NEW COURTHOUSE

LOCATION
Ljubljana, Slovenija

COMPETITION YEAR
November 2021

ARCHITECTURE OFFICE
Ravnikar - Potokar arhitekturni biro d.o.o.

ARCHITECTURE
Ajdin Bajrovič, Robert Potokar, Tanja Košuta, Špela Ščančar, Mina Gutovič, Javier Carrera Arias

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Katja Mali, Kolektiv Tektonika d.o.o.

COLLABORATORS
Anže Kotnik, Tina Gradišer, Laura Perko, Matej Fornazarič, Tilen Mele, Medard Hafner, Tomaž Peterlin

The new courthouse will spatially complete the Bežigrad Dvor complex along Dunajska cesta, occupying the construction pit that has remained vacant since the 1990s. More importantly, it will introduce a major new institutional and administrative building of a type that remains relatively rare in Ljubljana. Its scale, and consequently its presence within the urban landscape, express the monumental character befitting a courthouse. The building will represent the judicial branch of government and, at the same time, become one of the principal institutional buildings in the capital of the Republic of Slovenia. An institution of such significance should communicate, through its architectural expression alone, a sense of order, clarity and justice. This is precisely what makes the competition for the new courthouse so important.

In both its vertical and horizontal dimensions, the new courthouse responds to the provisions of the municipal spatial plan, following the established building line along Dunajska cesta as well as the line defining the inner edge towards the park. The building is conceived as a single, powerful volume, establishing the presence of an urban palace. The primary volume is complemented only along its north-eastern edge by a smaller rectangular volume accommodating additional programme.

The geometry of the architectural concept is strict, rational and orthogonal. In both its horizontal and vertical dimensions, it derives from and reinforces the urban grid of the Bežigrad Dvor complex. This orthogonal articulation continues into the landscape design, where the spatial structure is expressed through paved platforms and sunken courtyards around which the courtrooms are organised.

The programme is clearly structured. The public component, comprising the courtrooms, is located within the basement and on the first and second floors. These spaces are connected to the entrance level through vertical circulation routes arranged along a central connecting atrium and are accessed from the entrance foyer at ground level. Above the public programme, from the third floor upwards, are the individual courts and their internal operational spaces.

This arrangement establishes a clear distinction between the public and internal domains, making the organisation of the building highly legible and intuitive for both visitors and users.