Dean Lah

ABOUT

Dean Lah was born in 1971 in Maribor, Slovenia and graduated from the Ljubljana Faculty of Architecture in 1998. In the same year he cofounded the architectural office Enota where he works as partner architect ever since.
For his work in Enota he received many architectural awards, his work has been presented on numerous exhibitions and published in professional and broad interest publications all over the world. Dean lectures at architectural schools, conferences and symposiums in Slovenia and abroad. Since 2016 he is teaching at Architectural Department of University of Maribor. With intention to promote the importance of architectural quality, he has been active as the member of several architectural award and architectural competitions juries, member of executive board of Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia, member of European Forum for Architectural policies, member of executive board of Architects Association of Ljubljana and some other formal and informal networks and events on architecture.

AWARDS OF THE SPEAKER

• European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award (shortlisted)
• World Architecture Festival Award (winner)
• Plečnik Award (winner)

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE OFFICE

Enota was founded in 1998 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 its beginnings it has served as a creative platform for more than seventy architects. Enota is led by founding partners and principal architects Dean Lah and Milan Tomac. Constant changes and new complex situations in the world around us drive us to think about new architectural and urban solutions. In order to be able to produce answers to those new questions we believe it’s time to surpass the boundaries of conventional discipline set mainly by our cultural backgrounds. Enota’s team of architects focuses on research driven design of the environment where study of contemporary social organizations is interwoven with the use of new technologies to produce innovative and effective solutions. Enota’s solutions are strongly influenced by research, reinterpretation and development of social, organizational and design algorithms that derive from nature. The result is always a strong binding of the buildings with the environment that surrounds them.

PROJECTS TO BE PRESENTED DURING THE EVENT

Project #1: Češča Vas Pool Complex

Start year: 22.04.2020

New pool complex Češča vas is located in a space dominated by the existing, recently renovated velodrome. It is our preference not to drastically alter the spatial relationships with the erection of the new swimming pool facility as it would introduce disorder that the space could do without, and further saturate it. The new pool facility thus takes advantage of the topographic properties of the inclined terrain. It is sited as low as possible and does not constitute a new dominant in the space.

Project #2: Stanetova House

The Stanetova house is located on a hill on the northern edge of Velenje and offers a beautiful view over the Velenje basin. The plot on which the house stands slopes gradually to the south and is bordered by two roads on the north and south sides. The architectural design of the house skilfully exploits these spatial conditions, as it is designed as a partially embedded two-storey building that is divided into two parts by an external staircase.

Project #3: Wellness Vodian

Wellness Vodian is located in the empty space between the existing hotel and the parking garage. Due to the specific shape of the plot, it was necessary to make full use of the available space while maintaining the functionality of the design. The building takes advantage of the sloping terrain by being partially embedded on the hotel side, so that the upper pool level is in line with the basement of the hotel, while the pool level on the opposite side is in line with the ground level of the plot. This approach ensures that, despite the relatively large volume of the building, the pool remains hidden among the surrounding structures and does not introduce a new spatial dominant, thereby preserving the quality of the views from the hotel rooms. The shape of the green roof with triangular gables reflects the architectural features of the Hotel Breza and creates a dialog with the surrounding buildings.