Janez Lajovic, Architect
Written by Matej Gašperič
Architect
1932-2024
To my dear mentor … In Memoriam
With Janez Lajovic in Venice, 25th May, 2018
A few years ago, I was riding the ski lift up to Vrh Karvavca when, just before getting off, a voice beside me seemed somewhat familiar.
"Janez, is that you?"
"Oh, Matej! Where's your helmet?"
We disembarked and exchanged a few words, after which he dashed off down the slope so fast that I couldn't, nor did I want to, catch up with him.
..
In the third year of High School of Civil Engineering, after two years of practice on construction sites, we had the opportunity to do an internship in an office for the first time. My mom, who knew Janez from college, arranged a meeting with him for me. He somehow took me under his wing back then, and so, as a middle school student, I found myself for the first time in the famous AB Biro.
I visited the attic of the house on Cankarjeva street in the center of Ljubljana several times thereafter. But it was when I started studying at the Faculty of Architecture, that I really spent most of my free as well as study time under the sloping ceilings of their studio.
Unlike many of my colleagues who spent most of their time outside of lectures in the "Heavens" ("Nebesa" - as the attic drawing rooms at the faculty were called), I was rarely there. At one point, my mentor at the faculty - Prof. Dr. Janez Kresal, even mildly rebuked me on one occasion when after several weeks, I finally showed up for the regular critique session: "Colleague, you could have come a bit more often."
But his words did not fell on a fertile ground. AB Biro was my home and my school at the time. I usually hurried there right after mandatory lectures and then drew late into the evening.
..
Janez usually arrived at the office a bit later. After taking off his jacket and his characteristic bag, which he carried over his shoulder, he pulled up a nearby chair and sat down. He glanced at what we had managed to draw in his absence. Then he took out sketch paper and began to think, sketch, developing and changing... As annoying the changes were - especially at that pre-computer era that usually meant a lot of drawing and redrawing, I learned that to reach a god solution, one is not to stop to eary. Until it was not god enough, it was simply... well... not good enough. That kind of thinking kind of engrained into my soul.
I remember admiringly watching my older colleagues Mija and Irena, with whom he often engaged in brief serious debates or consultations about details, architectural solutions, etc. But instead of discussing, he took the time to explain to me why he had done a certain solution the way he did.
After his rounds, he enjoyed a sandwich, perhaps sat for a while, sketching and drawing at his desk at the far end of the attic, and then simply, regardless of what anyone might think, nonchalantly flopped onto the couch in the corner of the attic and enjoyed a refreshing nap.
..
When the office was closed on weekends, I usually drove to his home in the row atrium house in Črnuče. Sometimes I even caught the family breakfast and was kindly invited to join them. Then I climbed up the duck stairs - this "invention" fascinated me at the time - to the attic, where there were three drawing boards and an armchair.
Sometimes I drew alone. But usually, there were two of us there - me and his relative - Primož, if I remember the name correctly - who was also studying architecture a year or two ahead of me. I remember that as long as we were alone, we could set the music to our liking. But when Janez came up, he always switched the radio station to the third program of Radio Ljubljana - the Art program. It played only classical music, which, I must admit, was not very much to my liking at the time.
He sat down at his desk and immersed himself in his world of creation. Once in the zone, the outside world no longer existed for him. This lasted until his wife Gusja called us for lunch. Eight of us crowded around the small table - all four children, the two of us students, Janez and his Gu, as he also called her. The latter always kindly asked me this and that and was especially attentive to me.
After lunch, back to the drawing board and listening to classical music. I returned home late at night, sometimes only in the morning hours of the next day, especially before submitting a competition project.
I thoroughly enjoyed it there. I was well received and felt at home there. The work was interesting. Projects were usually reserved for employees of the office, so I mostly assisted with competitions. From time to time, Janez would borrow me to Grega Košak - also a renown architect and a colleague of his in AB Biro. But for the most part, I worked for Janez. And I loved it.
