House Zorc
12/2012 I office project I team: Trost and associates; Jan Trošt, Iztok Hvala, Peter Krapež
the project is currently in progress
How to integrate a modern house with big programmatic requirements into the rural landscape, without disturbing the surroundings?
The site location at the slope to the Babna gora hill offers some specific conditions. Its steep profile just calls for a house, that is blended into the environment.
The whole concept of the house follows the idea of making a big house visually smaller but still maintaining all the qualities of the site and views to the valley below.
Project divides the house into two different elements – the lower part with all the living areas and the upper part with all the rooms for parents and children.
The shaping of the landscape creates a line between these two elements in the form of a concrete plate with a green roof on it. The living element on the ground floor gets a cantilevered roof with plenty of shade and offers views to the surroundings. The upper part, the sleeping element, gets a multipurpose green area around it. The house is integrated into the landscape and only the upper element is visible from the main road north of the site. The upper element also adopts its shape with proportions and the roof shape to the neighbor’s houses.
The main entrance to the house is on the lower, living area with a driveway and a garage. The living area can be extended to the exterior with the seamless transition. Spaces facing the terrain are meant for service rooms and storage, while space, facing the exterior is meant for the dining area, kitchen and living room. Rooms are filled with views and light. Communication with the upper element is through the staircase. A big two-storey skylight opening between living areas and service areas lights the service programs facing the terrain and connects the house vertically. In the upper element, all the rooms revolve around the big work and play space for parents and children. South facing windows bring light to space and create shadow play due to facade shading system.