enough and the spatial plan is now officially being processed by the municipality and their council. In other words, the organizers have done their job. Now it is all in the hands of bureaucrats again. Meanwhile, after an exact examination of all the entries and two evaluation committee meetings, we had unanimously chosen the proposal no. 928 made by Jack Richards and Will Burgess (UK) as the winning solution. A simple and clever construction, partly inspired by the traditional hayrack, clever positioned, correctly oriented and nicely entitled - Timber Tales. Congratulations again, guys, and thanks to all the others for participating, especially those honourably mentioned.
a journey named pavilion The EASA event is getting its real shape day by day and so is the pavilion. Almost two years ago the first idea to actually do something on the main square of Žužemberk was born. It all started with a simple sentence from Vlado Kostevc, our most enthusiastic supporter from the very beginning. He said: “It’s a pity that the church was demolished after the war, we could use a covered space on the main square for various events that we organize within the local tourist association.” When returning from Azerbaijan we were discussing various locations and ideas for the competition - from possible ones to the insane. From the former mill that could be turned into a romantic lovebox, surrounded with the sound produced by the nearby waterfall (similar to the Holy Moley workshop proposal), to the former tannery house with its washing pools turned into baths. The most insane but intriguing idea was to rebuild the castle’s former central tower. In our opinion it can still be rebuilt, but maybe instead of actual material artificial methods can be used (lightshow presentation of the former dominant Romanesque tower). One of the proposals the municipality was most fond of was the reconstruction of the path around the castle walls that would reconnect the square with the river and the astonishing views of the valley. Finally we chose the location of the former church due to its prominent location, necessity of revitalizing the square and municipality’s land ownership. With all of this set, the actual process had to be started. An accurate timeline was produced (see competition pack) which until now has been pro
The EASA013 Bulletin is issued by the Association of Students of Architecture EASA Slovenia. It contains event briefs and vital information concerning the EASA 2013 Slovenia project.
en to be pretty exact. An event for the locals was organized at the beginning with the purpose of finding out two important things: how they see the location of the former church now and what they want to have there in the future. The results of the workshop were used as guidelines for preparing the published competition pack. Skipping the competition process, thoroughly described in the committee’s evaluation report, we jump directly to the bureaucratic part. As foreseen, legal permissions slowed down the process. An accurate municipal spatial plan was needed for that specific location so the process of adopting it was started in collaboration with the Municipality and the Institute for the protection of cultural heritage of Slovenia (IPCHS). Due to the fact that the old church used to stand there, the area was also marked as an archaeological site. In collaboration with a company called GEARH a research was carried out using GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar). An investor would normally pay a few thousand euros for their work, but for us it was done as a form of sponsorship, for which we are very grateful. Although it may seem all of this was running smoothly, the reality was far from it. The bureaucracy and even the inability of those same bureaucrats to do their job is so unbelievable in Slovenia. Sometimes you just need to have nerves of steel. Even when all of the necessary papers were collected, the work still could not be done due to weather conditions. The only thing we could do was stare out the window and wait for the snow to melt. Luckily the deadlines we’d established were early
You can read all the comments in the final report. If everything goes well, we will build it with EASA participants in August. Fun facts: - Probably the first EASA that needs a spatial act to legally construct the pavilion. - The GPR (ground penetrating radar) discovered that there aren’t any foundations of the demolished church underneath the park. But it found a secret tunnel beneath the castle.
ewoks searching for trees There are many stereotypes about Spanish people. One of the most common is that they are late, a few hours late usually ... And some can be twelve hours late. To be honest, the three Endor tutors are not to be blamed for it, because there was a miscommunication between Spanglish and Slovenglish regarding a tiny little detail about time, was it am or pm? A friendly advice to all who will travel with GoOpti, please do check the time at least twice to avoid being stranded somewhere. Or don’t go to Milan, where there are only two shuttle vans per day to Slovenia. Anyway Javi, Javi and Fran managed to arrive to Ljubljana somewhere around 4 in the morning. To celebrate the happy event an early breakfast te-
quila had to be opened. Luckily it only ended with a few shots and after a short sleep we successfully managed to drive to Žužemberk even before noon. The first day was mainly about scouting the town, exploring the sites and checking for possible locations. Our guests were more than happy with Žužemberk and concluded with their ex-organiser experience that EASA013 will be f****** amazing! In the end two very contrasting sites were selected for the Endor workshop. The first one is a touristic spot by the river and the sport grounds, where in the summer everyone hangs out. The second one is in a small forest a few minutes walking distance from the castle with a stunning view of the landscape. Which one will it be, the tutors will decide. In the evening we returned to Ljubljana, got some drinks and prepared for day two.
