5 questions for … Jurij Sadar of Sadar+Vuga –  Love and lessons

1. Please describe the philosophy and methodology of Sadar+Vuga.

Sadar+Vuga focuses on open, innovative and integral architectural design and urban planning. In our opinion, architectural production contributes to our well-being and develops the physical context we live in, broadening our imagination and stimulating our senses.
Our works have a common starting point: we see each project as a unique opportunity to invent, learn and experiment, which is why complexity of a private interior design matches that of a football stadium.

2. You founded your practise over 20 years ago: What has changed in these years in your work? Which of your projects would you consider is one of the most important to you?

The continuous architectural production has indeed varied in size, complexity and focus during the 20 years since the office was established. In the beginning, we were preoccupied with the creation of public space – within government buildings, private residences and open space. Now, while still focusing on the public-private duality within our projects, we are more excited with the specifics of architectural interventions within existing structures.
Boštjan Vuga and I have started working together after winning the architectural competition for the new building for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. These were transitional, enthusiastic times, open to new social trends, and our projects really mirrored this enthusiasm.
With the economic boom and subsequent transformation of Ljubljana into a metropolitan capital, we have worked on several large-scale projects, among which the Sports Park Stožice was the most complex in terms of program, scale and architecture. Sadly, it was completed only partially: the large commercial centre and the park, which would transform the otherwise professional sports grounds into one of Ljubljana’s largest leisure zones, still await their completion.
Nowadays we seek commissions abroad as well: currently the first stage of our masterplan for Campus Schoonmeersen of College Ghent is being built, and the works on the reconstruction and adaptation of the abandoned construction site of the Home of Revolution in Nikšić, Montenegro, are to be commenced later in 2017.

3. What are your current projects and what are you planning for the future?

Apart from the above mentioned larger projects, the office is always busy working on housing and interior design. We are also interested in other aspects of practicing architecture: we are actively presenting our work through international exhibitions, lectures and symposia and constantly developing new methods of practicing and presenting architecture.

4. Please describe Slovenias’s recent development, especially in culture, design and architecture. What are the characteristics of "Slovenian Contemporary Architecture"?

Slovenia is a small country. It was always open to impulses and influences from abroad, especially in architectural production. After the separation from Yugoslavia, we had the tendency to establish our own national identity through culture, art and architecture, but the plurality of the expression is still very much visible in all aspects of culture.

5. Where is your favourite spot in your hometown and why? Your favourite location abroad?

I love my home. There I am surrounded by selected objects and family, so I consider it my favourite spot in Ljubljana. My favourite location abroad would be Alinda on the island Leros in the Aegean Sea.

Trailer of the documentary film "Sadar+Vuga XX"

Sadar+Vuga: Individual reflections and talks with Slovenian and foreign architects, architectural critics and policy-makers, combined with overviews of the firm's extensive archives and visits to their largest realisations, document the diverse architectural production with which the office consistently employs to seek out the new in architecture in the new documentary by Damjan Kozole and studio Vertigo.