Modern family house located in the old city garden corresponds to its unusual morphology of the positive and negative features of the urban context.
The assignment was to design the family house in the problematic site. The proposal of the new house should be not too big nor little, designed for a young family of four. The house should be divided into the parts as the living room, hall with more ground clearance combined with kitchen, bedroom and two children's rooms. One children's room will, if necessary, act as a temporary guest room. The client needs spaces as a store for bicycles, skis, cellar with integrated boiler room and laundry and many other things. Garage is not necessary, could be designed as a shed . . .
The proposal reflects the surrounding and take advantage of it. The trees in the garden are arranged in two blocks on the east and on the west side. The volume of the building facing the green barriers on its longitudinal sides. The sidewalk and a high block of flats facing a short transverse side. The transverse site is the most exposed area so the level of the pavement will be protected by a wall. The wall and whole southern lateral side of the building will contain just one hole - the main entrance to the site. Based on that, the interior of the house is protected from view from the balconies and windows of neighborhood apartment buildings. The volume of the building divides the garden into two areas. Moreover, the longitudinal sides are largely protected from view, therefore, may contain large holes interconnecting with the interior garden. Solid walls are evenly interspersed with openings, which are equipped with large sliding glass walls enabling full opening of the wide opening. Holes link the divided parts of the garden right through the building. The interior living hall is transformed into a summer outdoor housing terrace. The shift of the openings and solid walls creates unlike the fully glazed solutions intimacy of the interior space, desired in the area of the hight density neighborhood. The trees are actually the only interesting elements in this area, which can be used in our proposal. All other points are barriers and limitations. Therefore, the volume of the glass wall units raises up, creating the visible connection to the trees, visible from the interior. This is creating a steep pitch roof, where in addition, a fallen leaves and a fruit from the trees falls to the ground. The individual volumes of the wall elements and glass wall elements are changed regularly with the same ground plan. The one exception of the module is located at the head of the stairs to the upper deck, but also in the basement. The mass of the modules and their rhythmic alternation adds significance to the external form of the house and interesting interior space. The day part has one floor, the night part has two floors.
Zigzag. Our aim was to create a modern family house tailored by the specific site and its surroundings, which can offer to its inhabitants several layers of experiences and possibilities of perception of the house and gardens. Moreover, the outer shape of the house is no less important and brings to the neighborhood the gesture of clear concept and quality.
Authors: Braňo Hovorka, Martin Paulíny
Location: Banska Bystrica
Design: 2016