where the driver would leave the rest in a bar and then go back for the others. But the towing service also brought the substitute car so the first group could drive home and the trip to Trebnje was unnecessary. After coming to Ljubljana, when everyone already thought that everything bad is over, the “always so perfect” Fran realised that he left his backpack with laptop and laser measurer in Trebnje - could anything else go wrong? We called the bar in Trebnje, where they told us that they found the missing backpack. Everything was good, but no one was in a party mood so we hit the bed. The third day was meant for playing tourists. We showed our guests a little bit of Ljubljana and hit the bars by the river already in the afternoon. Going from bar to bar, the mood was getting better and better. We ate well, drank much and ended up partying to funky music when the sun was already up. Shortly after we said goodbye to our Ewoks and finally got a good night’s sleep.
We came up with the idea of crowdfunding shortly after the New year, but it took a long time to find out the whats and hows of a complex and to us completely unfamiliar system. A few workshops are also collaborating in the process and will produce products, which will be used as perks - “thank you” gifts for the funders. Almost everything is already set up for a hopefully successful campaign, only the video still needs to be finished. The campaign will start shortly and we already want to ask you kindly that, when it starts, please be ready to cooperate as much as you can and spread the word all over the world. Thank you!
start a reaction
crowdfunding for easa013
On the second day trees were measured with a highly sophisticated technique, developed by the ancient Egyptians, modernised with high-tech laser measurement equipment. It took a long time and when the tutors were busy we played badminton or thought about crazy shit ideas regarding EASA013. We give you one hint, it has something to do with Pokemon. After measuring the shit out of the trees we hit the road, or better to say off the road. One car, of course not influenced by any prohibited substances, was driving too fast and slid off the road. We call it “digging potatoes”, in Spain it’s apparently called “shitting my pants”. Luckily no one was hurt and the car sustained minor injuries which have already been repaired. However the fun part had just started. When the first group waited for the towing service, the second group drove to a nearby town called Trebnje,
As organisers we always strive to find new and more efficient ways to complete certain tasks. Often we borrow some of the wisdom passed down to us from our predecessors, which is thoroughly covered in their Final reports. Sometimes we try to invent new things, which can go either well or badly. One of the new ideas we want to try is to get some additional funding with the help of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a relatively new concept of reaching a financial goal by receiving and leveraging small contributions from many parties in order to fund a particular project or venue. In recent years its popularity exploded because of the prevalence of the internet and launch of several online crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter. These services are mainly used for startup companies or product designs. However more and more nonprofit organisations use them for their causes and projects - maybe an opportunity for the EASA network to gain some additional funds, not just this year, but also in the future.
Reactions are short “pecha kucha” based lectures from students for students. All attendees at easa013 are able to present their ideas, projects, thesis work, thoughts or just start a discussion. You have 20 minutes, a microphone, a projector and your imagination. Can you start a reaction? We invite everyone who wants to “Start a Reaction” to fill out the following application form. We have limited space, so be quick! In case of too many applications we will select the most interesting ones.
Get to know the organizing team if you have not met us before. The organizing team has nine members for now, five students of Architecture from Ljubljana, two from Maribor, one from Graz and a student of Sociology. We are very pleased to introduce to you the last three: meet the organizers
Tabita Jerant | 23
Pia Mikolič | 24
Marta Vrankar| 25
what is your role in the organizing team? > ... to keep the spirit UP! :)
what is your role in the organizing team? > Translating, proofreading, coordinating helpers, this and that.
what is your role in the organizing team? > Keep everything in salamander color combination.
how many EASA? > Žužemberk will be my first =).
how many EASA? > 1.
why organize an EASA? > Why not?
why organize an EASA? > Because I can!
What are you listening to at the moment? > Myself think.
What are you listening to at the moment? > Birdsong.
What is on your nightstand? > Dreams.
What is on your nightstand? > My secret (invisible) friend waits for me to wake up
how many EASA? > One. why organize an EASA? > Because of the team, of the experience, of the fact that’s first easa in Slovenia. Because of the Žužemberk! What are you listening to at the moment? > U2_it’s a beutiful day :D What is on your nightstand? > Three books. One author. What came first, the chicken or the egg? > Chicken! Quantity or quality? > Quality over quantity.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? > Egg. Quantity or quality? > Quality, of course (for reference see: A bit of Fry and Laurie - Plastic coffee stirrers).
What came first, the chicken or the egg? > God first created nature and animals, so chicken :P Quantity or quality? > Quality quantity :)