It was the owners’ lifestyle that provided the starting point in the design of this house: the family is always surrounded by relatives and friends, which implies a high degree of house occupancy every weekend, as well as many ongoing activities. The building was thus designed as a shifted, irregular volume, ensuring the existence of several “centres of interest” on each of the two levels, and, at the same time, the opening of several areas towards the outside.
Inside, despite the varying functions, the spaces openly communicate with each other and there are very few enclosed areas, which contributes to a sense of fluidity. The daytime area is a well-lit open space, ensuring maximum interaction between kitchen, dining space and living room, as well as between the upper level and the courtyard.
In order to include the courtyard into this structure, the passage to the outside, namely to the terrace, itself partially covered by the upper floor volume, is done through a large glazed surface, for which the architects used the narrowest available frame. The ground floor also contains several technical areas, the entry access, a few bathrooms as well as a working space, while the upper level houses the four differently sized bedrooms, their originally decorated adjacent bathroom and a play area.
The large openings obtained through the use of post-tensed concrete slabs in building the structure and the choice of a highly mobile timber façade ventilation system serve to ensure a full connection between interior and exterior. Through this carefully controlled tension between the inside and the outside, the house becomes a veritable oasis of quiet and relaxation in the middle of a complex urban area.
