House for survival

Kozjansko is a relatively little-known region of Slovenia, characterised by its lively topography, varied cultural landscape and the hospitality of its inhabitants. Throughout history, the cultural landscape has been shaped on the one hand by the famous anti-Turkish defensive line of medieval castles, and on the other by the poverty and harsh living conditions of the often threatened border landscape. But in reality, strict development conditions are most often the qualitative basis for a distinctive spatial and architectural identity. Unfortunately, the devastating earthquake of 1974 also dealt a severe blow to the local building identity, which, whether necessary or not, led to the removal of many traditional buildings and their replacement by typified prefabricated post-earthquake construction. The process of gradual “modernisation” is still going on today, on the one hand with the introduction of bourgeois residential buildings, and on the other with technically and artistically exaggerated buildings for tourism and relaxation.

Primarily intended for weekend getaways, the house is built on the site of an old farmhouse, which has fallen into disrepair and has been heavily modified by subsequent additions. The siting of the two new buildings preserves the original siting of the buildings, i.e. the rectangular orientation of the roof ridges, which point in a fan-shaped direction towards the deep water on the south-western side of the plot.

The living area is divided into two parts, the smaller building with a bathroom and sauna, and the larger one organised around a central two-storey space that combines food preparation, dining, socialising and sleeping in the gallery. The design and construction strictly respected the principles of using locally sourced materials and labour. All the main contractors are local, and the materials used include no bitumen, plastics, expanded polystyrene, plasterboard, plastics or artificial binders. The façade is plastered with a natural plaster made of local sand, lime and white cement. Other details are designed in a similar way, based on the original use of materials and technology.

Although a house cannot be classified as an energy-efficient building on the basis of an informed decision, it is undeniably distinguished by its reflection on what sustainable architecture is and what are the sustainability values that need to be internalised. The house is therefore an architectural test of the synthesis of the deliberate limitation of resources, means and technology in order to search for and identify the development possibilities of the basic principles of regional architecture.

“The Survival House, with its siting, its design and the way of living it articulates, cannot be classified in either extreme, neither among the pragmatic expansionists nor the escapist romantics. The architects’ gesture is eloquent both in the conception and execution of the whole and the details, and where it abandons the search for architectural invention and simply follows the insights of centuries. … The house in Trebče is an elite building only in its placement, its dimensions, the thoughtfulness and consistency of its workmanship, and the consideration of light and atmospheric conditions. These are categories which are not determined by either spirituality or the depth of the wallet, and they are equally available to all builders before construction begins.” (taken from the report of the Plečnik Fund Commission, 2018)

Authors of the project BLENKUŠ Matej, CIMPERMAN Katja, CVETREŽNIK Anja