Emerging under same socio-economic parameters as majority of houses in Bosnia and Herzegovina- within a small budget, an underdeveloped construction industry, deregulated urban planning conditions and chaotic building permit bureaucracy- house NHRV tries to subvert the banal reality of contemporary House andNation Building in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). It challenges the status quo of contemporariness, by being an extraordinary response to its immediate and wider context through inherentlyordinary means.
In relation to “world-wide” contemporary architecture, the house NHRV does not have an ambition tointroduce anything new and extraordinary. However, inside the context of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina itrepresents an attempt to create alternative reality.
Composition consisting out of two sloped volumes (a house and a garage), together with a third, plannedvolume (the summer canopy) refers to ordinary, generic shape of the house- being disassociated in order torelate with fragmented morphology of the built mountain landscape. Separate volumes (existing andplanned) are placed together in a manner which forms different sequences of outdoor space relating bygiven nature to the inner program of the house.
Placed on hill high above Sarajevo, house NHRV refers to a mountain hut archetype. Compact volume,steep roof and openness toward the direction of the slope, are major elements which define the spatialcharacter of the house. Same as “katun” (Bosnian mountain hut), house NHRV is just a simple roof abovethe ground, primarily covering the central living room area, as well as other programmatic units mainlyoriented toward the centre.
The appearance of the house is given by two materials- white frame made out of corrugated metal sheets,and wooden infill at the front and back facade - both referring to dominant, south-north orientation along theslope, toward the sun, and the view. Wooden window blinds, made out of the same material as the facade,give a double character to the house: scattered, vital openness- when the house is inhabited; and amonolithic, restrained appearance- when it is not being used.
From the smallest scale up to the whole, house NHRV is a combination of simple spatial forms and trivialconstruction details, matching the logic of underdeveloped construction industry inside Bosnia andHerzegovina. Although built within the limits of a relatively restricted budget, the house has a low heat lossduring the winter and high resistance to summer conditions, due to the fact that it has an efficient, ventilatedenvelope (U= 0.25 W/mÇ.K), a section which allows continuous airflow, proper mass of the building and optimal orientation toward the sun. Relatively low cost was achieved by careful balancing within costpriorities, choice of materials and construction methods.