The house from beginning of the 20th century, with small front yard and slightly bigger back yard, was before renovation in a state of ruin. The key value was maintaining the original spirit of this Art Nouveau building, whilst adapting it to today’s living standards and incorporating new, modern elements. Great emphasis was put on the quality of execution.
The building has 2 floors and can be used either as one big house for one family or as two self-contained apartments, making it adaptable to various life situations of future owner. The highlight of the lower floor is the big living room, featuring stove chimney, beside it the floor contains 3 bedrooms, separate toilet and spacious bathroom. One of the bedrooms is accessible directly from the staircase hallway, which makes it usable as an office with any visiting clients not having to go through private parts of the family.
As part of the remodelling of the second floor, the roof part heading towards the backyard was raised, allowing creation of another big bedroom with its own bathroom. This part can also serve as separate apartment. The big room features signature window niche and seatable windowsill, that offers view to treetops and green roof.
Both floors are connected by hung staircase that floats in the entrance hall. It combines steel structural element that also serve as railing and stainless-steel hanging struts with oak steps with natural finish. Lightning further amplifies the feeling of lightness.
Dirty little courtyard in the back was transformed to a pleasant garden with living terrace.
The renovation was accomplished using mostly traditional methods and natural building materials, new sustainable elements were introduced, all this in dialogue with neighbours. As it was planned, that the house will be sold after it’s finished, it had to be designed with “mainstream” user in mind, which was a significant limitation. Despite that, I think we succeeded to create a unique, original and distinctive building of high architectural value.

Traditional methods and materials were used, same ones that were used in the era of original construction. We used solid wood impregnated with oil (that makes the smell and structure of the wood stand out), casement windows, flat roof tiles or plaster on reed. They were supplemented with eco-friendly details, such as green roof, second water-supply system for rainwater in a part of the building, or recycled parquet floors, that have been salvaged from nearby buildings. Where possible, the original elements were refurbished and reused, for example most interior doors. New thermal insulation is necessity nowadays, as much as the building character allows. Flexible layout is an important aspect, prolonging the moral lifespan of the building significantly. Nurturing relationships with neighbours led to creating a special seating windowsill, which prevents undesired glances into their garden. And the principle itself, when we renovate an old building instead of creating a new one, is recycling on a big scale.