An international competition held in 2008 was won by the Barcelona firms Mendoza Partida and BAX, thanks to a scheme that transformed a building of great historical value into a cultural facility while reactivating the banks of the river Ljubljanica along the stretch that passes through this urban area of the Slovenian capital.

The Rog factory was built back in the fourth quarter of the 19th century, although it was in 1923 that it took on its current look. Bicycles and typewriters, very popular in the former Yugoslavia, had been manufactured here since the 1950s. Belonging to the industrial heritage of Ljubljana, the listed building of reinforced concrete on a massive scale presented a 125-meter-long facade and a structure of externally visible beams.

The new Center Rog upgrades the huge existing shed – reinforced and restored, given the very bad state it was in – and adapts to the needs of a building devoted to art, innovation, and design and featuring a library, production laboratories, exhibition galleries, multipurpose halls, offices, workshops, and also studios and accommodations for artists.

Strengthening the building’s original bay, the project adds a new structure parallel to it. It is transparent to let natural light in on the north side, and includes circulation elements, washrooms, and services. Another strategy applied to the manufacturing plant involves opening the previously boarded-up ground floor to the riverwalk, and provides a transversal connection to the new park through a series of commercial spaces and workshops.