I developed a very demanding project, namely the summer cafe Europa. My idea was a spacious carrier, a kind of space frame, which would be best dressed with polyester fabric. transparent lupine. This was a very demanding project and due to the fact that it was a Kovin space carrier which was later assembled without any screws and welds, i.e. dry, it was a kind of prototype.
This was one innovation. The other was the hatch that covered the carrier from both sides. It was illuminated at night, as a kind of huge, spacious structure. My assistant, or assistant of the director... The European Bar, which had to replace the roof, saw that my project was too demanding, or I could say, too advanced, and wanted to close it.
It closed by appointing a kind of professional commission, The development of this project followed. This commission was formed by the then director of the Ljubljana Urbanist Factory, which was responsible for the development of urban and communal development in Ljubljana. Then Brac Mušić, a relatively young architect, The second person is from the Slovenian Institute of Urbanism and of course from Stara Ljubljana.
Stara Ljubljana had a protection and development institute and that was Marjan Kolarič. It was a historical facility, surprise The architecture that was created at the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, some kind of neo-renaissance architecture, was of course a completely new, modern object. The director was very concerned about it.
and they took care of my advanced ideas. This commission followed the development. I spent a lot of time on the project. We met at the Urbanist Institute or the Ljubljana Luz. I recommended the project.
After these letters, I must say that they supported me a lot in my revolutionary, progressive ideas. After these meetings, they talked to each other about urban, architectural problems and so on. and with others, once...
Marko Šleimer, Mariborčan, the first director of Luz, started talking about the problems Ljubljana has with kiosks. They say that there is no smart, appropriate project, proposal or product. They have serious problems and are very demanding to investors and users. They demanded discipline, modernity, which was not the case in Krek.
I was a young architect, not yet a graduate, listening to the questions, So, it's all... I joined the discussion, but then I went back to my office, started thinking about it, told my colleagues to get involved in the development of a good, advanced project, and then I looked at what they were doing. I was, of course, very busy with Europe. for the summer cafe with the roof.
When I saw what they were doing, I was quite critical of their approach, which was a very classic approach to the design of a sales... a sales kiosk, a modular, non-divisional product. I started thinking in the other direction. I got the idea of transferring two pipes, which I later transformed into round ones. from a round profile to a round, orthogonal profile, in order to get a functional form, a proper form of a person working in this space.
Of course, I also had technological capabilities. Given that I developed and developed the production and the use of reinforced polyester, which offered many forms, which was a very new and advanced material, which unexpectedly enabled numerous possibilities in architecture. I then, of course, looking at this technology, which I saw as a possibility of realizing these spatial foundations of the two cells' crossroads, I then made, not to draw, I made models. I made the models from PVC cells. and I made the foundation.
Then I realized that the basic unit, the cross unit of the kiosk, which would be the minimum sales, work or living space, I then started to put these units together. I saw that I was going in the right direction, that I was emerging from the basic unit, that I could develop a whole group of these elements that are interspersed with each other from the basic geometry, and from this minimal functional space, a large spatial structure is created. that would satisfy the number of needs or examples. When I made these models, they were in approximate measure 1 against 10 or 15. nice or 25 against 30, was observed by my colleagues, the older architects, for example Savin Sever, who was excited about this idea.
He called Mark Šleimer to the Urbanist Institute. He asked me why I hadn't told him before. I said I was preparing for this presentation. He said he would bring it to me and I would bring it to the next committee, which we had, to the Institute.
I would put it on the table, show it, explain my concept and I was very excited. Then there is Marko Šlajmer. who was very connected to Zupan, the city of Ljubljana and the structure, said that he had to find someone who would buy this model, this idea, to make a living out of it and solve the kiosk problem.
The company's director was very impressed with my project. I made an agreement with the director. Then they expected me to find a factory or a company, an industry, that would make this project into a serial production.
I was very happy to have developed and realized the European Summer Cafe with the company Imgrad. We were also very excited about the factory and started to prepare prototypes, models. Then we... We created a larger structure of these elements and exhibited them to the public. We called urban planners and architects from all over Slovenia.
