The house is located on a very sloped terrain oriented towards the Danube waterfront. On the location there is already an existing weekend house, on an upper plateau. The main project task was to build a new contemporary guest house on a lower plateau, making sure it doesn’t block the views to the Danube from the upper house.
The new house is positioned in the same location as a demolished auxiliary storage building in order to avoid any substantial disruption to the existing terrain, that has already proven stable thanks to existing greenery. During construction works, the existing slopes were kept together with their greenery, which affected the new house’s size.
The new house is designed as a year-round comfortable yet minimal space. Minimized program allowed for the house to remain small-scale, the total net surface area being 74m2, distributed on the ground floor and gallery, and keeping the rest of the plateau in front of the house as an outdoor seating area.
Architecture-wise, the guest house in designed as a contemporary interpretation of the usual weekend house’s “naïve” architecture, inspired by the archetype of the house with a sloped roof. The result is a contemporary house which still contains elements of typical houses found in the context of weekend settlements – small houses of simple geometry, with sloped roofs and limited number of windows, built by naïve builders. Archetype was then modified in relation to the form and orientation of the house, which are directly conditioned by the difficult-to-access location. The ridge of the roof is oriented parallel to the shorter side of the house, which is counter-intuitive but allowed better exposure of the interior towards the surroundings.
The house’s characteristic form was designed in relation to the upper house, to comply with the request of not blocking the view of Danube. Therefore, the upstairs balcony is “cut out” from the roof shape, to keep the house as low as possible.
The windows are out-of-standard large size, since the desire was to connect the interior and exterior as much as possible, without any barriers. The clients’ special wish to wake up with the view of the Danube was granted by the design of the large horizontal window in the gallery sleeping area.
The idea to keep the house’s form simple, almost reduced to a logo of a house, is additionally emphasized by the monochromatic finish of its facades and the use of large openings. The façade is entirely clad in dark gray brick, with the roof tiles in the same color. The aluminum windows are also dark grey, with only the window sides in teal. The rain gutters and spouts are hidden, so to not break the uniform look of the house.
With its small size, compact form and dark color, the house virtually disappears in the landscape of the Danube waterfront, which was the clients’ wish.