location: Kočevje, Slovenia
client: Municipality of Kočevje, Slovenian Ministry of Education
area: 3.5 ha
design period: 1996-1998
implementation period: 2000-2004
project team:
landscape architecture: Ana Kučan
Collaborator: Damjan Černe
Architecture: Nicholas Dodd, Tadej Glažar, Vasa Perović, Arne Vehovar
contractor: Gramiz d.d. Kočevje, Vrtnarstvo Murska Sobota

In contrast to the articulated modernist building, the landscape design exploits the naturally undulating and rocky terrain of karst sinkholes and the internal differentiation of the forest to structure a natural ambience and create “outdoor rooms” for sport and play. It creates space with the help of a clearing – metaphorically, the glades act as shelters – and as distinct objects set in the matrix of the original forest – thus rendering the surrounding woodland even more primordial. The intention is to inhabit the forest without compromising its wildness.