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Kurja vas (Chicken Village)

The village of Kromberk, located right next to Nova Gorica, consists of several hamlets, including Kurja vas (translated Chicken Village, along Tomo Brejc Street), which takes its name from the architectural characteristics of its houses. But what exactly defines them?

The architectural features of Kurja vas were studied by researcher of residential culture Špela Ledinek Lozej, who in her article “Kurja vas: A Fragment of Nova Gorica’s Housing Culture” (2016) presented the origins of the settlement and its unusual name.

The architecture of the residential units reflects the building practices of the 1950s, when the priority was to provide as many new housing units as possible in the shortest time using all available resources. The construction of these units is linked to the establishment of the Nova Gorica Furniture Factory (later “Edvard Kardelj”, and later still Meblo). On 13 September 1949, the commission for reviewing major projects of the Ministry of Construction of the People’s Republic of Slovenia approved the factory’s proposal for the construction of six residential buildings in Kromberk, which were completed in 1950. The factory workers moved into these units (PANG 80, OLO Gorica, file 218/2, cf. Ledinek Lozej 2016).

The architectural plans were prepared by Mark Šlajmer, then a graduate architecture student, who in his article “Housing Settlement of the ‘Edvard Kardelj’ Furniture Factory in Nova Gorica” dated the construction to the period 1948–1949. Šlajmer designed 34 single-family houses for the settlement, intended to be built using local materials. He also planned to involve future residents in the construction process, though he later sharply criticised their arbitrary alterations to the original plans, which, in his view, irreversibly damaged the overall concept (Šlajmer 1952: 21).

The hillside, semi-basement houses ended up differing significantly from the original designs. These changes were introduced by the builders—namely the construction company Primorje Ajdovščina—without the architect’s knowledge, resulting in the complete disruption of the clear spatial layout (Šlajmer 1952: 21, cf. Ledinek Lozej 2016).

Originally, the houses were designed with two entrances: a summer entrance via the terrace and a winter entrance through a small vestibule next to the kitchen niche. Instead, the builders created an entrance through an enclosed veranda on the terrace, and replaced the vestibule with a small storage room next to the kitchen. They also subdivided the central living space, turning what had been planned as a unified living-dining area with a kitchen niche into a separate, oversized kitchen with dining table and a living room with direct access to the toilet and bathroom.

To make matters worse, some houses—and their living rooms—were oriented towards the north (Šlajmer 1952: 21). According to the architect, residents later added extensive extensions in some cases. Today, the original volumes are difficult to recognise, as windows and doors were relocated and internal walls added or removed.

As Ledinek Lozej further explains, drawing also on testimonies from local residents, these architectural features inspired the popular name of the settlement. The name “Kurja vas” (Chicken Village) refers to the stairs leading to the terrace or veranda, which resembled the slatted ramps used in chicken coops. At the same time, the use of the word kurja (rather than cibja, the local dialect term) reflects the influence of residents—mostly managerial staff of the furniture factory—who came from central Slovenia and the Ljubljana area, where chickens are referred to as kure rather than cibe (Ledinek Lozej 2016).

Avtor: Jasna Fakin Bajec

Kraj: Kromberk

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