<translation>Kancelářská a bytový dům Šmartinka</translation>

The area to the north of Ljubljana between Žale Cemetery and the BTC shopping zone represented a no man's land between Plečnik's eternity and the rapid-consumption architecture of commercial buildings until recently. After the completion of the northern section of the city ring road, Šmartinka Street became one of the main access routes to the center and quickly began to fill with development projects. The dynamically changing environment is also reflected in the architecture, which seems to resist local regulations, and everything is maximally subordinated to a single goal – flexibility and profit. One of the first ventures in this area was the multifunctional Šmartinka building, which at that time resembled a giant meteorite fallen into a gardening colony. However, the client was well aware of how the situation would evolve in the following ten years. Nevertheless, the building still looks like it's from another world amidst the semi-collapsed garages. The designer managed to use the local regulations to his advantage and layered a colorful collection of functions from basement parking, ground-floor shops, upper offices, and it is all crowned with apartments on the highest floors. In addition to the unconventional mass composition with prominent roof boxes, the building also attracts attention with the use of expensive aluminum panels and large-scale glazing. The functional layout is logical and can be traced even from the outside by the different facade cladding. During construction, the future apartment owners and office tenants were unknown. Therefore, the layouts had to allow for the greatest variability, mostly remaining empty and waiting for their later users. The commercial and office spaces are differentiated from one another by various types of large-scale glazing. The upper residential part is treated differently: like three separate family houses placed on a rooftop terrace. They share only installations and a communication core with the lower structure. The remaining parts extend or retreat to create covered roof gardens, from which apartment owners can enjoy plenty of privacy while having a magnificent view of the city. The Šmartinka apartment building project won the Župančič Award in 2003.