650 Apartments

View of the modular facade of the building

Project Details

• Project Name: 650 apartments
• Client: Gradis G group
• Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Project Type: Residential
• Principal Designer/s: Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik
• Design Team: Martina Lipicer, Nejc Batistic, Neza Oman, Marisa Baptista
• Date of commencement of project: 2003
• Date of completion of project: 2006
• Site Area: 15.000 m²
• Program:
  • Housing: 47,400 m²
  • Underground parking: 42,000 m²
  • Commercial areas: 400 m²

The apartment complex in its urban context

The Building

The design proposal stems from an invitation-only competition for developing four apartment blocks -125 to 140 metres in length, which it won for economic reasons as it managed to provide more saleable surface on the predefined urban set-up with a lower floor space index than all the other proposals.

View of the apartment blocks

With a strict time schedule and stringent budgets, the architects made planning and construction simple through the use of prefabricated elements such as bathrooms, windows and facade panels. The buildings was thus designed within modular forms. There are two parking levels beneath the site. The landscape provides a contrast to the geometrical facade through the use of gently curving rails and similar features. It breaks up the sightlines through the complex and creates a pause between the public and private spaces.

The larger duplex apartments on the upper 2 floors

Each building is divided into four identical modules, each with its own vertical circulation core. There are 42 apartments in each module, varying from small 30 m² studios to 1.5-bedroom 60 m² apartments on four identical floors. Larger duplex apartments from 85 to 105 m² are located on the top two floors. The module is repeated with slight variations at the far ends of the building.

View of the double layered facade

The facade is designed in two layers. The inner facade and outdoor spaces comprise of glazed loggias, balconies, terraces and verandas. The second skin is constructed with pre-formed wooden panels, glass and metal rails. Each apartment is provided with at least one balcony and loggia connecting it to the outdoors. Like the modules, the facade layer is also repeated four times, but given the varied geometry of the elements, the repetition passes virtually unnoticed.

Credits

• Text: Courtesy, the architect
• Photographs by Tomaz Gregoric courtesy of Ofis Architects
• Compiled and edited by Manish Mehta