This year, the Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia awarded two projects of the City of Ljubljana with a Golden Pencil for Excellent Execution. These are the Cukrarna Gallery and Pedenjped Kindergarten, the Učenjak Unit.

Cukrarna Gallery, a new space of contemporary culture in Ljubljana

On 24 September last year, we opened the renovated Cukrarna Gallery, which gave Ljubljana a new space for the production and presentation of contemporary art. By reconstructing the existing building and designing its surroundings, we improved the urban environment and further revitalized the broader city centre.
Co-authors Marko Studen, Boris Matić and Jernej Šipoš received the Golden Pencil for Excellent Execution 2022 for the highly demanding and successfully implemented reconstruction project of the former sugar refinery. The expert jury wrote in its justification: »A massive building on the outside with a light, relaxed yet monumental interior does not leave visitors feeling indifferent. In addition to the fact that the Cukrarna Gallery has become Ljubljana's new cultural centre of contemporary art, this facility plays an important role as the guardian of all-Slovenian, historical memory. The space design concept confidently follows the idea that the symbolism of the building itself is as important as its content. The Cukrarna Gallery already demonstrates that it is successfully integrating into Ljubljana's urban space and regenerating a former brownfield area.«

Renovated and expanded kindergarten on the outskirts of Ljubljana

In June of this year, we opened the renovated and expanded Pedenjped Kindergarten, Učenjak Unit. With the renovation, we gained space for three departments, a multi-purpose area, a room for individual work, a dairy kitchen and an office, and we also expanded the playground. At the same time, we carried out energy renovations and measures to improve earthquake and fire safety.

Denis Rovan, Aleš Žmavc, Matic Škarabot, Lev Rahovsky Šuligoj, Vesna Draksler, Nina Vidić Ivančič and Lara Gligić received the Golden Pencil for Excellent Execution 2022 for the project mentioned earlier.

In the justification, the expert jury wrote, among other things: »The authors very successfully recognize the lack of a calm tone of the immediate surroundings and the well-thought-out upgradeability of the primary project. With a clear and well-thought-out move, they include additional needs into the existing fabric of the building and, at the same time, logically fit the external program. Moreover, the project clearly shows that by thoughtfully upgrading high-quality architecture, this quality is preserved and complemented, thus enabling later generations to have an economically feasible and sustainable continuity, forming shared memories and developing several generations in high-quality environments. The project is subtle, rational and beautiful. This is good architecture.«

The City of Ljubljana congratulates all the awardees who contributed to successfully implemented projects with their work. In the last 16 years, we have carried out over 2,400 projects in Ljubljana, with which we are improving the quality of life of our citizens.