Location and Placement Context
Koliba, Bratislava, especially its older part, is a traditionally sought-after location offering detached housing solutions right in the capital. As a living area, it is mostly stabilized, and, as such, real estate opportunities here are rare. This case was no different and, as a result, the investor decided for a complete reconstruction – an extension and rework of an older detached house. We have changed the original house beyond recognition. Its shape was given by the shape of the previous structure, to which we added a smaller garage.
Architecture
The architecture of the villa feels dynamic thanks to its unusual curves, both outside and inside. Our design was inspired by functionalist houses and villas so typical for the residential locations “above Bratislava.” The house boasts quite the view thanks to not only its height, but also sizable windows. In addition to offering a view, the windows also allow a large amount of sunlight to enter the interior, which is further enhanced by the open gallery between the second and third floor. The garage is facing 90° to the side when looked at from the front. This interesting element allows the entrance to stand out. Due to this, the villa differs from a large amount of contemporary projects, which usually decide to highlight the car entrance instead..
The dominant entrance door seem to be optically stretched by being connected to the window above, thus giving the impression of non-standard height. The back facade of the house is complemented by a pergola and balcony, with the latter being accessible from two children’s rooms. The floor and ceiling of the balcony provide shade for the day area, thus preventing it from overheating.
360 m2
living space4
months design5
months to deliver360 m2
living space4
months design5
months to deliverExterior Materials
Our material palette is combined from white plaster, metallic elements in anthracite color, paneling imitating exposed brickwork in beige and wood-plastic WPC panels. The combination of white, black, brick and wood is a relatively commonly-used language of contemporary detached housing.
We consider the white plaster to be a type of material typical for Central Europe coming from a traditional use of lime. Its natural antithesis is dark anthracite color. This is represented only through metal pieces in this project. The third element is the paneling imitating exposed brickwork on the garage part. The paneling complements the round corner nicely while at the same time giving the impression of a natural material, especially in an earthen color palette. The green roof on the garage works as a replacement of a front garden, which we were unable to place on the property due to its smaller size.
The last of the materials is the wood-plastic WPC panel, which found its place mainly on the back balcony and its paneling, in addition to the entrance. As per the client’s request, genuine solid wood wasn’t used due to its difficult maintenance. The logical choice was thus WPC paneling (so-called composite), which has a similar warm charisma, in addition to being durable and long-lasting.
Living Room and Dining Room
The living room allowed us to work with an unusually high headroom. Large windows light the room up significantly and so the space contains two larger dark elements – the dark blue couch and the anthracite furniture cutout with TV space.
A furniture wall made out of light oak ply panels cuts along the entire length of the interior on this floor. It hides built-in doors to other rooms and passes through the living room (the cutout is actually one of its parts) and finishes in an elegant curve, flowing into a high kitchen counter set just around the corner. The dining room is located in the anterior space of the windows overlooking the garden, in direct contact with the kitchen part. An elegant fireplace reminiscent of stoves often used in old-town apartments is also part thereof.
Kitchen
The kitchen counter set is L-shaped, with an added kitchen island utilizing curved corners, thus staying consistent with the other pieces of furniture. The tall kitchen section contains a door, through which one can reach the pantry and laundry room. A tall window allows direct access from the kitchen and dining room to the garden pergola with a seating area.
Interior Materials
The interior of the house does contain natural wood in three forms. The first one is solid oak floor in herringbone pattern inspired by older city apartments. The second one is light oak ply in a radial pattern on the built-in furniture. The individual furniture panels and doors are carefully connected, so that the pattern continues seamlessly. The third form is a darker oak ply, adding elegance to the interior.
The light and dark ply complement each other nicely with the wooden floor, interlocking brighter and darker parts, due to the wood having its natural knots. The other “soft material” is, in addition to the wood, the fabrics – curtains, upholstery, but also, for example, the wallpaper.
The interior accent color is dark blue. It can be seen on the tall kitchen counter set, small-format decorative glazed tiles in the bathrooms and also on the couch in the living room. Blue is partially present also in the glass lights hanging in the gallery, which are hand-blown and then colored. Their maker, the Czech manufacturer Bomma, follows the rich traditions of the Czech glassblowing craft.
The paneling imitating exposed brickwork makes its way from outside into the interior, utilizing the stairwell area. The terazzo-textured ceramic tiling is, once again, a nod to the traditions of functionalist villas. It coincidentally also uses 30 x 60 cm and 60 x 60 cm formats, concealing the grout and making the tiling appear more homogeneous.
The last materials we would like to mention are glass and metal, the former of which is present in two forms, first as clear and second as textured. The textured glass is utilized in all the places where clear glass would be undesirable (such as on the wall optically separating the entrance hall from the transition to the wellness area).
Interior Layout
Due to the house being three floors, we followed a simple process for the layout. The first floor (which is partially embedded into the terrain) serves as the entrance with a larger representational hall, connected to the closet and technical room. The centerpiece of this interior part is the metal-glass wall with doors to the wellness area, gym and common room.
One floor above, we can find the day area of the house – high-headroom living room augmented by the gallery of the second floor, the dining room and kitchen. The garden access is also located here. In addition, this floor also contains service rooms, such as the kitchen pantry, laundry room and bathroom. In order for the guests to have sufficient privacy and separation from the family, a separate guest unit was created here, containing the guest bedroom, bathroom and closet.
The third, and highest, floor, contains a similar unit for the parents, with a significantly larger closet and bathroom. The children’s rooms share the final bathroom and their closets are solved via built-in wardrobes located directly in the rooms. The changed layout of the house after reconstruction provides its inhabitants a truly high standard of life, including the newest trends.
Hallway, Stairwell and Study
The stairwell forms an important connecting element of the entire house. In addition to that, it is a strong interior centerpiece due to its execution. The functionality of a railing is taken up by long vertical boards – dark ply lamellae – which are also the compositional background for the hanging lights. The lights illuminate the entire stairwell area when turned on. The top floor uses the foreground as an open study.
Bedroom
The master bedroom uses an inverted design principle. The herringbone-pattern wooden floor becomes the paneling of the headrest and is the strongest room element. On the other hand, the floor is now covered with a carpet, same as in the children’s rooms. The closet can be found behind the front wall and is accessed via a hidden door behind the mirror.
When the closet door is closed, the impression of a clean and tidy room is created, even though the closet may not necessarily be perfectly neat. In addition to that, the bedroom feels much spacier than it really is thanks to the mirrors. A curved nook opposite the bed is also worth a mention. This specific wall was formed in a way to make space for a desk from one side and a cutout for a vanity table and a mirror from the other.
Furniture and Details
The details of the built-in furniture are meticulously thought-out, be it the slotted handles and grips, concealed doors integrated into the paneling, various integrated power outlets, switches or the hidden appliance cabling. Providing the biggest storage space possible is a matter of course, as well as is the unification of individual furniture pieces into one visual whole (e.g. via utilizing wall panels). Many furniture pieces make use of or even create the curved shapes characteristic for the house. The furniture is custom-made and forms a key component of the entire interior and thus of the villa itself.
Bathrooms
There are multiple bathrooms available in the house. All of them are unified design-wise, thanks to the combination of terazzo grès porcelain tiling, white mosaic and small-format glazed tiles. Such a triple combination repeats throughout the entire house and is accented through oak-ply furniture in lighter shades, mirrors and glass lights, which are the same as the ones hanging in the stairwell gallery.
Project and Execution
The interior of the family house was designed by us in full compliance with its architecture. he result presents us with a complex whole executed to perfection, of which all of us – including our investor and professional colleagues, who designed the house and garden – are rightfully proud.
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