We did the first exhibition in Ljutomere, on the main market. I must say that there were... that they were experts in this field, excited about the novelty. Then we started preparing for the serial production and the market.
I was there shortly after the first exhibition, in April 1960. In the 1960s, the development of the basic ideas, the inventive development of these ideas, support in the city took place. Then the beginning of the preparation of industrial production and in 1960 we had already produced I had to edit the first series, or the series zero, and then, about two or three months later, I went to the World Congress of Industrial Designers. I had some slides with me, at least slides, which I filmed in April in Ljutomir.
He got involved in a conversation with the designers of the Design Review, which was the most competent and important review in the field of industrial design in the world. He attracted their attention, first in the dialogue, When I brought them to their grave, The next day, they brought the diapositives to show. They were thrilled by what they saw and said... They asked me if I could post the slides with them.
I did. The following year, in April, the magazine Revia sent me a letter with a reward for the publication, a full-page publication of the bar's photos and comments. him. with very encouraging and interesting comments.
Then, a letter came to the Museum of Modern Art from New York, in which it was written that they saw the publication of this new work in the Design magazine and that they would put it in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the collection of 20. and if the company would send such an example to New York. The director, I think it was Janez Dular, was impressed with the idea and said, of course, we will send it. And then in October we presented the project.
Two units were assembled for the collection or exhibition of new additions to the Museum of Modern Art and were delivered in a container in the Kiosk in New York. So he came to the collection. Then we started to work on the most developed world, which was accepted as very advanced.
We gave it some verification, on one side, and on the other side, a reference. This was our confirmation that it was a success, a breakthrough. that there are many opportunities for marketing in the international space.
We started working on one hand on the development of the product, which is a complex process, and on the other hand on the marketing. And so we then, year after year, 73 or 72 participants participated in the event for the equipment of the Olympic Games in Munich. The city and the Olympic Committee or the organizer wrote the event for the road equipment or public equipment. and the internal Olympic spaces.
We succeeded again in the race. We started working on the handrail and then an accident happened. Letopred.
After the kiosk was already displayed in front of the local house in München, which had already received certain publicity in German newspapers, I went to München. I was in a meeting with the organizers to collect some photographic material for the promotion. On the way to Munich, I found out that the factory was closed at night. Exploded, burned... I didn't know the details, but I kept going.
I got this new piece somewhere on the road between Salzburg and München. I stopped with a photographer by the road to think about what to do. I was talking about the catastrophic news that I had received in the morning work.
Then I said, at the end of the day, we don't know the details, we go on as if nothing happened. We go to Munich, do this job, come back and see where we are. This was a very tragic event.
We couldn't take the order out. We took it out on our own in the regatta center in Kilo. A large number of these kiosks were set up.
Uh... That was pretty much it. The factory was then reconstructed. We continued with the development, with the projects, with the marketing, and in a very short time achieved and mastered the Yugoslav market.
Then we moved from the South Slavic market to the Western Europe. The most developed part of the world is the kiosk, which was considered a competitive product. On the other hand, there were many opportunities for sales in the Comicon countries. This is the Soviet block.
The sales increased and by the end of the year 2000, there were about 7,500 units sold. We can say that there are 7500 units of the same value, 40,000 square meters, all over the world. If we put these units together, it is a very large area.
Then, due to some kind of stupidity and subjectivity, relations between the city and the MNOJ as a development center were interrupted for quite subjective reasons. I still carry my success and of course, as I live from this product, a lawsuit was opened because they had banned me from existing. They started banning me from existing and we went to a lawsuit.
I succeeded in this task, but this was also the reason for the interruption of very long-term development projects. In 1976, I proposed to establish a development complex and to establish a CS. I have to answer 75% of the question and put it in the development plan.
I wanted to develop on an interdisciplinary basis. It was very important technological development and marketing. Technological development was aimed at limiting the human factor, that is, automation into advanced technology.
Production was relatively manual, now. where the quality of the product is still very important. If you sell this product around the world, you must first organize such a quality product that it comes to the owner without any mistakes. and the product that needs to be to provide the service. This company was not capable of doing that, or rather, it started to deal with the fact that they would tie my hands, they would tie me and then they would fire me.
