House - garden in Dolní Chabry

In 2007, a friend approached me with his wife, stating that they had purchased a relatively small plot of land on the outskirts of Prague with an existing house, where they would like to build a new structure for family living. The not very large plot in Dolní Chabry is currently occupied by three buildings that delineate a small garden.



The existing houses do not exhibit exceptional qualities and are also in very poor technical condition. The concept of the entire design is therefore to free the land for a new build with a larger garden. The architectural design of the new building draws roughly from the volume of the original structure with a gable roof.



The new building thus connects to the village character of Dolní Chabry and adopts the archetypal form of family houses found in its immediate surroundings.



The concept of the building is based on the client’s wife's fondness for plants, whose wish was to surround herself with as many plants as possible. By inserting a smaller object into the mass of the new building, an interspace is created, which serves as a winter garden. The living space can be completely connected to the winter garden with sliding walls, thus creating a house - garden. The outer walls are designed to be translucent, allowing light to pass through for good climate for both the plants and the family home. The entire house is closed in on itself, or rather into the internal winter garden, with which it can completely merge. Composite translucent panels have been developed for the outer shell, providing not only structural function but also thermal-insulating properties of the building.



The folded facade, which derives its shape from steel sheet pile walls, was developed for the purpose of the construction for about a year and, in addition to static tests, also fulfilled thermal-insulating properties and light comfort for growing plants.