Mar 04

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. used for production of dried fruit and honey

Posted in: Arhitektura d.o.o., Landscape and urbanism, slideshows

This barn-like building in Slovenia by Ljubljana office Arhitektura d.o.o. contains spaces used for dispensing honey, processing dried fruit and hosting family festivities (+ slideshow).

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The gabled multipurpose building on the outskirts of the village of Šentrupert was designed by Ljubljana office Arhitektura d.o.o. for a Slovenian businessman and also houses facilities for storing crops and tools.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The barn’s minimal appearance is influenced by the functional integrity and imposing presence of the pitched-roof wooden hayracks that are typical of rural Slovenia.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

“The dimensions, appearance, colour and logic of inner division of the building are based on the tradition of the hayrack,” the architects explained. “Even though the building is intended for agricultural activities of the homestead it is also an elegant ‘protocol’ and symbolic architectural creation.”

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The building’s exterior is designed to blend in with other farm buildings in the area, while integrating new sustainable technologies.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

“The dark facade looks similar to old wooden barns in the immediate surroundings and also allows a discreet inclusion of the photovoltaic roofing into the basic volume of the building,” said the architects.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Located on the crest of a hill, the building’s long elevation faces a lawn around which the owner’s main property, an apiary and a wooden tool shack are also arranged.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

A basement partly buried in the hillside contains the main functional spaces for dispensing and storing honey, pressing and storing fruit and keeping tools. A heat pump and bathroom with an integrated sauna are also situated at one end of this floor.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Four load-bearing pillars at the corners of the building allow for the ground floor’s large span, which creates a space reminiscent of the open drying area of a hayrack.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The sparsely furnished room features floor-to-ceiling windows along three walls, which provide panoramic views and can be opened on one side to connect the interior with the lawn outside.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Meetings or family meals can be conducted around a long table in this room, which also accommodates a galley kitchen, a fireplace, an entrance hall and staircase to the basement and first floor.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Upstairs, another mostly empty space is used for tasks related to the farm in summer and as a billiard and fitness room in winter.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The internal profile of the gabled roof is left exposed in this attic area, which is clad in the same ash panels used throughout the rest of the interior.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Photography is by Miran Kambič.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

The Black House – a modern hayrack

The owner is a successful Slovenian businessman who spends some of his spare time in the countryside. The property is situated on the edge of a small village on top of a hill, and consists of farm land, forest, residential building, barn house, apiary and wooden pavilion used as a tool shack. The client decided to replace the broken-down barn house with a new, multi-functional building, a sort of “modern Slovenian hayrack”. The building is intended for dispensing honey, sorting, handling and drying fruit, storage of crops and tools, while the spacious ground floor is intended as a meeting place to host partners from abroad and celebrate family events.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Although the client’s idea of a modern hayrack which would function both as a barn house and prominent protocol house seemed controversial at first, however, the idea revealed a great archetypal and development potential, which is inherent in the architecture of a hayrack in Slovenian cultural awareness. Professor Marjan Mušič compared hayracks with Greek temples due to their architectural purity and antique origin, as well as monumentality, derived from pure form. In terms of size, position and importance, the hayrack was a central structure of a homestead and the source of livelihood in general. This is where their almost sacral character stems from.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The beauty of hayracks should not be sought in luxurious décor but rather in their proportions, harmony of strict lines, functional credibility and installation in space, giving their surroundings a monumental character. This concept originates in the Antiquity and still has the expressive power for the modern times and new tasks.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The building was placed at the end of a ‘pier’, which concludes the site of the small village and from it panoramic views of the picturesque surroundings open up. Together with the residential building and the wooden pavilion this plot of land forms a large inner grassy courtyard of the homestead. The building has a semi dug-in basement, a ground floor and the attic. The construction basis is similar to that of the double hayrack with stone corner pillars. The corners of the new building feature four strong corner pillar structures, with a 12 meter bridge construction placed in between, thus allowing large unified spaces on the ground floor and in the attic. The construction is reinforced concrete with steel roofing.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The basement, accessible via pathway directly from the farm land, is designed for dispensing and storing honey, pressing and storing fruit, storing tools and similar. The basement also features a heat pump for heating and cooling the building, as well as a basement bathroom with a sauna.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The ground floor of the building is almost empty, which is similar to a hayrack. There is also a handy open kitchen, a fireplace, the entrance hall and a staircase connecting all three floors. The ground floor is glazed with large sliding doors which can be open wide and connect the ground floor with the natural environment or the backyard.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The first floor is mostly empty. In the summer the large space is intended for various farm chores, whereas in the winter time it is used as a billiard room and fitness. The first floor also features a mini guest bedroom with bathroom and a storage room.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

The dimensions, appearance, colour and logic of inner division of the building are based on the tradition of the hayrack. The dark façade looks similar to old wooden barnhouses in the immediate surroundings and also allows a discreet inclusion of the photovoltaic roofing into the basic volume of the building. Due to the photovoltaics on the roof, the snow guards are replaced by wide jutting roofs placed above the ground floor openings. The interior is covered with bright ash tree panels which gives the impression that the interior is hollowed from a single piece of wood. Furniture is simple and accents clean lines of the spaces.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Even though the building is intended for agricultural activities of the homestead it is also an elegant protocol and symbolic architectural creation. With it the owner wishes to express a respectful attitude towards Slovenian cultural heritage and Slovenian constructional and architectural tradition and to the way in which buildings are placed into the environment. The bold construction of large spans which strikes us with hayracks also gives this new building an air of nobility, in harmony with the picturesque landscape of the surrounding pastoral scenery.

Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside

Architectural design: Arhitektura d.o.o. (Peter Gabrijelčič, Boštjan Gabrijelčič)
Co-author: Aleš Gabrijelčič
Construction: 2012-2014
Client: private
Location: Šentrupert, Slovenia

Site plan of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
Site plan – click for larger image
Ground floor plan of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
Ground floor plan – click for larger image
First floor plan of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
First floor plan – click for larger image
Second floor plan of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
Second floor plan – click for larger image
Cross section of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
Cross section – click for larger image
Long section of Black Barn by Arhitektura d.o.o. provides panoramic views of the Slovenian countryside
Long section – click for larger image

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Apr 09

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o.

Posted in: Arhitektura d.o.o.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Slovenian studio Arhitektura d.o.o. have completed a gabled house with a crisp white silhouette just outside the medieval town of Škofja Loka.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

The three-storey residence was designed with the same dimensions as the farm building that it replaces and occupies the same position on the inclined site.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

The front entrance to the building leads onto the middle floor, while the entrance to a garage is located further down the slope on the level below.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Sliding panels of glazing infill a recessed wall on the middle floor and open the living and dining room out to a terrace that the architects refer to as the farm courtyard.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Windows elsewhere around the house take the form of long horizontal strips.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

See more architecture and interiors from Slovenia here, including a scaly apartment block.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Photography is by Marko Zoranovič.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Here’s some more information from the architects:

The presented single-family house is built in the village of Suha, in the suburbs of a famous medieval town, Škofja Loka in Slovenia. The building is built as a replacement structure on the site of a former farm building which represented the eastern side of a unified space of a farm courtyard. Due to the cultural heritage regulations the new building has a gabled roof and follows the gauges of maximum allowed building dimensions of the demolished structure. The investor of the new building is the farm owner’s son, who is academically educated and therefore has very urban housing needs in terms of the program of the house, which is located in a traditional rural area.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

The immediate location of the house is situated on the edge of the Sora River slope, turning towards the direction of the river in the south and west, from where it has beautiful panoramic view of the medieval castle built high over Škofja Loka town. The building has a basement, a ground floor and first floor. It is positioned perpendicular to the river slope. In this way the basement opens towards the lower river terrace, while the ground floor is open – with a wide glass surface – towards the farm courtyard, which lies on the upper river terrace. The first floor with the sleeping rooms is facing east. Building’s public access is from the south side via accessible route, offering both access on foot and access with a car to the garages located in the basement. Along the longer, east side an external staircase leads to the main entrance.

The west side of the building is immersed into the existing grassy slope, where the Japanese-style garden stairs lead to the grassy surface in front of the living room on the ground floor of the object. In this way the building is well integrated into the site.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o

Such position of the building maintains the urbanistic image and roundedness of the farm courtyard which is surrounded, like a large atrium, by the homestead owner’s buildings and the new houses of his children. The cross-section of the building is in the shape of the letter ‘Z’ with the ground floor completely open towards the courtyard on the west side of the building, while the first floor faces towards the east side of the building. The program division of the building into floors is simple and logical. The basement floor features a large garage, a storage room, fitness, sauna, a boiler room and a utility room. From here the stairs lead to the ground floor and further to the first floor. The ground floor is a long, rectangular shape. On its narrower, north side, the staircase and main entrance are located, along with the doorway and a toilet. The remaining large unified space is dedicated to the program of kitchen, dinning room and living room. This space opens through a 12-meter-wide unsupported window to the ‘atrium’ of the house from where picturesque views open to the river and the old town. This is actually a ‘balcony’ room with a view.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o.

From the ground floor the staircase leads to the first floor and into a longitudinal corridor along the west side, featuring a long, panoramic window which allows views of the town panorama. The east side of the corridor is dotted with the sleeping and ‘working’ rooms of children and parents with corresponding bathrooms. The entire eastern side of the corridor is lined with wardrobes. The parents’ bedroom has a separate bathroom and a south-facing panoramic window which allows picturesque views of the surroundings from the level of the bed.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o.

The building construction is made of reinforced concrete, the partition walls are brick and the roofing is made of wood. Above the ground floor, a more complex bridging is realized for the purpose of the large ground-floor panoramic window. The external load-bearing walls are insulated with 25cm thick insulation, on which white plaster is placed. The zinc roof is light grey in colour. A glass projecting roof is installed over the building’s main entrance. The green ‘terrace’ in front of the living room is equipped with a wide walking surface made of teak wood.

The heating is a combination of under-floor heating, recuperator, heat pump and two geothermal bore holes. The low energy house has minimal electric energy consumption. Because of its low energy consumption, the house has apertures only where they are needed, or where additional views of the surroundings are thus enabled.

Private house Suha by Arhitektura d.o.o.

Architectural design: Arhitektura d.o.o. (Peter Gabrijelčič, Boštjan Gabrijelčič)
Construction: 2010-2012
Client: private
Location: Suha / Škofja Loka, Slovenia
Structural engineering: Navor d.o.o.
Building costs: 450.000 eur

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