House on the marsh is a private lodge located in the mountainous district of Jizerske hory in northern Bohemia. It is a family retreat hidden in marsh and forests, which provides just great space to gather for all three family generations.
The house
The architecture of the house had to follow strict building regulations including the house geometry or specific colors or materials which were dictated by local authorities, to reach traditional vernacular architecture. Simple and traditional form of the house with tall gabled roof is repeated in unique long dormer window which serves as a special extra space with splendid view of the valley. Dark green vertical cladding protects the supporting timber structure of the house.
Both the architectural and site designs strictly respect the project purpose and the site green context characterised by the touch of a considerable morphological promontory featuring grown trees, shrubs and grass-covered areas sloping down from the Černá Hora massif to the town. The overall volume of the hall is reduced as much as possible by fragmenting into several structural modules softly modelled into organic curved lines so that the shell of the building is visually linked to the Černá Hora slope. The grass-covered areas smoothly merge into the metal-sheet-covered roof. Different volume modules of the hall meet in a shared rounded top from which they continue sloping down in the form of a shed roof towards the west border of the site. The intervention of the structure is minimised especially from all sides visible from the town. The excavated soil has been reused for terrain modelling and rooftop fills reducing the hall operation and energy costs. The project has been designed on “landscape architecture” principles and meets all the parameters of an energy-saving building.
The house for an eccentric client erected in the very middle of Černá za Bory belonging to a cadastral area of the town of Pardubice characterized s a heterogeneous suburban built-up area of a family housing type as far as expression is concerned, has been developed for several years. Even in spite of troublesome complications cause by inconsistency of civil contractors the project is coming to its end.
This plot‘s main value that influenced the concept of this two-storied house with a cellar below a part of it is its direct link to Kunratický les (forest). The main living quarters, the viewing centreline passing through the entire ground floor and the two-storied vertical space are opened towards the forest. The house was designed as a relatively small one respecting the overall suitability, for one part of glazing transforms into a roof here. Yet it is sufficient enough to see the selected strip of the garden, forest and sky as a whole, in one vertical format.
While looking for an architectural form we have faced a task that a simple and unpretending building reflecting its purpose would look appropriately in the neighbourhood of office buildings of an absolutely different scale. Even the so far smallest Brumlovka fitness building was much bigger. We found a generous format of a single ‘window‘ into the pronaos, an exterior covered open vestibule in front of the entrance, as the means of balancing the surrounding buildings‘ scale. Its horizontal proportion is directly derived from the elementary prism of the whole building, also horizontal one and of the same dimension. The window is the key motive of the façade and the whole building; figures of people passing behind or standing here are partly hidden from the busy street life behind a screen of bamboo trees.
The office building E is the very last piece of development completing the northern part of the BB Center complex along Vyskocilova (street) and a ramp to 5.května (street). So, towards the city centre the bldg. E closes the planned “protection shield” against the negative impact of city highway traffic on residential houses planned for the second phase of development. This part of the Prague-Michle district has now been revitalized, reintroducing the urban environment with multiple functions and restoring it the way it was before the highway – 5.května street – completely destroyed it.
PREVIOUS STATE
Though itself of Baroque date, Bastion XXXI is a part of the medieval fortifications of the New Town of Prague, founded in 1348 by Emperor Charles IV. The need for unconquerable fortifications was strengthened by the presence of the Cathedral of Charlemagne at the point of the bastion. Along with the fortress of Vyšehrad, another significant monument of the city fortifications, the ramparts form a significant defensive complex, yet one hidden beneath the later layers of the contemporary built fabric of central Prague, now a UNESCO heritage site. The area of former gardens within the ramparts was left untouched since the 14th century, first as reserve land and later ignored even as the city expanded over the centuries.
Intervention.West view. Inside the bastion, the landscaped area allows for outdoor art exhibitions or open-air cultural events. 2011. Copyright: Filip Šlapal
In 2006 we were asked to design the revitalization of a farmstead for congress, company presentation, holding of corporate events and leisure activities. For this purpose our client bought 19th century farmstead located at a large pound. The farmstead included a distillery with it’s chimney. From 1926 there have lived storks on the chimney. It became the main reason for buying this farm.
Riding arena (Images Courtesy Jaroslav Malý and SGL Projekt)
The low price of a plot has been redeemed by very complicated conditions for building a family house. The plot and its limitations were a real challenge; countryside around the river Berounka and the atmosphere of a valley were really charming. All these circumstances motivated architects to recommend the plot to the client.
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