Ig Centre / Atelje Desman & Gregorc+Vrhovec

Architects: Atelje Desman & Gregorc+Vrhovec
Location: Ig, Slovenia
Project team: Miha Desman, Vanja Gregorc, Katarina Pirkmajer Desman, Ales Vrhovec
Collaborators: Sandra Banfi, Eva Fiser Berlot, Damjana Zavirsek, Dean Pertinac
Building Physics: Simon Fiser
Construction Engineer: Franc Zugel
Electrical Engineer: Ladislav Poboljsaj
Mechanical Engineer: Iztok Koch
Quantity Engineer: Irena Bele
Project year: 2005-2006
Construction Year: 2008
Photographs: Atelje Desman, Gregorc+Vrhovec, Miran Kambic and Peter Rauch

The new Civic Centre Ig creates a lively and bustling centre of the community and makes it possible to do most daily errands in one place while meeting fellow village people. The design is based on the morphology of the village. It’s important to protect and complement the characteristically built village core, and to maintain a favourable ratio between the building density and the public space. Two buildings of different height connected by a bridge follow the street line and form a small entrance square with a lime tree. A passageway between the two buildings leads to the back premises where a green square is planed with a footpath leading further towards the municipal building and the church.

The pharmacy and the businesses are going to be located on the ground floor, there hospital is going to occupy the first floor, while the library and a small hall are going to take up the second floor and the mansard. Parking is available in the basement.

The way the roof is stretched onto the side facades connects the two buildings like a membrane, protecting their open and urban core. The materials used and the implemented detailing (the wood used for the core, the roof envelope made out of chip-coated tiles) allow the building to fit in the context of the village and the region and give voice a contemporary architectural invocation.