Ljubljana-based architecture studio Enota has completed a sculpted local chapel in Skorba, an old and small village of Slovenia. The new chapel was designed as a new social centre that reconnects the local community, which represents a piece of art and a sacred space blended with the existing topography. 

Situated in a small village in the vicinity of Ptuj, Slovenia's oldest town, this typical small village, known with its clustered settlement pattern, the passage of years and the proximity of the city caused it to grow out of turn, transforming it into a commuter suburb without a clear structure.

Then, the village's organic growth resulted in a markedly heterogeneous development organised along the access roads, with no public surface layout and without a clearly legible village centre.

After this organic growth and lack of public space, the studio wanted to create "a village chapel", allowing villagers to use a public space for central events and a new socialising space for the future. 

"The site for the new village centre was carefully chosen: the plot once contained the village stream source, and this is also the point where the one river terrace bank rises upwards to the other one. The village centre is sited close to the community centre building, at the crossroads of the main paths through the village," said Enote in its project brief.

"In discussing the new village centre Skorba, it is remarkable that the entire project, from the initial idea to completion, was driven by the initiative of the inhabitants themselves. They took an active part in raising the funds to purchase the plot as well as in the construction, which required many hours of voluntary work by the villagers," added the studio.

"All of this had to be taken into account when drafting the project. Therefore, the design does not hinge upon the perfection of every detail and does not feature any high-tech solutions." 

Enota's design scheme aims to establish an appropriate relationship with its surroundings and a sufficiently bold appearance chiefly by means of a clearly legible volumetric design and simple materiality. The footprint of the entire structure only occupies a 300-square-metre area, which was one of the basic design approaches of the studio. 

In the first step, Enota tried to define a space siting on the triangular surface of the new square in the centre of the vacant plot. The paved surface, was clearly separated from the grassy surroundings, defines the future socialising space. The surface then employed a narrow access path to connect to the road passing by. 

"The central part, created by the section of the geometries of both paved surfaces, is given a slight dip, which shelters the event space from the impacts of the surroundings and directs all users' gazes towards the centre. Next, the volumes of the chapel and the grandstands are raised to create an introverted village square," added the architects.

"The final device in designing the new village square is the truncation of the raised volumes by means of a uniform plane which creates an impression of a virtual roof and completes the structure's form."

The chapel is completely made of a uniform material by using white concrete. The combination of simple materiality and emphasised volumes creates an attractive spatial element, its appearance sufficiently bold to drown the heterogeneous structure of the surroundings and mark the significance of the area.

Enota, founded in 1998, is led by Enota’s two partners Dean Lah and Milan Tomac with the ambition to create contemporary and critical architectural practice of an open type based on collective approach to development of architectural and urban solutions. 

Over the years, Enota has been constantly developing and from the beginnings it has served as creative platform for more than fifty architects. 

Project facts

Project: Skorba Village Center

Architecture: ENOTA

Project team: Dean Lah, Milan Tomac, Nebojša Vertovšek, Alja Černe Mazalin, Nuša Završnik Šilec, Tjaž Bauer, Polona Ruparčič

Type: commission 

Year: 2011

Status completed:  2017

Size: 300 m2

Gross floor area: 300 m2

Site: 1.430 m2

Footprint: 300 m2

Cost: 120.000 EUR

Client: Hajdina Municipality

Location: Skorba, Slovenia

Coordinates: 46o25'13,34''N 15o50'08,51''E 

Collaborators: Elea iC (structural engineering)

All images © Miran Kambič

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