I remember a competition for a business building, a competition for the development of a new city park on the site of Plečnik's stadium, and a competition for a hotel in Bled. The latter remained particularly memorable to me because I was involved in it from start to finish. We visited the location and prepared the backgrounds. My first task was to review the competition project. Janez then ordered me to prepare cardboard models of the surfaces of individual spaces based on the program and required rooms. We then laid these out on the floor in various compositions and studied the functional connections between them. From this emerged a design which, through ink drawing on tracing paper, was translated into plans that were never completed. Sometimes I felt that, more than Rotring for drawing, I used a razor blade to scrape already inked parts of the project from the tracing paper.
During breaks, I stepped up to the bookshelves that ran along the entire perimeter of the attic and took one of the books from their rich library. Every now and then, Janez himself pointed out a book to me. And when he saw that a particular one caught my eye, he often encouraged me to borrow it home. One - Great Architects - volume III, he even gave me when I had an exam on the topic at the faculty, and it is still a proud part of my book collection today.
Meanwhile at their home, a family life also continued parallel to the architectural activities. And with four children, you can imagine, it was always lively.
Whenever she was home, the energetic Katja was always all over the place.
The twins as well seemed to have an unlimited amount of energy at their disposal, and often they were - literally - crawling over Janez's shoulders and head while he continued to work, focused, seemingly not even noticing.
And then there were those special times when his daughter Nina would come upstairs. She was nice and a pleasure to speak with. I wouldn't exactly say I had a crush on her - or maybe a little - although I found her very sympathetic nevertheless. But I was young and shy in this respect, and she was even younger, so eventually, nothing came out of it.
..
Eventually, the end of my studies came. At that time, I was fascinated by computers. Open-minded as he was, Janez embraced them as well. He was one of the first to utilize them in his studio and the first to buy a mighty Silicon Graphics workstation. As the studio's computer guy, I was the one to work on it.
But to me, it was not enough. I was mesmerized by the magic of them. The whole new fileds of were were opening at that time. And so, slowly but surely, I was drawn out of the world of architecture.
I still vividly remember how he invited me one day for a walk in the nearby forest. Strolling leisurely, he gently tried to convince me not to abandon architecture, to keep me at the studio. But when does youth listen to experience? At that time, other paths inspired me more, and I saw my future bright, working in other fields.
..
After that, our ways slowly parted, and for a quarter of a century, we barely stayed in touch.
The Glenn Murcutt Masterclass proved to be a pivotal, life-changing event in my life. Not overthinking it, in my usual manner, I followed my gut and dove deep back into architecture, leaving behind a substantial chunk of my life. I chose the opportunity to reconnect with him. At that time, AB Biro was still active but kind of past its old days of glory. But Janez was active like he wouldn't age at all.
We met a few times. At one point, when Glenn Murcutt was coming for an event preceding the opening of a Venice Architectural Biennale, I rented a van and took him and colleagues from my studio for a trip. I remember him saying, "They are all talking about how old Glenn is, but do you realize that I am older?" And it was true, although his age did not show at all.
On our way back, we discussed the flaws of the present schooling system at the Faculty of Architecture and what a proper architectural schooling system should look like. His strong opinion was that the present system is much too fragmented and argued for strong seminars and mentors, with only some highly specialized subjects to be taught separately. All in all, we had a great time, and I made a resolution to do something similar as soon as possible.
..
But as it turned out, that was the last time I spent more time with him.
A few years ago, he invited me to join him for a ski-opening. They were missing a team member, and I was to join him and Saša Mächtig for a few days of skiing. Unfortunately, at that time, I was fully occupied organizing a student architectural Immersive Architecture workshop, so I had to decline - a decision I regret to this day.
..
After that, I met him just sporadically at some architectural events but never had a chance to really talk with him. It saddened me to watch how, in the last couple of years, his body, always full of power, was visibly declining. Only his vivid, piercing eyes kept the usual flame.
..
Although with long time gaps and not always as close as one would wish, Janez was doubtlessly one of the most important persons in my life.
He was my mentor.
My life coach in the deepest meaning of the word.
Always curious. Open-minded. Eager to learn. Full of life energy. Gentle, but sometimes painfully direct. No-nonsense guy down to his core.
He took me under his wings when it mattered most and educated me the way he strongly believed architecture should be taught.
I owe him a lot.
Dear Janez!
Thank you... for everything!
Rest in peace.
In my heart, you will live forever.
