A Beautiful House Hidden Behind A Large Concrete Wall
This sleek and modern home sits in place of a 100 year old house with a traditional design and a gabled roof in Liberec, the Czech Republic. It was designed and built by studio Mjölk architects and it actually reuses the basement section of the original structure, being built on top of it and using it as a foundation.
The rest of the old house was in bad shape and had to be demolished. The stone basement was worth preserving, hence the difference in style between this section and the newly-added wooden volumes sitting on top. A key design feature of this project is the concrete wall which sits between the house and the busy road. It looks a bit like a fake facade, a mask that the house is hiding behind.
The house is built on top of the old structure’s basement level which is made out of stonethe new additions are placed on top of the stone volume and are clad in timberThe dark exterior of the new volumes contrasts with the stone below
Behind the concrete wall is a small yard which acts as a buffer between the road, the entrance, the guest house and the rest of the green areas. The old stone basement now holds the living spaces which extend into the new section built on top.
The transition between the materials, the old and the new is quite harmonious but also quite suddenThe house overlooks a beautiful valley and was designed to take advantage of the view
Large glazed sections connect the indoor spaces to the yard and reveal serene views of the valley below. The newly-build part of the house is divided into two modules: a family home and a guest house. They both have black wooden facades and together with the stone volume add up to 271 square meters of living space. Inside the volumes are modern with Nordic influences and industrial elements. One of the living areas harmonizes these styles seamlessly, featuring a stylish Eames lounge chair paired with a minimalist light grey sofa, a wood-burning stove and industrial light fixtures, all on polished concrete flooring.
The stone-clad volume houses some of the social areas, featuring large glazed surfaces that let the outdoors inA set of wide concrete stairs connect the kitchen and dining area to the lounge spaceThis cozy living room is small and simple-looking, with a large panorama window as a focal pointThe interior spaces are organized on several different levels, not in the most traditional sense but quite practicalThe master bedroom features wardrobe units hanging from the ceiling which saves floor space and creates an airy lookThe same combination of modern, Nordic and industrial and featured in all the main spaces throughout the houseThe en-suite bathroom has bare walls and exposed pipes which double as decorative elementsThere’s definitely a stronger industrial vibe in spaces like this bathroom compared to some of the other roomsDespite the different floor plans and reduced room proportions, there’s a nice and organic flow between all the spacesThe palette of materials used throughout the project is reduced to only a few including stone, concrete and woodThe bedrooms feature clever storage solutions which make up for the small footprintA concrete wall acts as a shield between the house and the road which borders itThe wall offers privacy and also blocks some of the noise coming from the street
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