Marketplace, Ptuj, SLO

Function: Other

Country: Slovenia

Category: Innovative Public Spaces

Firm: Arhitektura Krušec

Architects: prof. mag. Tomaž Krušec, Lena Krušec, Vid Kurinčič, Zala Likavec Perovšek, Studio AKKA - Landscape architecture

Completion of design: 2018

Year completed: 2020

Nominated by: Uroš Rustja

Laudation

The new covered market made by Arhitektura Krušec was set up in the place of the long-demolished Austro-Hungarian military building, next to the Gothic cathedral in the old medieval centre of Ptuj. The covered and closed spaces of the market are placed under a long horizontal roof, which underlines the verticality of the church tower and redefines its terraced base. The market square is paved with the red terrazzo with addition of the local gravel from Drava River while the urban furniture was specially designed for Ptuj and positioned in a manner to create various urban ambiences that are necessary for a lively public space. The architects successfully merged the intervention and its historical context into a homogeneous whole.

Project Description

Although the open space behind the church of sv. Jurij seems to be self-evident these days, it was never intended to be a city square. The space used to home military barracks, the brick roof of which contributed to the recognisable image of Ptuj as a city of red roofs. The marketplace is paved with reddish terrazzo following the form of the former barracks, returning Ptuj what the destruction of the barracks took away. Two local materials were used to pave the square, the Drava River gravel paving and the Pohorje Tonalite. The marketplace structure is made of red concrete and features distinctly horizontal geometry. The horizontal roof underscores the verticality of the church bell tower and so gives even more prominence to this city landmark. Specific elements of the marketplace are bespoke chairs positioned in a way that creates various ambient compositions. Some groups of chairs are linear, others are round, they are placed under trees and some singular chairs are found throughout the marketplace.