The project for the reurbanisation of the abandoned quarry and asphalt base addresses a complex, heterogeneous urban site in a holistic, sustainable way, which can be divided into three strands: 1.the soft, topographical infilling of the quarry shell at the top; 2.the contemporary renovation of the existing technical heritage in the middle; and 3.the contextual urban gesture of the "zip" at the corner of the Podutika settlement. The traffic with garages is hidden underground, while on the surface a network of public spaces (streets, squares and parks) is created as a connective tissue of the community. Greenery descends across the terraces of the houses, while the residential units have only one façade, a quiet inner atrium and a view terrace outside. The focus of the amphitheatre is an open natural space with a water surface, and the renovated heritage building with its dominant tower is the vehicle for public programmes. Below are a larger urban square, a public park and sports fields, which also serve Podutica. The development is designed with renewable energy sources, reusable water, "intelligently controlled" and materials are selected according to the principles of building biology.

(The presented project won the first award on a public contest for landscape design of an abandoned quarry in Podutik. The contest was organized by the Sago d.o.o. company, in cooperation with the Municipality of Ljubljana and the Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia. The municipal detailed spatial plan for the project will be prepared this year.)

1. INTRODUCTION: Ljubljana is no stranger to the phenomenon of so-called »shrinking cities«, as attested by the recent demographic dynamics pointing towards an alarming emptying of the Slovenian capital. The predominantly young people and families moving outside of the city or in its outskirts signify the loss of »human resources«, while the numbers of hundreds of thousands of daily migrants making their way to the city centre with own means of transport in face of insufficient public transport is steadily rising. Ljubljana must therefore cease the explosive expansion (and the building of average residential areas and individual buildings of the suburban type) and embark on the process of internal transformation and high-quality reurbanization. The presented project of transforming the abandoned quarry in Ljubljana belongs to this category of residential areas with added value, since it solves the complex urban design issues in an integral and sustainable manner and brings about a high-quality living experience: it invites the inhabitants into the vicinity of an urban centre and yet into nature; into an urban residential area and yet into an own house; into a community with a street and yet one that enables privacy; travelling with public transport and yet with own car; living in healthy and yet modern buildings, into apartments with open layouts and beautiful views; into energy-saving houses heated with renewable resources, into good modern architecture that ages with grace; into a dense urban residential area full of greenery; into an ambitious design with human criteria. People seek residences with identity, environments with interesting neighbourhoods, residential areas with excellence . Memories of past ideals and dreams of future visions. If this can be achieved in a way that heals the spatial wound and rehabilitates a degraded area, we have managed to do two good deeds simultaneously.
2. PODUTIK: Podutik is a relatively anonymous suburban residential area along the Ljubljana eastern bypass that possesses neither a real identity, nor a clear focal point with a public space, square or distinct building. With its strong presence, the quarry imposes a burden on the Podutik environment, because it represents a markedly degraded area; however, its geographical position and image offer a unique opportunity for the quarry to transform itself into a part of the residential area with a pronounced positive identity. The hill that evidently used to house a prehistoric settlement, a gord, lies on a strategically significant location, since it shapes a natural door that leads us from the city into the natural background, from the flatland to the hills of the countryside surrounding the city. It also forms a spatial dominant that is effectively upgraded with the objects of technical heritage, especially the vertical of the interesting tower. In the evocative and compositional sense, this memory of the past industrial activities of the area is interesting enough to be worth preserving in broad strokes; by adding a fresh impulse and identity with new programmes and modern restoration, the memory is transformed into a holder of meanings and programmes in the new settlement.
3. TRAFFIC: Despite the varied topography, morphology and diverse typologies of the proposed solutions, we strived to design a rational network of connections by primarily utilizing the existing terraces that connect the new settlement with the natural carst background, as well as urbanization of the environment. We tried to put the traffic with the garages under the ground as soon as possible, but in a manner that allows access to the apartments from the garages and walking paths. The settlement is provided with a hierarchy of path networks for cycling and walking, crisscrossing in lengthwise, transverse and radial directions. The planning also encompasses experiential paths, enriching the perception of the settlement and surroundings by spatial sequences and views of the landscape. We also propose a wide bridging of the planned new road between the two small hills in the area of the main square of the residential area (cf. variant site plan).
