"These things have to do with the most intimate fondness for the mountains as well as with the awareness of the value of one’s life. I just couldn’t imagine moving away from the hills in which I had grown up. These things have shape me as a person and made me who I am; this attachment is not something you foster, it just happens, all the time. Had I not made this decision, I would have been denying a big part of myself."
ECHO
"I remember my first visit. It was winter, one of those fantastic sunny winter days. I had been ski touring from Mt. Krnička Gora to the Krničko Sedlo saddle, not an easy feat. So I thought I’d have a look and see what kind of homestead stood here, and as I was watching it from the northern slopes of Mt. Mrzla Gora the sunlight was falling on it at a very unusual angle.
I walked up — of course there was no path to the house — which was completely abandoned, and I sat down on this very bench. On the same spot where we are sitting today there was a wooden bench, and so much snow that only my nose peeked out from under the overhang where I was sitting, watching the northern wall of Mrzla Gora. I just felt that some time soon this would be my home. It was such an overwhelming feeling from deep inside — and from then on I lived to make this happen."
PROCESS
"It never even occurred to me to pull down the farmstead. Maybe this has to do with my mum being a history professor, because she taught us the importance of respecting old things, respecting the past. Then there’s this powerful impression I got from my first visit and the memory of how I basked in the sun here. It would go against every grain of that which defines me if I pulled this wall down. But that was never a dilemma, even though everyone I talked to suggested just that. I did try to imagine it, for I was lucky to have hiked extensively in the mountains, the Alps, and I had seen some exceedingly modern things. But that didn’t resonate with me. I felt that by pulling everything down I would completely disturb the balance of the entire space."
VRLOVČNIK HOMESTEAD
I am thinking about reconstructing the homestead so as to make each of these buildings a room with a specific function. Where there’s the house, there should be fire, there should be a kitchen and it should smell good. Where there’s the granary, which this homestead no longer needs, there should be something with a programme that’s completely separated from everything, and if you have plenty of drinking water this gives you the privilege of swimming in this water. The barn could become a bedroom with a room for debates, contemplation, or a studio downstairs.