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Among the first are Litostroj

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Ibid

Ibid

62. Ibid.

63. For the competition project they were designed as “Sever’s standard cylinders” garages - unfortunately unrealised.

64. Distance from the main traffic road, was according to Mušič dictated by the experience of building the BS3 (M. Jernejc, UISRS), where the skyscraper groups expose residents to the growing noise of the city highway.

x. The urban street, BS7

At the same time, the Urban Planning Institute (UISRS) was planning the BS-7 neighbourhood, with a similar goal - to establish a city within the city and revive the compact city construction with a street and a square. In BS7, the dynamic element of the pedestrian street appears for the first time as the leading urban motif and the focal element of the neighbourhood design.62 The neighbourhood plot was determined by the 1965 Ljubljana GUP, outlined by existing transport infrastructure (East -Titova/Dunajska street, west - Kamnik railway line).

The competition project presented a series of pedestrian streets, defined by a pair of linear apartment blocks and placed above the level of the natural terrain below which garages would be located. Out of three planned, two residential streets were realised: the first, a true artery of the neighbourhood, in the eastwest direction connects two stops of city traffic (bus and railway), under it there are also realised garages; the second (realised but in a slightly different form) develops perpendicular to the first, in the direction of the existing settlements. The ground floors of the buildings were intended for public functions. Secondary connections lead to other vital functions that make up the neighbourhood complex (school, small shopping centre, garages63 etc.) The residential streets divide the neighbourhood into three smaller sections and merge smaller green surfaces into larger, almost forested areas - forming a large central park isolated from traffic and housing.

The project was subject to constant changes and gradual erasure of some architectural ambitions of the original project, mainly due to the financial capacity of the housing stock and the development of relations with the construction company. Nevertheless, the priorities remained unchanged - the realisation of the spatial concept of the “pedestrian street” and the established distance from the main traffic of the road.64 In high-density housing construction, the “street” successfully creates space for pedestrians and facilitates spontaneous interactions of the local community.

The entire complex has a look of unity and a strong identity. This is because its designers (Urban Planning Institute) had great control over determining the architectural language (dimensions, colour scales, typologies of slats, etc.) in all construction phases. They paid close attention to the design of the public space of the project - this includes everything from the detailed plans of the

Residential streets

Opposite page: Figure 18: BS7, First building plan 1968 Neighbourhood BS7, (slo. Bežigrajska Soseska 7; “Ruski car”), Bežigrad, Ljubljana Project competition: 1967

Definitive building plan: 1975

Built between: 1967-1980 (by SGP Grosuplje)

Architecture: M. Bežan, V.B. Musič, N. Starc (UISRS) Investor: IMOS, Ljubljana

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