LEARNING FROM PLEČNIK Rivers have always been an important element in city planning. Over the last 100 years an increase in planning around rivers and bodies of water has become part of the design profession. In the 19th century, water was often seen as an industrial, infrastructural element. Nowadays, the rivers have become important and much praised urban elements. The Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik studied the value of a river as an urban element. Before his designs for the city of Ljubljana in the 1920s and 30s, water design was, in line with the park movement, mainly related to landscape and park design. Nevertheless, a strong relation between water and the urban context was rarely found.
Liquid Landscapes
The city of Ljubljana (Slovenia) has been largely influenced by Plečnik. His goal was not to dictate the architecture and the style of the city, but to create elements throughout the city which share the stories of its inhabitants. The river Ljubljanica was a central connection in these stories. Plečnik improved the connection to the water in the city by adding different levels across the river and he incorporated the daily life of the inhabitants by connecting important urban nodes to the river. One of these nodes along the river is the Tromostovje bridge. This bridge, which actually consists of three separate bridges, became a central meeting place of the city. The three bridges often form the stage of city events and can be used for commercial activities. Plečnik did not merge the bridges, but consciously left gaps in between them to strengthen the relation to the water. By making places along the river which had an important value in the story of many inhabitants Plečnik was able to not only connect the river to the city, but to also connect the personal lives of the inhabitants of Ljubljana to the river Ljubljanica.