the Slovene term for The Association of Freelance Architects, founded in 1982 by 36 architects with the primary purpose of helping private architects work in a socialist society. It has provided both a business framework and a physical space for the activities of freelance architects who work in various design fields, ranging from urban planning, architecture, interior and graphic design to theatre set design.

With the possibility to establish private offices for architecture and in cooperation with the economic sector the role of DESSA changed and many famous and prosperous studios arise, naming only Atelier, Bevk-Perović Arhitekti, Ravnikar-Potokar Architecture Bureau and several others.

Today DESSA Architecture Centre and Association works as a non-profit architecture organization publishing professional literature, organising lectures, excursions, and managing Arhitectural Gallery DESSA with around ten exhibitions of architecture each year, many of them international. DESSA is also one of the leading associations to nominate architectural achievements for international Mies van der Rohe prize.

Background

In Spring 1989 Boris Podrecca, an internationally-renowned Slovene architect currently working in Vienna, donated his design services for a new gallery/office complex in the centre of Ljubljana. The place is following the principles of Gottfried Semper, and is composed of four rooms, each devoted to a different building material - stone for the gallery, wood for the library, plastic for the office, and textile for the meeting room. All items except chairs were made specially for DESSA; chairs designed by Prof. Niko Kralj in 50s were donated by the manufacturer Stol Kamnik.

In 1991 DESSA founded Arhé, a design firm which at first assisted members to produce and sell architectural designs, but later took over all commerce and financial responsibilities of DESSA, thus allowing the association to focus on cultural activities pertinent to the field of architecture. Today the branch Arhé is still “covering” several groups of architects, but became only one of the actual providers on the market.

In 1996, with 74 of its founding members, DESSA restructured itself and registered as a non-profit cultural institution, DESSA Architecture Centre, with the objective of elevating general social awareness of the cultural value of architecture.

See also

• Arhitectural Gallery DESSA

External links

• DESSA website