Branching House

The location for the design of a new family house is very convenient and pleasant. The plot is gently sloping from south to north, bordered to the south by a municipal road (local communication) at its higher part, and to the north by a meadow that leads into a dense forest. It is bordered on the east and west, i.e., along its longer sides, by neighboring plots, which currently already have family houses from earlier times. These family houses are located further away from the municipal road, in the northern part of the neighboring plots. Although these houses have different appearances, divisions, roof ridge directions, etc., they collectively create a sort of implied street line along this side of the municipal road.

In designing the new family house, we tried to preserve the values of the site as much as possible, whether it is the beautiful natural environment or the traditional character of the village, as well as the values that the plot itself has, namely the proximity to the meadow and forest, the quiet location in the village, the north-south orientation of the plot, and its slope. Therefore, we designed the new family house in the northern part of the plot to maintain a sort of presumed street line along the northern side of the municipal road and to keep a sufficiently large area for the garden to the south of the proposed new family house.

In the design, we also tried to imbue the entire proposal with a certain touch of traditional solutions; thus, we divided the new family house into two masses that form a sharp angle, with one mass being visible from the views along the municipal road and the other mass hidden behind it. This solution ensured that the new family house would appear smaller in the location than it actually is. Moreover, this approach has allowed us to achieve that only one of the windows faces towards the neighboring house, while the other windows avoid direct views of surrounding houses. Most importantly, this design gives the masses a more elongated and narrow village proportion, rather than the somewhat "stretched" proportions common in houses built today. The slope of the land contributes to the effect that from the perspective of the municipal road, the mass is embedded into the terrain, making it appear lower from this viewpoint.

Technical Solution
The house is designed to make the most of the possibilities of the site, especially in terms of resource management. The southern façade facing the street has almost no openings to limit solar heat gains during the summer, and any openings are shaded by the roof of the porch. This solution also ensures greater privacy for the occupants of the house.

In general, the house is designed with an emphasis on ensuring a pleasant environment, particularly during the summer, with a focus on limiting overheating. In the attic, a ceiling cooling system is proposed, whose energy consumption is also covered by energy generated from photovoltaic panels placed on the porch roof.

The house efficiently uses rainwater, and the entire water management of the house is designed such that where it is practical, water from the municipal water supply is the last option for water consumption.