Super Minimal Steel and Concrete Villa with an Unusual Facade
Architect Rok Oman expects the tic-tac-toe comparisons anytime he shows visitors Villa Criss-Cross, a renovated home in Mirje, a historic district in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. The cross-hatch pattern showcased in the building's steel-paneled facade references a pyramid built into the city's stone wall by Jože Plečnik, a famed architect whose Baroque work has become an urban signature. Oman wanted to create similar sense of silent beauty out of rough material with this renovation, which juxtaposes wood, concrete, and steel to create lightness and space. "The panels are perforated, so you get a sense of transparency and can still see the sun," he says. "In this way, we wanted to make the envelope seem light, while recreating the roughness of the former plaster facade." Oman expounded on the textures and motifs of Villa Criss-Cross, which looks down the street at Plečnik's famous pyramid.
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