House in Kranjska Gora

Project Description

The approach to the project was defined by the steep terrain and by the magnificent views that the site offered.  The design follows those two main characteristics, firstly in terms of its positioning and secondly by opening the living quarters towards the south, with views towards the mountains, by means of large glass walls and with exits on both sides of the house. The smaller, more secluded exterior spaces can be used variously, depending on the time of day, the season, wind etc.
The adaptation to the terrain was achieved by means of a simple composition of two similar volumes, with space in between, together forming a whole and reflecting the small scale of surrounding buildings. Both volumes are clad with a raw larch wood façade on three sides, leaving one side open, with façade clad indark aluminium. In the larger volume containing the living quarters, this façade – facing the mountains – is a large, dark, aluminium and glass wall. In the smaller volume housing storage and the garage, this façade is also made of dark aluminium, with large automatic garage doors, and faces in the other direction, towards the courtyard.
In terms of usage, this is a second home for a family of five. This alpine village resort, Kranjska Gora, is just an hour’s drive away from the capital of Slovenia. The house has three bedrooms, with the master bedroom on the top floor with a view towards the mountains. The ground floor is designed as a single space, connecting the house in all directions. The main feature of this space is the large seven-metre-long glass wall with a heated wooden bench in front. The bench helps to frame the view towards the mountains by cutting the roofs of surrounding buildings out of the view. The support structure of reinforced concrete beams above this long glass wall is hidden above the celling of this floor. This is so as not to chop off the top of the peaks from the framed view when entering the central interior space of the house.