House with a hole. House that observes, maybe mystifies. Nevertheless it fulfils the wish of its owner to get a functional yet inspiring space despite a limited budget. And also the aim of the architects to create a house with inner complexity, outer simplicity, contemporary yet reflecting its vernacular context.
The project started as a reconstruction of an old house with a barn, but with a technical state that required their demolition. We kept the new house almost in the same place as the existing, set in a slope under an access road and oriented against it to the south. Our primary aim was to reflect the local vernacular setting, which meant actually a longer proportion and bigger volume, although the brief and limited budget asked for less.
The project resolves this by inserting empty spaces within the defined volume. The insulated interior extends to a covered terrace, important part of the brief, under a single roof. The terrace opens up to the roof structure and through a large round opening in the gable wall which gives the house an abstract face, generosity and intimacy.
The terrace continues along the house as a covered doorstep, providing shading and a visual extension of the interior thanks to a long glazed wall. The interior stays restricted both in size and standards, but spatially rich thanks to views, reflections and openings. Layout and material solutions play with a concept of layering, each zone with a distinct materiality, with an inserted room in the open ground floor with a fireplace and wooden floor, as the most intimate zone. The corridor along the glazed wall opens up to the edge of the attic and brings there an indirect light and a visual contact between the two floors. Despite the house seems quite large from the outside, it stays relatively small and compact inside – which suits to the owners, a family with two small kids that wishes to spend time together and close to their nature in their second home.

New built house, based on continuous footing, masonry structure with wooden components, timber ceiling and roof structure, small tiles roofing. Floor heating, sourced by a heat pump.