Pred Vami je prva številka novega obdobja v življenju revije po četrt stoletja izhajanja, stopetindvajseta po vrsti. Pod vodstvom Janeza Koželja je v tem času revija dosegla zavidljivo raven kvalitete in resen teoretski status. Vsezkozi se je odlikovala po jasnih in prepoznavnih stališčih, kljub obdobju postmoderne, ki je bilo bolj kot jasnosti naklonjeno vulgarnemu pluralizmu in relativizmu. Zdi se, da je bila ena od odločilnih stalnic revije njena zavezanost tradiciji moderne in njene morale, v stalnem iskanju družbene in kulturne utemeljenosti arhitekture.

Vprašanje "kako naprej" smo si postavili z vso resnostjo. Kako obdržati nivo kvalitete in povečati aktualnost? Kako zagotoviti večjo rednost izhajanja? Kako reviji zagotoviti preživetje?

Arhitekturne revije vsake toliko časa obnavljajo svojo podobo, svoj program ali celo sestavo uredništva, v želji, da bi spremembe vnesle v revijo svež veter in s tem povečano kompetenco, zlasti v odnosu do bralstva in naročnikov. Prav za to nam gre - da bi namreč uredniška politika v čim večji meri zajela vso kompleksnost današnjega položaja arhitekture in arhitektov, ne zatiskajoč si oči pred stalno poglabljajočo se krizo. Pri tem nam ne gre za hitre efekte, ampak za pazljivo raziskavo realnosti, ki bo temeljila na jasno izraženih stališčih uredništva do problematike stroke, na odprtosti in na odpiranju razprave o akutnih problemih in tudi o lastnih stališčih, ter na premišljeni, v nadaljevanje dveh desetletij tradicije revije obrnjeni resnosti.

Sestava uredništva in vsebinska zasnova revije bosta temeljili na kontinuiteti, pri čemer bo vsebina razdeljena na tematski del, ki bo predstavljal glavnino vsake številke, in na rubrični del s stalnimi rubrikami, ki bodo pokrivale različne aktualne teme.

Prvi dve številki nove serije sta posvečeni novim paradigmam v sodobni arhitekturni kulturi. Pomenita pregled zanimivih in vznemirljivih stališč, ki se oblikujejo v glavnem izven mainstreama sodobne slovenske arhitekture. Avtorji vsak zase oblikujejo stališča do odprtih problemov sedanjosti in se skupaj s Tafurijem sprašujejo "Quid tum?" (Kaj storiti?).

Esej, ki spremlja temo, je izpod peresa znamenitega avstrijskega arhitekturnega kritika Dietmarja Steinerja in je nastal na podlagi njegovega lanskoletnega predavanja v Piranu.

Nadaljujemo s predstavitvami programskih tekstov sodobne arhitekturne kulture. Po Framptonovi utemeljitvi kritičnega regionalizma, "Šest točk v prid arhitekturi odpora", ki je bil objavljen v številki 117/118 in ga velja imeti v mislih tudi ob branju te številke, objavljamo tokrat prevod teksta Rema Koolhaasa "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?", ki je v originalu izšel v reviji ANY (ArchitectureNewYork) št. 9/1994.

Temo zaokrožujejo predstavitve seminarskih, diplomskih in natečajnih del študentov in mladih diplomantov ljubljanske šole za arhitekturo.

Vsaka številka naj bi prinesla predstavitev segmenta domače ali pa tuje arhitekturne ustvarjalnosti. V tej objavljamo najnovejše delo mariborskega arhitekta Antona Lešnika.

V rubriki "portreti" bomo predstavili švedskega arhitekta turškega rodu Cheta Kanro. Gre za "neznanega" arhitekta, ki ga ne zanimata medijska popularnost in kariera, ampak je svoje delo posvetil uporabnosti in kvaliteti lokalnega bivalnega okolja.

Pa še o novi podobi. Svežina nove grafike je delo dveh mladih oblikovalcev, Luca Pavlina in Tomaža Nečemarja, ki vodita oblikovalski studio Torax. Sprememba zunanje podobe ni le odraz zamenjave na krmilu in spremembe vsebinske strukturiranosti revije, ampak je njen namen tudi dvig kvalitete oblikovanja in tiska ter boljša preglednost in čitljivost.

What you see before you is the first issue of a new era in the life of this magazine after 25 years of publication, number 125. All credit is due to the editor Janez Koželj, who enabled the magazine to achieve its outstanding level of quality during this time, as well as a serious theoretical status. Since the start the magazine has been renowned for its clear and recognisable stand points inspite of the postmodern era, which favours vulgar pluralism and relativism rather than clarity. One of the outstanding traits of the magazine has been its commitment to the tradition of modernism and its moral, a constant searching for the social and cultural foundations of architecture.

The question 'How to go on?' has been addressed with all due seriousness. How to maintain the level of quality and keep it modern and up-to-date? How to ensure that the magazine appears regularly? And how to guarantee its existence?

Every once and awhile architectural magazines renew their image, concept or editorial board with the express intent of breathing fresh life into the magazine in order to raise its competence, particularly in relation to the readers and subscribers. And this is exactly our goal: to ensure that the editorial policy encompasses the complexity of today's position of architecture and architects to the greatest possible extent, without turning away in the face of the growing crisis. We are not only interested in producing a glossy publication, but in a careful research of reality, based on the clearly defined stand points of the editorial board towards problems in our field, on openness and opening discussions on acute problems as well as personal opinions, with carefully considered intention, aimed at continuing the two decades of the magazine's tradition.

The editorial board and the contextual concept of the magazine will be based on continuity: the contents will be divided, with one section addressing a general theme, which will constitute the major part of each publication, and another section which will contain regular features, covering various up-to-date subjects.

The first two numbers of the new series are dedicated to new paradigms in modern architectural culture. They are a review of interesting and exciting stand points, mainly defined outside the mainstream of modern Slovene architecture. The authors put forth their viewpoints on problems of the present reality, and together with Tafuri they ask 'Quid tum?' (What should be done?).

The essay accompanying the theme was written by the famous Austrian architectural critic Dietmar Steiner on the basis of his lecture last year in Piran.

We continue with presentations of various programme texts of modern architectural culture. After Frampton's confirmation of critical regionalism, the "Six Points In Favour of the Architecture of Resistance", published in no. 117/118, which should also be taken into account when reading the present number, we are now featuring a translation of Rem Koolhaas' text "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?", published in the original in ANY (Architecture New York) no. 9/1994.

The theme is rounded off by a presentation of seminar, diploma and tender work by students and young graduates of the Ljubljana School of Architecture.

Each number will present a selection of Slovene or foreign architectural creativity. This time we are featuring the latest work by Maribor architect Anton Lešnik.

In "Portraits" we shall introduce the Swedish architect of Turkish origin Chet Kanra. He is an "unknown" architect, who is not interested in media popularity or advancing his career, but has dedicated his work to application and quality of his local residential environment.

A word about the new image: the freshness of the new graphic design is the work of two young designers, Luc Pavlin and Tomaž Nečemar, who run the "Torax" design studio. The external image does not only reflect the changes in the editorial board or changes in the contextual structure of the magazine, but also raises the level of quality of the design and print, therefore the magazine comes in a new easy-to-use format.