4. MORPHOLOGIES BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER SECTIONS: According to its elevation (and simultaneously its character), the area is divided into two spheres, two worlds: the one above and the one below. In between is a third, serving as a mediator. The upper section is represented by the plateau and the quarry shell on the hill, the lower section by the flatland encircling the hill and connecting to the surrounding suburban context. The differences manifest themselves on several levels: the topography, context of the nature, exposure to sunlight, density, spatial homogeneity and heterogeneity, etc. The internal difference between the two morphologies is therefore retained: the upper section, privileged for the elevated position, views and peaceful atmosphere, already has its focus that only needs to be upgraded, the lower section that possesses horizontality, a public programme and the suburban bustle is dispersed and requires a breath of order, orientation, an urban nature. Lying between both sections is a terraced slope with recognizable technological heritage. The quarry depression was acquired by ripping out the hill's core, but the form sunk in the hill can also signify the enveloping safety of a nest, the world of a soft embrace, warm sun trap. In it, we carefully place a residential area fitting the shape of the shell to the highest possible degree, allowing the waterfalls of greenery to fall over its terraces and inviting streets, squares, parks and playgrounds among its houses, returning the nature its integrity. In doing so, we are exercising frugality both construction and energy-wise by saving at least two building fronts. The building in the lower, deep space of the amphitheatre is low, dense and gently sloping; when the incline becomes steeper, the building grows taller, overflowing and erect. The low and deep houses have atriums and terraces, while the taller and shallower houses are characterized by hollowed-out terraces and balconies. At the focal point of the great amphitheatre, we place a connecting open space of the residential area, a relaxed park with a water area (simultaneously serving as a plant-based treatment plant ), groups of trees and boulders from the quarry. This is a community meeting place with many additional functions (cooling, humidifying, air purification, etc).
5. HERITAGE AS COHESIVE ELEMENT OF THE SETTLEMENT: As the main dominants of the residential area and the gravitational centre of the entire site plan composition, the tower and the plate are actively restored; from the programme point of view, they are designed for the public part of the programme servicing the needs of the new settlement, and party of Podutik in general. The terraces are restored, below them, on the ground floor , a larger public square is designed, intended to fill the absence of a central space in the wider surroundings and bind all the elements. Behind the square is a tall existing wall that is rhythmically perforated to enable a contact between the outer and inner space; behind the wall, an internal street is planned, connected to public facilities. In the vicinity of the square, a bus stop for public transport is restored, trees are lined along the road, in addition to a cycling and walking path and a possible line of parking lots placed lengthwise. Garages are situated below the square (entrance on the eastern, and exit on the western side) and are also connected to the garages below the first four apartment blocks and the public ground floor beneath them.
6. BRIDGING PLATFORM: A bridging of the road or narrowing between both small hills proved to be a very sensible solution to the problem of division created in the space by road bodies. Even though this intervention is outside the planned area, it is our conviction that this level of strategic urban planning necessitates the consideration of the issue of integral traffic planning, and consequently the planning of other, residential elements of the whole. The traffic alignment would thus remain on the terrain unimpeded, all parking lots for the purposes of the public programmes would be placed on the same plane on the left and right side of the road, while the cycling and walking paths would be elevated on the plateau with various programmes and planning solutions .
7. URBANISM OF APARTMENTS ON THE SUBURBAN FLATLAND: Situating the apartment building between the hill and the future road (predominantly in the area of the current separation or landfill) is an attempt to supplement and upgrade the context of the surroundings by utilizing simple means. The entire composition acts like a zipper connecting the upper and lower sections of the urbanism into a whole, with lengthwise volumes running transverse to the street in a slight radial arc, opening the movement and the visual contact with the background of the green hill. If creating a new (residential, cultural, business, etc.) centre of Podutik, the new morphology must build on the existing conditions in the space (densities, directions, typologies, natural edges and phenomena, traffic network, etc.) but also needs to upgrade it, since we are aiming towards a more urban image of the centre that will generate a lively everyday atmosphere in the area.
8. PUBLIC PARK, GREEN SYSTEM, SPORT: Given the other facilities, the park location is possibly slightly in the excentre of the whole composition; it is, however, rich in natural and cultural heritage. It features a lime kiln, a structure under heritage protection, that represents the focus of the circular composition, which the children's playgrounds and smaller pavilion structures with public programmes (tea room, local museum, workshops for children, etc.) are building on. In the immediate vicinity of the pavilion is a beautiful abandoned natural spring with an old tree, focus of another event that develops alongside the stream into a meandering path, the main spinal cord of the linear part of the park, with modulated meanders with sculptures for playing. The design of green surfaces in the settlement takes into account various aspects of sustainable planning of neighbourhoods that increase the quality of living and simultaneously establish systems that are friendlier to the nature and the environment. The settlement design also features a large number of smaller children's playgrounds and various sports fields.
9. RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES: When planning a sustainable settlement, we aim towards including the existing renewable energy sources to the highest possible degree: the warmth and coolness of surface water courses and groundwater are used for heating and cooling, while the stable temperature of groundwater is also suitable for heating through the same heat pump. The surface area available for solar thermal collectors at the back edge of the quarry shell is large enough to justify the investment into a photovoltaic power plant. The glazing of atriums is another useful idea, in particular due to the availability of a cheap source of cooling in the summer – surface waters and groundwater. The apartments and other spaces are ventilated with local ventilation systems with the capability of returning the warmth of the used air. The surface waters and precipitations will be stored in an open central pool (small lake) and in underground containers; the plumbing will be implemented in such a manner to enable the use of this water in all instances when use of clean drinking water is not necessary. We propose a system of double plumbing: drinking and other water. The drinking water is used for cooking and washing. Used water flows into own treatment plants and together, where the terrain and conditions allow, into a plant-based treatment plant. Multiple use of water, use of rain water, as well as a decentralized water supply and drainage including the treatment of waste water are main emphases of the various models of household water management that can also be combined with each other.
10. INTELLIGENT CONTROL OF THE RESIDENTIAL AREA: With its predominantly southern orientation, the residential area will be perfectly situated to utilize the exposure to sunlight in winter; with an extremely high-quality cover, the sunlight will provide a significant portion of the required heat. In the summer, the entry of the energy needs to be prevented with high-quality solar shading . In addition to construction (eaves/soffit) and natural methods (trees, etc.), we need to install automatic shades, connected into an intelligent control system. All windows will be fitted with an openness control to prevent the unwanted loss of energy to the highest possible degree. Each room, including bathrooms and other facilities, will feature a thermometer and hygrometer. Presence sensors will turn on the individual branches of lighting according to presence of people and regulate the intensity of light according to the time of day. At night, the lighting in the hall will automatically turn on the minimum intensity; on demand, regular luminosity will be turned on. Since mostly surface systems for heating and cooling will be installed, the system will automatically adjust the openness of the valves according to projected use and not only current measurements. The system of intelligent installations will monitor the energy use according to individual branches; exceeded use on an individual branch will immediately trigger a malfunction warning. The data will of course be accessible via internet.
11. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: The modern, ecological, comfortable and safe residential area will certainly feature fast broadband communication links, allowing access to information on servers that enable the forecast of weather phenomena. The system will adjust the systems of heating and cooling accordingly and thus additionally save energy while retaining the same or even enhancing the quality of living. Distance communication and management of vital systems will be carried out via internet, GSM system as well as via landline; all these functionalities will enable the improvement of living conditions of senior citizens, children and sick and disabled persons.
12. BUILDING MATERIALS, MICROCLIMATE: In accordance with the principles of geobiology, we propose the use of materials that are healthy and establish the highest possible quality of living (wood, stone, etc.). The reinforcement made of reinforced concrete in the garages would be earthed to return the induced electromagnetic charges. The roofs of the terraced apartments would be extensively planted with greenery, possibly as herb gardens.
The diverse nature and planting of the residential area with greenery enable excellent utilization of natural resources: the green forest background, green roofs and building terraces, corridors and spatial funnels formed into a sensible network scheme, the concavity of the space in the horizontal and vertical dimension, in addition to the accumulation heat through sunlight influence the automatic filtering characteristics of air purification of the surroundings and the residential area itself, automatic prefiltration of the collected rain water on green surfaces of terraces and roofs and the optimal climate for residents with sensitive respiratory systems. Due to insolation, the warm air rises uphill during the day and gently heats the residential area, blows across the water biotope in the valley, captures its humidity and warmed and humidified courses throughout the residential area. The air binds the dust particles and deposits them in the treetops of background forests where filtration is carried out. During the night, the air is cool and runs downhill from the forest, carrying freshness, purity, increased quantities of oxygen and humidity, which represents the ideal cooling during the summertime.

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