Moving Cubes House / arches

Moving Cubes House / arches

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Text description provided by the architects. What is the most important while building a house in a small area? The search for a solution has come to the following goals this time: one floor, functionality, aesthetics – its integrity, humane scale, contextuality, a combination of internal and external spaces, compatibility between openness and privacy, physical and emotional comfort, spatial and volumetric alterations (dynamics).

The aim. To find a solution for a compact house (156m²) for a family of two. Limited size plot (7.2 are). Is there a place for architecture in this case? Is it necessary? Not just necessary – it is a must!

And then, how does it appear? How can it be described? What are these – feelings? Maybe I’m glad because … everything is very rational and smart? Or is it sad that everything is just rational and “smart”!? Obviously, if no feelings remain in the architecture, even a “smart house” does not prevent sadness. Therefore, in this case, the aim was the “telling architecture”, sensitive, contextual, and just humane. That’s how the alteration between spaces and volumes appeared, their motion, and the architectural story – “Moving Cubes.”

The corridor like a spine connects spaces of different functions (cubes). The inter-mini spaces – courtyards are created as the different cubes pass through each other. The interior spaces open up to the others – the private courtyard spaces. Thanks to the large showcases, the interior opens up, interacts with the outside, and creates a sense of openness and spaciousness. It hides from the eyes of the passers-by with the blind walls.

The rhythm of fragmented, blind walls at the entrance side is contradicted by an open, fully glazed inner facade. The spaces connect. The yard space becomes an integral part of the interior space. The yard’s wooden terrace visually extends the room space. The bas-relief of the copper facades interprets the pine tree trunk verticals visible through the windows. These are the dynamic compositions of vertical planes that resemble the texture of a cone. These emotions are even strengthened by the raindrops in the rain. With age, smooth copper becomes even more “emotional and real”.

This “story” moves into the interior space. Just the copper-plated walls inside are a bit “calmer, softer and brighter”. The interior spaces are filled with daylight, each has its own “picture” – windows opening to the outside. Thanks to the fine volumes and their low heights (one floor), the chamber feeling of the inner spaces, the feeling of coziness and security are created. The dark, horizontal window frames, break and hide the mass of the roof planes. Large bright showcase panels create a counterweight to the volumes of the blind walls. All the solutions and details complement each other and create the whole.