Type
masterplan

Source
competition

Client
Imos d.d.

Address/Site
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Building area
147.743 m2

Storeys
3 basements + ground floor + 18

Program
residential and business structure

Architect
SADAR+VUGA (Jurij Sadar, Boštjan Vuga, Jacquline Pehtlemann, Mariano Arias Diez, Matthäus Wirth, Tomaž Krištof, Vita Kobal)

Tobacco factory in Ljubljana was in the period of its establishment in 1871 the third largest tobacco processing company in Europe, and along with the Union brewery the largest industrial complex in the then Slovenia. On an empty piece of land on the edge of the city, connected to green patches of land of the Tivoli park stand independent buildings of the complex, factory “pavilions”. Our proposition of the Tobačna is based on the combination of two independent identities – the old preserved pavilion structure of former factory buildings and new structure in the form of six new garden islands with towers.

By removing four storage facilities in the north part of the area and overbuilding the land along the Tivolska street we have defined the land of the development of Nova Tobačna. On this piece of land, completely furnished with basements, parking lot, and other services and technical facilities, we have placed six orthogonal garden islands of similar sizes.

Garden island is a free-standing structure, which is defined by a high-volume, two-storeyed pavilion – a podium and a 17-floor tower. The roof of the podium is intended for the garden of the 17-floor residential tower. Garden islands are an urbanistic and architectural element of the morphologic structure, which with its dimension, character, and appearance establishes relationship towards the greenness of the Tivoli park, pavilion buildings of the Tobačna factory, and vertical buildings in the city of Ljubljana.

The position of garden islands podiums extends the spatial network among pavilions of the Tobačna factory, while big gardens on their roofs represent “the green fifth façade” of the area. Verticals of six towers contribute to the new city silhouette on the south side of the city centre, between Rožnik hill and Castle hill. Towers of garden islands represent a new cluster of verticals, typical of the district along the edge of the inner city ring.