Residential house on Kovski vrh

One of the most common, yet most difficult tasks architects face is designing a residential house in a rural environment for clients who come from the city. The gradual migration of the urban population back to the countryside after 50 years of industrialisation is strongly idealised. A process that could contribute to the sustainable preservation and survival of remote settlements and their associated cultural landscapes, in most cases amounts to little more than a mapping of bourgeois values onto a more or less unspoilt environment. One of the key problems with this type of rural colonisation is that the daily migration of residents to a distant workplace cannot establish the necessary links with the wider agrarian and social hinterland. New buildings remain aestheticised isolates in an alienated environment.

Kovski vrh is located on the southern slope above the Poljanska Valley. The dwelling is sited on a break between the slope and the ridge, with the entrance facing onto a relatively flat plateau along the local road, and primarily orientated towards the valley. The central living space is located at the entrance level, with a prominent view of the silhouette of the surrounding hills and camp churches. The wide window frames the view, partially articulates it and gives the space a horizontal dimension. The living area of the house is also double-height and extends up to the ridge of the imposing broken concrete slab roof structure, which is carried from one side of the building to the other. The semi-basement has three children’s rooms with direct access to the garden and the building’s service areas, while the attic has a gallery and parents’ bedroom. The design of the dwelling house is unusual in cross-section, as t. i. children’s night-time section below the central day-time section and parents’ night-time section above. The living room, like in traditional townhouses, is positioned “above” the surroundings, with better views and a privileged position.

Although the typology of the dwelling house is distinctly urban, its position in space, its dimension and its design are consistent with the proportions of traditional rural architecture. The articulations in materiality partly refer to the classical proportional relationships of economic objects, but no direct references can be discerned. They are even deliberately reversed in meaning, for example the heavier masonry part is placed above the lighter wooden one. The design is also innovative in terms of construction, and the special feature is the joinery, which, depending on its position and content, is either placed on the outer side of the facades or moved deep into the interior of the wall.

Authors of the project: BLENKUŠ Matej, FLORIJANČIČ Miloš, FISCHER KNAP Jerneja