SADAR + VUGA Architects

Never shy of making bold architectural statements, SADAR + VUGA is among the most visible architecture bureaus in Slovenia. Founded in 1996 by Boštjan Vuga and Jurij Sadar, their office has made a significant mark not only in the landscape of the Slovene capital Ljubljana but also in the public discourse surrounding architecture. They've earned themselves substantial international limelight and their projects are standing (or getting there) in several states across Europe.

The bureau is usually simultaneously preoccupied by large scale projects – such as the renovation of the main city boulevard in Ljubljana and the Sports Park Stožice – as well with interior design and various smaller housing endeavors. Either way, there is always a sense of complexity in their charismatic visual language.

Sports Park Stožice, 2010

Background

Jurij Sadar and Boštjan Vuga both graduated at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana during the 1980s, with Vuga subsequently undertaking postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He received the Student Plečnik Award in 1992, the same year when Sadar received (his first) Piranesi Award. In 1994 Vuga co-founded OCEAN, a still operating trans-national network of architects, urban planners and designers.

The duo established the bureau after winning open calls for two of their most well known projects – a rather thorough refurbishment of the National Gallery of Slovenia and the erection of new headquarters for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS).

National Gallery of Slovenia, view of the northern wing by Edvard Ravnikar and the entrance hall by SADAR + VUGA Architects, 2009.

Projects

Among SADAR+VUGA's most-acknowledged work is the building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) in Ljubljana, raised in 1999. The building showcased their knack for visually stimulating, layered and intertwined construction designs. Since then, it seems as if they've been almost systematically creating architectural landmarks in the capital. Some of them are the central part of the National Gallery of Slovenia (2001), the Condominium Trnovski Pristan (2004), the Slovenska Boulevard (2015) and the Sports Park Stožice &ndasH, among the biggest construction sites in Slovenia when taking of in 2010 and currently still awaiting completion.

In Belgium the Campus Schoonmeersen of College Ghent is based on their plans, as is the reconstruction and adaptation of the abandoned construction site of the Home of Revolution in the town of Nikšić, Montenegro, started in 2017.

Of the many other prominent works by SADAR + VUGA, one may well mention the striking Air Traffic Control Centre at the Ljubljana Airport. For the highly regarded Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies (KSEVT) (2012) the office was a part of a sort of an all-star consortium also featuring Ofis Arhitekti, Dekleva Gregorič Arhitekti and Bevk Perović Arhitekti.

Awards and nominations

For its projects the office has been awarded numerous international prizes and recognitions. A few of them are the Archmaraton Award (2014), the Iconic Award (2013), the Eccs Steel Design Award (2003) and the Bauwelt Prize (2001). They were also nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award several (9) times, and for the Iakov Chernikhov International Prize in 2008. In 2008 the studio was shortlisted at the World Architecture Festival

In Slovenia it was (as of 2017) granted four Golden Pencil Awards, two Plečnik Awards, the Župančič Award and a couple of Piranesi Awards and nominations

Architectural philosophy

Sadar+Vuga state their works to be "intentionally imperfect and awkward, robust, and ambiguous, intentionally incoherent and contradictory, where a single architectural project can be described as both monumental and informal at the same time". Aspiring to systematically produce innovative concepts they often opt for an audacious use of materials and colours, sometimes venturing into – as they say – an "expressive heaviness".

Thus the bureau strives not only to create visually challenging landmarks but also to open up public debates. In fact, the office established a certain transparency in their communication with both the public and the investors. However, Boštjan Vuga and Jurij Sadar are also interested in other aspects of architecture: in presenting their work through public appearances, international exhibitions, lectures and symposia. Both also teach at architecture schools (at TU Graz and the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, respectively).

Reflections

Apart from all this they also consciously (self)historicize their work, letting it be critically reflected not only in catalogues but also in books (The Designers Republic's Adventures In & Out of Architecture (L. King Publishing, 2001), Tendencies (Design Document Series 17, DAMDI, 2006), and Sadar+Vuga: A Review (Hatje Cantz, 2012) as well as in a film-essay, released in 2017 and directed by Damjan Kozole, of Vertigo production studio.

The latter features reflections by and talks with Slovenian and foreign architects, critics and policy-makers, combined with visits to the bureaus largest realisations, documenting the diverse architectural production of the office.

Sadar+Vuga XX (2017) trailer eng by Vertigo Ljubljana on Vimeo

Other public interventions

Additionally, the architects also try to intervene in the political process, as for example with the collection of their own realisations and of urban planning studies presented in the book Formula New Ljubljana (Actar, 2006) and later with the Sports Park Stožice: Possible futures (2016).

The latter is offering possible visions of the entire Sports Park Stožice complex, now for many years an unfinished construction ground. The ideas are a product of an international student workshop, done with students from the Münster School of Architecture, University of Applied, Sciences (MSA) and the Ljubljana based Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Biotechnology.

External links

Gallery

The building designed by four architectural bureaus which established the Architectural Union for Vitanje (AZZV): Bevk Perović Arhitekti, Dekleva Gregorič Arhitekti, Ofis Arhitekti and SADAR + VUGA Architects, 2012

Startled Satyr, a student work by Ivan Zajec, 1894, awarded with Fueger Medal, today set up in the entrance hall of the National Gallery of Slovenia. Zajec was commissioned to make a sculpture of a poet France Prešeren for the central square in Ljubljana, unveiled in 1905.

National Gallery of Slovenia, view of the northern wing by Edvard Ravnikar and the entrance hall by SADAR + VUGA Architects, 2009.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters, an early and highly renowned work by SADAR + VUGA, 1999.

SADAR + VUGA Architects are responsible for the central part of the National Gallery of Slovenia, a huge glass lobby connecting the two previously separate parts of the gallery, 2001

The Condominium Trnovski Pristan (lovingly called the Salamander) is one of the two rather distinctive residential projects in the Trnovo district that were designed by SADAR + VUGA Architects, 2004

The Football Stadium Stožice is a part of the Sports Park Stožice, a huge multi-purpose complex located on the outskirts of Ljubljana, 2010

The renovation and modification of the Slovenska Boulevard in Ljubljana was a joint enterprise undertaken by several architecture studios. The realisation was finished in 2015.