Reinterpretation of Plečnik's Auditorium

Replay in the park by Luka Jerman, Outsider

The meadow glade is the stage and the forest acts as a colonnade surrounding the grassy slope. Over it a wooden carpet cascades down to create a seating for the audience - or for a promenader to rest, while remaining absorbed in their own thoughts. The scenography is picturesque: a spreading persian beech tree, behind it lies a park, while the silhouette of the city looms in the background.

One of Plečnik's simplest interventions into Ljubljana's public space was on the verge of being completely forgotten, recently however, the municipality decided to place the auditorium in to Ljubljana's central park, where it would once again allow the enactment of plays in this place of sports and relaxation. The excavations performed at the site have revealed the remains of the old concrete curb, whose shape clearly outlines the recognizable geometry of the old auditorium. Thus Plečnik's architecture from the beginning of the 1930s had become archeology.

Members of the architecture bureau Medprostor, who have already established themselves with a number of interventions into Ljubljana's public space, have designed the new seating gallery in such a way as not to interfere with the archeological findings or the surrounding flora, while abiding to the dimensions of the old auditorium. As the architects explain, this new form of public space in Tivoli park will allow for the promotion and development of performances based on the concept of the natural theater.