Family House IST

Simple task: I want to live in a small house on a small plot of land for reasonable costs. The budget is firmly set at €75,000. The memory of summer and the countryside still resonates in my mind. Can the typology, form, or decoration of Slovak folk architecture be recycled?
Folk architecture encodes age-old proven principles that are still relevant, especially in the context of the need to reduce our ecological footprint. Bigger is not always better…

“Folk architecture is characterized by its adaptation to the environment. It never fought against nature, but became a part of it, which is often forgotten in new constructions today. It was built from locally available materials that required little and uncomplicated transportation. It was constructed with regard to weather conditions and took advantage of almost all the benefits that the environment offered. There were never complicated land modifications. Wood, clay, and straw as basic building materials have good thermal insulation properties and helped save on heating along with small windows. The windows did not have such good properties as they do today, but they were relatively small (people lived outside, so from a hygiene standpoint, they were suitable). Contact with the environment even in winter was provided by the porch or the covered balcony."

We looked back and designed a house that is both rural and modern. It has a gable roof, a porch, and colorful spot windows. The traditional three-space scheme of room—hall—chamber has been replaced with room—entrance/hygiene—living room. The attic is partially habitable, open above the living room. The modest floor plan of the day area is compensated by a grand glazing into the garden across the entire section of the house. The porch traditionally serves as a buffer zone between the exterior and the interior. Thus, the small house gains another valuable space usable even during bad weather.
Technologically, the house is very simple. The lightweight wooden structure is complemented by a massive cast concrete floor with integrated heating. The interior is embedded; obligatory plywood will again serve a constructive aesthetic function in the form of walls, floors, or furniture.