Architect Danilo Fürst - an Eternal Columbus

By:Tatjana Lesjak

The oldest living disciple of Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik, Danilo Fürst, was born on April 6, 1912 in Maribor. The first of three children of a family that traces its origins back to 16th century Prlekija, NE Slovenia, Fürst had to shoulder the burden of responsibility and maturity at the early age of 12, after the premature death of his father.

His talents and diligence helped him make a living as a tutor from an early age. He was the best of the 50 graduates of his generation at the Maribor non-classical secondary school. He wanted to study architecture, but it was so difficult to get into Plečnik's seminar that he nearly became a naval officer. The young man was persistent however, which convinced the master to accept him; Fürst became one of his most brilliant students.
An innovative spirit, he was soon christened Columbus by his peers. Despite the excruciating intensity of the studies, the required perfectionism of drawing skills and the rigorous discipline, Plečnik's school was also a school of creativity, persistence and ethics. In addition, the young man found enough spare time for sports and achieved top results in cross-country skiing. Fürst perceived the great Plečnik as a genius unparalleled in the present time.
After graduating at 25, he went to Vienna to broaden his horizons. He later took a job as the city architect of Bled (1935-1938), which still bears the mark of his multi-faceted creativity. For most of the Second World War, he was separated from his family. The post-war period required an entirely new approach to architecture: rationality, modesty and short construction time. Fürst developed a system of quick construction whereby it took only eight days to construct a pre-fabricated house, complete with all the equipment.
He was also strongly committed to rebuilding the aluminium factory in Kidričevo. With a distinct sensitivity to the spatial and social context of buildings, he devoted himself to studious planning and construction of schools; he is currently overseeing the refurbishment and annexing of some of them. He was later ordered to Bosnia, where he planned and oversaw the construction of a pulp mill in Maglaj, together with a housing development. During his stay in Bosnia, he also took part in the construction of two factories in Banjaluka and one in Drvar.
With great commitment, he constructed buildings across Slovenia and went on study travels abroad. He presided over the Yugoslav and Slovenian associations of architects and organised shows of Yugoslav architects all over Europe. All this time, especially after he retired, he found great pleasure in sacral architecture. Today, at the age of 91, he is building the pilgrimage Church of St. Theresa near Banjaluka and does work on Sveta gora near Nova Gorica.
His life work encompasses 180 unfinished and completed projects. Despite the trouble, pressure and demands for speedy construction, he never forgot about the humane aspect of architecture. Being aware that the main purpose of a project is to serve man, the guiding light of his work has always been the concern for fellow people. Details were, and remain, his great passion. He is just finishing a corona above the ancient stone well next to the tomb of the Bourbons (Charles X, the last crowned king from the Bourbons family who was evicted from France in 1830, is buried at Kostanjevica nad Novo Gorico).
One of Plečnik's most prolific disciples, Fürst extended into all areas of architecture. His numerous innovative solutions earned him the Plečnik Award for lifetime achievements in architecture in 1997. In 2000, his life work was put on display at a retrospective exhibition at the Cankarjev dom congress and arts centre, which was accompanied by an extensive monograph. The public broadcaster, TV Slovenia, marked his 90th birthday with a one-hour film about his life and work. Fürst's great talent, and his persona of an architect, are interwoven with creative resourcefulness and Plečnik's humanism.
Only a small number of architects have had the honour of being Plečnik's disciples. How do you view this quite remote period now?
The time after the First World War, in the 1920s, was like a breath of life for architecture in Slovenia. Architects Vurnik and Plečnik devised and demonstrated the success of architecture in Austria, in Vienna, as well as in Prague. They ploughed the field of ignorance of architecture into initial fertility. Architecture is supposed to be an experience, shared by all who will use it in practice. There is a simple old saying (which still holds true for great architecture): art, construction, economy.
From 1920 up until 1957 when Plečnik died, between 30 and 40 of his disciples graduated every day. The professor held consultations and checked their drawings three times a day, monitoring every disciple's development in a critical and constructive way. I had constantly wanted to observe the professor's geniality and follow him when solutions, results on paper, took shape. Unlike this approach to studying, some of my colleagues had gravitated towards their own expression in the art of architecture from the very beginning, thus constantly behind in the experience; in their powerlessness, they later became epigones.
Would you write your motto "Architecture must be loving and cheerful, not swaggerish" in a different way today?
There is a quick and, I hope, understandable answer: I create architecture not only for myself, but also for the pleasure and service of the users. So it should be loving and cheerful (I am from Prlekija after all), not swaggerish.
Do you believe that in the present time, which is marked by an exponential development of technology, form still has its place and will not be supplanted by function?
Form is a well-respected atavism in this period; it doesn't only take shape for its own purpose. The function of use, the boldness of construction, the content of technology and the tandem of rooms with the façade must be convincing. The very façade should demonstrate the living content of a building.
I would like to go back to the transition into the 1950s. During this period, industrial architecture played a notable role in my life. I had been ordered to Bosnia due to what the authorities thought was the inappropriate and active support for the independence of architects from the joint association of engineers and technicians, as well as the establishment of the magazine Arhitekt. Me and the architect Ravnikar, my colleague and friend from the Plečnik school, forgot, in our eagerness and naiveté, to ask the authorities for permission. Those were serious times, but Bosnia accepted me "with open arms" and despite problems, I created an extensive opus during that period. I was entrusted with building two big factories in Maglaj, two in Banjaluka and one in Drvar (where an airborne assault on the residence of Tito was carried out during WWII).
