In beautiful surroundings near Prague, the clients own a spacious cottage on a slope on an amazingly large plot surrounded by greenery. The cottage contains a basement, a ground floor and an unsatisfactory attic where one small room was hidden. Our challenge was to design a new attic with three rooms and a bathroom. Ideally, we also wanted to create a separate entrance via external stairs, as the building is connected by a spiral staircase, which makes it impossible to take furniture up to the attic. Of course, the design of the facades of the entire cottage was a matter of course, with the main balcony being preserved. The task was not easy. After discussion with the clients, we decided on a modern look for the cottage. In the attic we designed three bedrooms with double beds, two bathrooms with roof dormers and two separate toilets. We connected the outside staircase via an open terrace, which creates privacy and a separate entrance to the loft. The clients liked the glass gable, so we incorporated it into the design. It forms one of the landmarks. In addition, it beautifully illuminates all three rooms open to the roof, which have an equal view of the expansive grounds. We kept the existing balcony, which we repaired and weaved with stainless steel mesh in black. The asymmetrical balcony nicely divides the otherwise quite symmetrical gable. The combination of wood, stone and glass gives a modern feel to the whole design, enhancing the uniqueness of this building in the romantic setting of the English-style garden.

We wrapped the ground floor and the gables of the cottage in vertical tiling made of black Siberian larch. We kept the windows in their original grey colour, as well as the roofing and flashing elements in zinc grey painted aluminium sheet. We left the basement masonry admitted stone and uninsulated to show off the natural paired stone. The entire extension of the cottage is realized as a wooden building.