Jure (You-Re) Zibret is an accomplished architectural designer who holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, where he was recognized with a Merit Award for his outstanding graduate thesis project.
Additionally, Jure earned his BA (Hons) from the Leicester School of Architecture at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom in 2018, during which he won a TRADA Competition for his work on a wooden parking lot in Bath.
After graduating, Jure gained valuable experience working at Sadar + Vuga in Ljubljana before interning at Coop Himmelb(l)au in Vienna, Austria. Currently, Jure is employed at Mark Foster Gage Architects in New York City as he continues to work toward becoming a practicing architect and academic.
Mark Foster Gage Architects, New York, NY, US, Architectural Designer
I was engaged in designing multiple high-end resorts and retail environments. Cross-bridging collaboration: Traveled from New York to Dubai for a two-week assignment, collaborating with the contractor's office and the client to improve communication and ensure project success—use of highly-sophisticated design software to create innovative and contemporary modern-day aesthetics. Proactively participated in weekly team meetings and contributed to other team members' problem-solving, idea-generation, and software training.
Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wien, AT, Architectural Intern
International Project Experience: Contributed to a range of high-profile international projects and competitions, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland (USA), Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theater (Russia), and the urban renewal of the industrial district in Handan (China). Prepared and maintained architectural documents and drawings and developed digital and physical models. As a design intern, I assisted chief designer Alexander Ott and principal Wolf D. Prix in designing and presenting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame project in Cleveland, Ohio.
Sadar + Vuga, Ljubljana, SI, Architectural Intern
Project Experience: Collaborated on various projects, including the competition for the Science Center in Ljubljana, the renovation of a retail store, and multiple resorts in Croatia and Montenegro. Prepared and maintained architectural documents and drawings and developed physical and digital models. Contributed to the design of a retail store and participated in weekly meetings with the client and contractors to ensure the project was on track and met all requirements.
Pristop Agency, Ljubljana, SI, Graphic Design Intern
Contributed to the creation of advertising content across multiple social media platforms.Collaborated with fellow graphic designers in utilizing Adobe Suite software.Explored the potential of virtual reality (VR) technology for advertising through research and analysis.
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles, CA, US, Masters, MArch II (NAAB)
IEDC - Bled School of Management, Bled, SI, MArch, Young Managers Program
Gained comprehensive training in leadership, strategic management, and cross-functional collaboration. Developed a global perspective through exposure to diverse viewpoints and experienced international business professionals.
De Montfort University, Leicester, Leicester, GB, Bachelors, BA in Architecture (RIBA)
First-Class (Hons). Elected school representative for the TRADA University Challenge Competition (2018).
Merit Graduate Thesis Award, Award
Received recognition for an exceptional graduate thesis project, “Domestic Wilderness,” which explores the future of domestic ecologies, its inhabitants, and potential technological innovations in our homes through a cinematic lens. The project was a short docufiction movie filmed in Cinema4D.
Domestic Wilderness
(https://gradthesis.sciarc.edu/student-page/jure-zibret)
Domestic Wilderness is a docufiction film about ecology. It is an uncanny and surreal journey into the universe of our homes and objects. To become ecological is to be aware of the complexity of the events that surround us in respect of their appearance and performance. However, for Latour, environmental actions are insufficient because society does not perceive the magnitude of the phenomena of climate change phenomena and the events that are triggered by it. In this work, the opposite is sought - connectivity, a relationship between human, non-human, and non-lifeform actors. The main goal of this work is to explore how we might live in the future through the notion of domesticity and wilderness. Could this type of representation - film, serve as a method to explain habitat to a potential resident?
This project shows the world of the domestic landscape and its ecologies in the form of a cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. Different actors/organisms inhabit the same space - an average American house is transformed into a place with different artificial ecosystems. This allows the viewer to observe different narratives on different time and space scales. Sometimes these stories overlap so that seemingly unrelated events are suddenly connected. Nonetheless, the viewer is free to connect with the content and pay attention to the stories that interest them. Moreover, each space offers a different cinematic atmosphere, expressed through the weather, lighting, humidity, and the organisms living in it.
The artificial climate in each room is different. The weather is constantly changing, affecting the living and non-living objects that inhabit the space. This makes the house a place of wilderness, where living conditions are constantly changing. Unintentionally, the house is transformed into a laboratory for architectural speculation that reveals new ways of dwelling. From a clean and sterile environment, the house transforms into a chaotic and porous world without boundaries, where the understanding of random and intentional connections plays an important role in life. Yet the dwelling does not disintegrate. On the contrary, the house becomes a landscape of organic and artificial matter.
The focus of this project is on the objects that occupy space. The work examines their actions in numerous environmental conditions, their mutual relationships, and their contribution to the new idea of life. Living and non-living organisms are synthetic hybrids with different roles. For example, a robotic elephant picks flowers, extracts their oils, and makes soap for a shower among flowers. Using its trunk, the elephant performs its morning duties by showering people with the flowers surrounding it. In another story, the flooded sink in the kitchen serves as the water source for the swamp in the middle of the dining room. The water in the swamp hosts a species of small fish that fertilize the soil and provide minerals to the vegetation growing in it. Each screen focuses on a story that may be related to another while maintaining the authentic image.
I believe architecture has the power to respond to ecological problems through cinematic modes of representation. The project speculates on the future of habitation, pushing the audience to explore new possibilities and aesthetics. I believe anyone should design their domestic ecosystem. Here, the architect creates a climate and its organisms by terraforming new domestic landscapes and overlapping natural and artificial.
TRADA University Challenge, 1st Place
As an elected representative of my university, I designed a timber column prototype as part of a multi-disciplinary team and led the winning project for the timber car park. The team won £2,000.00.
