ARCHITECTURE OF SLOVENIA

Vernacular Architecture, Alpine Part

www.arhitekturaslovenije.si
Borut Juvanec

The series Vernacular Architecture of Slovenia is planned in five parts, with the working titles: 1. Alpine; 2. North-Eastern part; 3. Central Slovenia; 4. Southern Hills; 5. Karst – Mediterranean Slovenia. Architecture is the design of space. According to Vitruvius, the constituent parts are construction, function and aesthetics. Vernacular architecture is not for kings, for the dead or for the gods, but for the daily life and work of little people. Vernacular architecture is not the fruit of trained persons: it is conceived, built and used by those who have gained their knowledge from their forebears, as their heritage, culture. Their task is to perpetuate this knowledge, enriched with experience, to continue and develop it in the form of culture. Vernacular architecture is unrepeatable: it still exists today, but is no longer being created anew. Architecture today is the product of experts, architects and others. Good architecture today is better if it respects and exhibits the culture of our forebears, which is still preserved today. Not in detail, not in materials, but in conception. The vernacular architecture of Alpine Slovenia covers a part of the mountains of Slovenia: the Julian Alps, Karavanke, Kamnik and Savinja Alps, as far as Pohorje (Central Alps). The introduction presents some theoretical starting points, from theory to practice, the elements of vernacular architecture and a simplified description of objects that represent this architecture. Section two provides graphic material about the objects themselves: a short description and some examples in photographs (as a whole and some typical details). The objects presented in this part are: farmstead - a complex of farmhouse and ancillary buildings; farmhouse; farmhouse with ancillary buildings attached; barn, a combination farm building; stockshed, a structure for keeping animals; kozolec, an uniquely Slovene element of vernacular architecture, a rack or combination of racks for drying and storing produce, today usually hay; hay barn, an object for storing hay far from home; drying house, a facility for drying, usually using heat from a fire; granary, a building for storing food; staja a temporary facility at a distance from the farm, used by both the herdsman and animals. Each picture is accompanied by a description of the location, in order to be able to find the objects. At the end is a glossary (short version in English), as understood by an architect, and a list of the most important sources on this theme. Translation: Martin Cregeen