Fresh wind in the architecture of family housing ...

The construction market and production are regularly increasing in volume year by year, but let's ask ourselves – Is the quality of projects and construction implementations also improving? Residential construction has long demanded more than just a conventional appearance and utility value. Just as in fashion, art, or even gastronomy, new trends emerge and customers desire more than just a stark item from a catalog, so too in architecture, customers want to stand out and imprint a unique face on their homes. After all, the house and its surroundings are our business card.

Lindab therefore welcomes every opportunity to participate in interesting projects that enrich our environment with new, captivating buildings. Everything, of course, depends on the taste of the individual, but we surely agree on the statement that even these projects have their technical background, which is often distant from common practice and emphasizes the designer's prudence and moderation, but also the experience and skill of the builder.
A good example is the construction of a family house in Klínec near Prague. The floor plan of the simple building is particularly interesting due to the shape of the roof structure. The roof area is in the shape drawn with a tangent rotating around the central axis of the building. This creates a smoothly curved area. The roof is devoid of objects except for one suitably placed chimney and a few sewer penetrations. For the construction of such a roof, we have a rather limited choice of usable materials, realistically working within the area of membrane covers, felt, and not least, ribbed metal roofing, which ultimately became the winner. Compared to the previously mentioned coverings, it features a more interesting and intricate appearance. The used sheet is fine-grained steel with a low yield point specifically and exclusively intended for such applications. In addition, the steel is protected by a premium layer of zinc and a pair of hardened coatings of the respective color. This sheet is designed and intended exclusively for coverings with a long lifespan, and accordingly, the individual raw materials are chosen. The sheet is supplied by Lindab – a specialist in steel coverings and structures. It should be noted that in the center of the building, the roof area has zero pitch. For these reasons, special measures were needed to ensure a safe covering. The basic assumption is to eliminate water accumulation and insufficient drainage during significant rains – thus, nothing impedes the continuous drainage of water from the roof. Rubber EPDM sealing was inserted into all grooves, which is firmly compressed within the groove after processing. This eliminates moisture wicking even when a melting snow cover lies on the roof. It is also necessary to consider that the groove is an oriented element and has an opening and a closed side. According to roofing trade rules, the direction of incoming water should always be from the side of the closed groove. In this case, it was necessary to modify the orientation of the grooves on the metal strip in the center of the roof with an atypical design. However, without affecting the appearance – the strip visually matches the others. All grooves were profiled and closed mechanically as recommended. The grooves are equipped with both fixed and sliding connectors in accordance with the prescribed installation technology, allowing the strips to expand at will.
The family house was newly built from the ground up, making it possible to choose the attic according to the ideal model recommended by Lindab for its coverings. The covering was laid on welded felt of 3 mm thickness, and the roof load-bearing surface was made with perfectly executed boarding. Cleanliness and flatness of the boarding are crucial for the smooth appearance of the final covering without bumps and irregularities. A ventilated gap runs beneath the boarding, ensuring ventilation of the space between the insulation and the covering. The top side of the insulation is additionally protected by a diffusion membrane. This type of roof is devoid of potential problems, and its functionality is validated by practice. In conjunction with quality workmanship, it will serve its owner as envisioned and also provides the much-needed enhancement to the appearance of the Czech landscape.
One can only hope that such projects will appear more frequently, and that good taste and unquestionable expertise will take permanent root in architectural offices.
The implementation of the roofing was carried out in 2007 by SANTAK s.r.o., and the project was authored by Ing. Arch. Petr Tuček, a young graduate of the Czech Technical University's Faculty of Architecture in Prague. Among other experiences, he drew knowledge during his year-long internship at the university in Thessaloniki. The following lines outline his opinion on this topic and the described project.

What is your field of activity, or specialization, and what do you prioritize in your design work?
I enjoy working on individual housing. Designing a family house and dealing with housing is currently most interesting to me.
I like working on individual houses for clients who are personalities, have their own artistic opinions, and do not succumb to the pressure of general taste and tastelessness.

What is aesthetically and functionally important to you in designing a study or in the actual project?
The house must be functional and beautiful. It must simultaneously fit into the context of the place. By that, I do not mean that it should conform to its surroundings. On the contrary, it must respond to them. I like simple houses that do not show off.
The house itself must be a lasting value.

What type of building materials are you fond of?
I like natural materials such as brick, concrete, glass, metal, and wood. I enjoy using and combining natural materials together. I find it fascinating when and how materials meet.

Why did you choose Lindab roofing for use on the family house in Klínec?
For the roof of the house in Klínec – which, due to its shape and slope, is essentially its fifth facade – exposed to the street, I recommended an aesthetically valuable material to the south.
A permanent material.
At the same time, the roof has a variable slope – from 25 degrees to zero at the breaking point in the middle. It was therefore necessary to choose a quality material for these low slopes, and to pay attention to joints and details.
I have a personal weakness for the color black, which allowed the creation of an optically uniform, uninterrupted surface.

What makes the Klínec project special and different from other family houses?
The project of a family house is always an interesting process for me. The investor usually builds their first house and invests most of their savings into it. It is a very individual and rather intimate matter. The architect acts as a guide and author here – their task is to shape and concretize the investor's ideas.
However, the path to that is not usually completely ideal.
In the case of the family house in Klínec, there was an obstacle at the very beginning in the form of an approved zoning plan requiring a roof pitch of 25 degrees and tiled roofing. However, after developing the study, I obtained a favorable opinion for this project directly from the author of these regulations, followed by an exemption. For the shape and overall expression of the house, this rule was actually decisive. In this location, it was nonsensical, and in the project, we essentially just twisted it.
The shape and this curve of the planar area also relate to the surrounding terrain and the view of the rolling hills and slopes.

How do you envision the ideal project?
Every project is interesting and beneficial to me in some way, but the ideal project is, I think, when there is harmony with the client during the process, which naturally leads to a good result and satisfaction on both sides.

What are your current projects and what are your goals in the near and distant future?
Currently, I am working on the project of another family house and sketching – which is probably the worst and at the same time the most beautiful work for an architect – the project of my own house with a studio.

> www.petrtucek.com