The rich experience that I acquired through rationalised industrial construction gave me a broad conceptual basis for solution in what is called "civil" architecture. I will only mention the most notable works from that period: the school at Straža pri Kranju (1953-59), which has been conferred the status of a cultural monument and is having an annex added for the fifth time, row houses on Peričeva street in Ljubljana (1956-57) and the seat of the Bled Forestry Administration (1958-60).
None of these were part of the assignments at professor Plečnik's classes. I came up with solutions anew, with stubborn work and research, since we shared unyielding eagerness to solve the many newly emerging tasks. I believed in group work, taking it upon myself to make sure the various experts worked in harmony.
The current issue of Slovenia News is dedicated to relations with Finland. Since you were awarded the Finnish state honour "Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland", it would be interesting to find out more about Finnish architecture and mutual influences. What I have in mind is Alvar Aalto, whose show the Ljubljana Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art put on in 1987.
As president of the Yugoslav Architects Association, I received an invitation in 1959, to assume the duty of presenting Finnish architecture to the capital of Yugoslavia. This was a show which comprehensively displayed the entire content, the activity of the then "young" Finland. It was vibrant and exciting to discover their immense activity, striving for an increasingly better form of realisation. As I got to know their bold, modern, convincing solutions, I felt, despite my modesty, that their philosophy and architecture fitted me "like a glove", as if their Finnish perception was mine as well. Was that presumptuous?
There are materials in my line of work that have been with mankind forever: wood, brick, stone, naturally worked concrete; new, daring construction solutions, discharging the façade for a light insulative thermic surface. Unnaturally large window surfaces - from bottom to ceiling - are designed to connect with nature; instead of balconies, loggias where it is also possible to live "in nature" where there is greenery and flowers. Behind that, an extensive surface where the resident can create their own space, or maybe two or three. Of course, these are not concrete housing bunkers, where one is totally powerless to rearrange or add things. For example, for 70 m2 of apartment surface, there are only two concrete walls and two on the façade, covered with exterior pre-fabricated panels which have to be moved gently in order to recreate the rooms. Only the kitchen fittings, the bathroom and the toilet are fixed.
This shows the eternal good-natured concern for residents who will have pleasure in flexibility and the ability to rearrange in all seasons of the year. Everything is simple and convincingly designed in the desire for individuality, independence. I was also assigned by the authorities to solve the problem of standardisation in the then Yugoslavia, since construction was "prodigal", with fantasy measures disregarding rational use of material. We were in for a new kind of mentality, which had been introduced elsewhere. After the First World War, an architect was forced to take everything into account, from planning, to the use of everything that was carried out. After 1945 however, our plans went immediately to the construction site, still "dripping with wet ink". Unfortunately, too many foremen did not have an eye for the quality of the building as envisaged in the plans.
Finland had, and still has, these problems adequately solved: the architect is a respected person with responsibility, who is capable of solving all kinds of problems. I put forward the proposal that all the planners that were assigned for industrial construction in Bosnia, within my working group, would go see the production of machinery in Finnish factories. I should remind you that there were no real telephone connections at the time, no fax machines; let alone computers. I was therefore glad that the Finnish were happy to accept my proposal. They understood that our presence in their factories would considerably cut the design time. We reached an agreement with the company Valmet in Jyväskylä. Contacts were promising from the very beginning; we were received with much trust and friendliness, and the professionalism on both sides made it clear that co-operation would affect the stability of future projects. Unfortunately, I cannot give you the names of the Finnish experts and colleagues, since a flood destroyed all the design documentation for the four factories in Bosnia. I know however, that they included the manager Solin, sales manager Ikevalko, and Mr. Rask, the son of the Finnish president.
During our visit, I was also very glad to accept an invitation from the architect Aarne Ervi to see his neighbourhood in green Tapiola, close to Helsinki. The buildings were constructed the way he designed them - to the last detail. From the very beginning, the great architect and I had a genuine relationship, agreeing that the author must be present at, and responsible for, the construction from the design, to the construction phase and the final moving in of the residents. Aarne Ervi was a great architect and a modest person who rejected publicity.
You have been training in your profession all your life and are still active and present in Slovenian architecture. What are your plans for the future?
My motto has always been: continued work for the benefit of the user. One such example is the fifth annex that is being added to the Straža pri Kranju primary school, which has become a cultural monument.
You probably wouldn't be able to do such extensive and painstaking work so successfully if your family did not show understanding for what you do.
I have to confide that I have had two simultaneous and equally intensive loves in my life, which had no jealousy for each other. First there is my wife Ljubinica, who has always, and everywhere been a critical and benevolent observer of my work. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory, she gave up her profession, in all her modesty and dedication, when I got my first job at the "heaven on earth" that is Bled. She dedicated herself to our four sons, and later, eleven grandchildren. Now she finds pleasure in four great-grandsons and great-granddaughter Mila. Let me add a little bit of history: Ljubinica, maiden name Leskovar, is the daughter of a lawyer, who was the first Slovenian mayor in Maribor. In 1918, Dr. Leskovar was the gerent of the entire Štajerska region, a two-time mayor with an extraordinary fervour to modernise the city with the first row houses for workers. Finally, he was also the president of the Maribor Authority (there were 33 in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), which included over half of Slovenia; throughout history, Slovenians have always strived to be among the best in all areas.
My second eternal love is architecture, which has invigorated and rejuvenated me through the ongoing work that I have been doing.

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