Family house at Krásná vyhlídka

The house is located at the foothills of Ještěd ridge in the aptly named location of Krásná vyhlídka. From here, there is a magnificent panoramic view of the entire city with the ridges of the Jizera Mountains and Krkonoš in the background, while behind it stands Hubáček's famous transmitter. The corner plot is situated near the forest and is bordered on the eastern and northern sides by a public road. The house is placed on the northern part of the plot along the road, with the longitudinal axis following the slope, enabling the garden to receive maximum sunlight, while all living rooms are oriented towards the sunny side; on the northern side, however, there are utility rooms and communication spaces. An important aspect of the design was also the orientation of the living rooms and the arrangement of windows, allowing for specific views of the Jizera ridges or the summit of Ještěd.
The house is conceived variably as a two-generation dwelling, where each floor can serve as a separate living unit. At the ground level, there is the main entrance from the covered space of the carport, which is connected to an adjacent shed. The southern wooden terrace also allows direct access from the ground floor of the house to the garden. Due to the sloping terrain, it was advantageous to partially basement the house and use these spaces for technical facilities or as storage areas; there is also a so-called wet cellar for storing potatoes and other crops. The cellar has a separate entrance to the garden.
In the local climatic conditions (540 m above sea level), low energy consumption, especially in heating, was an important consideration. After the first winter, it turned out that we had taken the right direction. The exterior walls are designed as a three-layer sandwich with a ventilated gap; the load-bearing masonry is made of thermal insulation blocks, the thermal insulation consists of mineral wool, a ventilated gap, and a cladded wooden facade made of larch slats, possibly from cement-bonded particle boards. The windows are wood-aluminum with insulating triple glazing, where the outer layer of glass is treated to allow infrared components of solar radiation to pass through during the winter months, thereby heating the house. In the summer, when the sun is high, this does not occur. The ceilings are made from ceramic blocks, the staircases are monolithic, the roof structure consists of truss girders, and the load-bearing structure of the terrace and the carport with the shed is entirely wooden.
Regarding the architectural concept of the building, emphasis was placed on synthesizing the traditional conception of a rural foothill house (gable roof, longitudinal layout, wooden facade cladding) and contemporary living comfort using modern expressive means and construction technologies. The house does not aim to draw attention to itself; it only seeks to achieve a modern application of traditional principles and materials that belong to the area.