Excerpt: ‘Among the Vineyards’ is a residential project by Stempel & Tesar architekti featuring two visually distinct forms that complement one another to create one compositional whole. The inclined property allowed the architects to set the house into the slope, design it with a flat roof, and connect all the living spaces with the garden. Black sheet metal is used on the façade and roof of the upper floor, displaying an abstract design of an archetypal form.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] At the start of this project for a single-family home in the Pálava Protected Landscape Reserve, the architects had to address the incompatibility of two different demands. The wine-growing village by the Vodní Mlýny reservoir at the foot of the Pálava Hills possesses a unique character that the reserve’s administration tries to protect through its regulations. However, such regulations tend to ignore contemporary construction possibilities and often require buildings that are basically replicas of folk architecture.
The owners, however, wanted a house with a flat roof and among other things had large demands in terms of parking. They wanted a garage for a motorcycle and an office on the ground floor, and wanted to live on one floor with garden access. Thanks to the layout of the terrain, all their wishes could be fulfilled while creating a building with a gabled roof as demanded by the Protected Landscape Reserve. The architects essentially designed two houses.
The inclined property allowed the architects to set the house into the slope, to design it with a flat roof, and to connect all the living spaces with the garden. They were captivated by the limestone walls found in the region, including the wine cellars in the village, and so they used this material for the building’s façade. The stones form a frame around the large windows, which is protected by the protruding reinforced concrete roof and attic.
On the street level one story up, there is plenty of parking on the flat roof. The garage for a motorcycle, the entrance to the home, and an office with a view of the vineyards and the reservoir are all contained in a building with an archetypal form that fits in with the existing village and meets the demands of the Protected Landscape Reserve. Its contemporary look was achieved in an abstract manner, but using black sheet metal on both the roof and the façade.
The two visually distinct forms complement one another to create one compositional whole. Structurally, however, they are two independent units. The load-bearing part of the lower structure is reinforced concrete, which remains exposed in the interior. The upper building is made of thin-walled steel profiles.
The house in Klentnice is a little like a wine cellar. Surrounded by vineyards, it is protected against the scorching rays of the sun by fertile soil. It is simple and raw in its use of materials, but at the same time cozy enough for its inhabitants to enjoy life and the fruits of nature.
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