Village buildings


Czech Republic

private investor

2020

Marek Habr

A modern expression of the linear village building.

The architectural and urban design is based on the original historical village buildings in the Pardubice region. As can be seen from the archival cadastral map of 1840, the site was built up with individual buildings consisting mainly of linear farm buildings supplemented by other farm buildings and cottages of householders. The outbuildings were mostly oriented towards the public space with the front side of the building adjacent to the longitudinal side of the building, separated from the public space by a fence with gates and a front garden. Behind the building and the yard were other outbuildings and usually an orchard or a small water area, which was followed by fields and woods.

Architectural morphology and articulation of historic farm buildings in the local area:

Rectangular plan
Single storey house with storage loft
Gable roof with a pitch of approximately 45°
Minimum roof overhang
At least a three-part layout – living area (living room), kitchen with adjoining pantry and granary across the entrance hall, barn, threshing floor with adjoining barn and wash house (straw store)
Entrance in the longitudinal wall
Until 1840 the buildings were all timber (timber-framed with plank boarding and a tiled or thatched roof) in later years brick

The proposed family house adopts the typology of the original village buildings in the Pardubice region. It is designed as a rectangular house with a gable roof without overlap and a three-part floor plan. The detached garage (with context to the barn and perna) and the detached living area (with context to the world room, kitchen, pantry, granary, barn and corridor) are tightly connected in mass by a detached pass-through shelter (with context to the pass-through threshing floor). The proposal thus meets the regulatory conditions: dwelling house up to a built-up area of 200 m2, detached garage and detached shed. The development is complemented by a detached sauna in the southern part of the garden with a built-up area of 25 m2 (context to the detached outbuildings).

The longitudinal axis of the main buildings is orientated in a north-south direction and are set in the eastern part of the site outside the woodland conservation area. The garage is oriented to the south, as close as possible to the access road. The road is made of wire concrete and also forms a parking area under the carport, through which we can directly pass to the terrace with a swimming pool adjacent to the west side of the house. The plot is fenced on the south side with a monolithic concrete fence and a black entrance gate, on the west along the forest the plot is fenced with a hedge.

The layout of the house is divided into three parts: entrance, living day and private sleeping. The entrance vestibule is oriented in the south-western part of the house and is accessible through the main entrance directly from under the carport. A cloakroom is adjacent to the vestibule in the eastern part. The vestibule is connected to the living room with a kitchenette and a gallery in the attic accessible by a spindle staircase. The sleeping private part is connected to the living room in the northern part of the house (under the gallery), it is divided into two parts: the western one with the master bedroom, bathroom and dressing room and the eastern one with two bedrooms, bathroom, dressing room and laundry room with storage.

As previously described, the property is designed as a set of three closely spaced separate buildings forming a linear structure. As the intention is to achieve the smallest possible scale, the main perimeter walls are not parallel. Due to the sloping (spacing) of the perimeter walls, the roof ridge rises and falls while maintaining a uniform roof pitch (33° and 38°). As a result, the building does not give such a massive impression. For the same reason, the northern part of the house is ‘branched’ into 3 arms (each with one room) with its own front gable. In this way, even with the indirect linear shape of the building, the visual volume of the building is minimised from different perspectives. These shapes also have continuity within the irregular, growing village development.

The buildings are designed on detached reinforced concrete slabs with strip foundations. The main structural system of the load-bearing walls, ceiling and roof is made up of insulated wooden panels. The entire building, including the roof, is sheathed with Siberian larch planks. The waterproofing of the roof consists of a foil hidden under the wooden sheathing. The roof is drained by hidden soakaway gutters and hidden downpipes under the wooden cladding of the building. The windows are aluminium, anthracite in colour, with minimal framing.

The report was prepared by Ing.arch. Marek Habr