Because of this development complex, where they were also very important, visible. Experts who came from Ljubljana, from the field of marketing technology and other fields, where this product developed into a specialization, were once forced to adapt to the quality. The market was open in Yugoslavia, the quality was not that important. I founded the market in Yugoslavia myself.
I went to all the heads of urban and municipal services in the main centres of Yugoslavia, I professionally trained them. with the concept and the product that followed it. The kiosk opened the way for this. Commercialists followed me and sold the kiosks.
The sales or the demand was greater than the offer. The answer is quite simple. In architecture and design, development moves from the upper technological boundaries The use of technology, or the use of advanced technology.
As Norman Foster said, a man moved from a wooded area to a space where he built his own living space, which could be wooden, or walled, or a living space in the present sense. is the movement or achievement of the technological capabilities. In this context, The K67 foundation was a very important part of the technological capabilities of the time. We can say that in the world's scale.
because polyester appeared at the end of the year. In the early 40s, some well-known designers and architects helped to use polyester, which opened up new possibilities. It has been 50-60 years since then, and technology has improved.
Technology has a great impact on the life cycle of a product. For example, if you take the iconic Davorina Savnik phone, this phone cannot be renewed because the technology has driven it. because this phone that we have... that we had at the MISA and we have it today in stock. This phone has technology built in, not only for internet communication, but also for the registration of the environment.
photography, filming or anything else. In short, technology has aimed at the development of communication in new fields. If you take a classic technology, for example, the technology that was developed and constructed Rex. You can't add anything to Rex.
Rex used the well-known, advanced technology of wood processing and processing with laminates, for example. Rex was adapted to the human body more and still today, it is a feature that was founded in the 1950s. Today, man hasn't changed.
Man is still resting, communicating, having fun in society, and there are no changes here, because man's interaction is the same. Technology and new foundations enable new innovations. If you take as an example other iconic products, for example Fiat 500. Fiat 500 marked the 50th, 60th, 70th years. The Fiat 500 today It doesn't meet its standards anymore.
Here we have the question of safety, the question of the sense of comfort in driving and moving from point A to point B, what we do in cars. That's why Fiat 500 is an icon, a good memory, Good. This is something that emerged from the need for the design and construction of a minimal, small car.
The same need still exists today, with the fact that the Fiat 500 today must have more space. is still the lowest. The category is still the category of mini vehicles, like the Smart, which went a bit lower.
Mini Morris, and they were renewing these ideas. The same could have happened with K67, 60. If the minimum space was measured at the working space, 150, at the distance, let's say, a distance of one and a half meters, and the volume that... that forms 5 square meters, in today's time, would represent a larger volume of the basic unit. That is why the new proposal I made ten years ago has as its basis the basic unit. 10 square meters, that is one times more.
Of course, for these 10 square meters and for the basic construction of the transition of two cells from the 1960s and 1960s, you need a new foundation. I have been looking for this foundation in natural organic structures. and went from other sources. When I founded this product in the 21st century, it got a new form, but the character of this product is still a modular space, it still offers growth, the possibility of putting modules in larger structures.
of them, but is looking for new, more innovative possibilities for construction, production and transport of the product from point A to point B, that is, from the factory to the place where it would be most used. So, there is a whole range of innovations coming to Invenzio. innovative initiatives, innovative initiatives or proposals that are tied to the most diverse needs, not to the latter, because it wasn't like that at the time.
We didn't think about it at all. This new kiosk is energy independent, so it has applied photovoltaics, I think In the 1960s, we had no idea about photovoltaics. We were looking for more construction opportunities to maintain climate conditions in the interior space, This is the physical, innovative basis.
In these areas, we are looking for new possibilities. Besides that, the kiosk started as a journalistic one. It was passed through these directions and was used as a multi-purpose space for the Marseille. Today you cannot start with a magazine store, because magazines are no longer sold in stores, but in supermarkets and in gasoline tanks. In short, the magazines are no longer the key, the magazine store is no longer the goal.
And on the other side, today we are collecting the journal on a tablet.