Project: Dr. House
Architects: Scapelab
Location: Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia
Area: 1,872 sf
Photographs by: Bor Dobrin
Scapelab has completed the design of the Dr. House project in Slovenia. This eye-catching contemporary residence is located on a hillside near the Slovenian town of Slovenske Konjice and has access to spectacular views of the lush green countryside around it. With 1,872 square feet of living space, this design aims to maximize the exposure to its beautiful surroundings.
The house for a local medical doctor sits on a hillside near the town of Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia. The region is famous for its’ wine production, and the nearby hillsides are covered in lines of vineyards. This pattern of striated, tessellated topography is reinterpreted through the metal envelope of the house. The house has a fairly standard plan, with a joint living and dining space and a home office on the ground floor, and bedroom and children’s rooms on the first floor. The envelope wraps itself around these functionally distributed spaces.
The envelope appears to be a random sculpture, but is in fact very carefully shaped; the overhangs and tessellations around the windows work as selective shading elements, blocking the high summer sun to prevent overheating and allowing the low winter sun to enter the space. The envelope is made of standing-seam metal, with lines rotating to create visible, separate polygons and ensure water runoff. Around the windows and entrances on the ground floor the material switches to wood, which is present on the surrounding terrace as well. The polygonal language of the house is reflected in the elements of the surrounding landscape –the benches and exterior tables.
The house is an experiment in shape, meaning and function of the building envelope. The polygonal, patterned structure is associated not with the surrounding buildings, which are mostly typical self-made houses from the socialist era, but with the abstract nature of the surrounding landscape. The two materials, metal and wood, wrap the house –metal from the top down, and wood from the bottom up, meeting around the windows and entrances. The envelope, while appearing to be purely a design element, is also a carefully designed shading device. But, this dynamic exterior does not influence the highly functional distribution of spaces inside the house. The interior relies on a very calm work/home environment for the doctor and his patients, with excellent views of the surrounding valley.
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