
Miran Bezan


Marjan Bežan, graduated from prof. Ravnikar in 1964 and was a holistic professional personality, whose activity reflected in urban-architectural planning of larger areas of cities or neighbourhoods, solving the problem of residential construction planning within the framework of the Society of Architects and management of the department for spatial planning of the City of Ljubljana.
As part of the Urban Institute of the RS, Marjan Bežan worked in V. B. Mušič's author group, together with Nives Starc - on the competition project for the residential neighborhood BS-7 Ruski car in Ljubljana in 1967 - and on the realization of the neighborhood. Then, in a team with Nives Starc, he won the first prize in the competition for the Center Moste neighborhood in Ljubljana, which they also realized.
In the Yugoslav competition for the construction of a new part of the city of Split III, in the team of the Urban Institute of the RS - V. B. Mušič and Nives Starc, he won the first prize. The area was planned for approximately 50,000 inhabitants and included the entire accompanying city program including schools, kindergartens, business facilities and the complex of the new University of Split.His task was to create and implement the entire project based on the conceptual and conceptual program competition solution together with his wife Nives Starc and a wider team (M. Cerar et al.) - for which he practically moved to Split for a few years in 1969.
The result of the work led by arch. Bežan, it was - an implementation spatial project for the Split III area and detailed location plans, including the program concept designs of individual buildings, as a basis for implementation plans and realization. An important part of the architectural design was the arrangement of all ground floor areas of the entire area, which significantly influenced the high-quality, Mediterranean-style outdoor space and gave the entire area of Split 3 - its own character. To the greatest extent, these surfaces were also designed by Marjan Bežan.
In 1971, together with co-authors V. B. Mušič and Nives Starc, he received the prize of the Yugoslav Institute for Urbanism and Planning for Split III.In 1974, together with V. B. Mušič, he received the Borba Award for the urban planning solution of Split III.
In 1970, in the competition for the construction of the western part of Kranj, the new neighborhood Planina - Marjan Bežan won the first prize in a group with Nives Starc and Marjan Cerar, which later enabled the realization of the project. That's why a few years later he got a job with his team in Kranj, where he designed and built the Planina neighborhood in more detail, and then the Drulovka settlement near Kranj.
He also participated in other competition projects, where he received the first prize - such as in Velenje, for the tourist center in Bovec and for the center in Kranj.
Marjan Bežan was the president of the Association of Architects of Ljubljana, where he was credited, among other things, with drafting the first rulebook on public competitions. Within the framework of the association, he actively participated in solving the problem of planning residential construction and in the initiative for the organization of development competitions for obtaining better solutions for the typology of buildings.
After the independence of Slovenia in 1990, at the suggestion of the wider profession, he was chosen as a city planner or for the head of the Ljubljana Spatial Planning Department (MOL) with the key task of creating detailed spatial plans for individual parts of the city. In this context, he was the initiator of the extremely successful arrangement of the embankments of the Ljubljanica and a large number of city projects, which were later continued, supplemented and implemented by the current MOL team. He performed this work professionally during the time of various holders of political power within the City Administration - until 1999, when he retired due to health reasons. In addition to his high level of expertise in his field, it is also necessary to point out his high moral and ethical attitude when dealing with the professional solutions of various colleagues - regardless of the frequent division of the profession, which was typical in the past and is still noticeable in part today.
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