HOUSE K — STUDIOPI.eu

HOUSE K
2028.
residential

How can a house create intimacy, privacy and a sense of belonging in one of Croatia’s most picturesque landscapes, while facing one of the busiest roads in the area?

The project began with the idea of inverting the conventional relationship between the house and the street. Instead of opening itself towards the road, the house presents a calm, almost monolithic mask to the public side. Its relationship with the landscape unfolds behind it, towards the sloping garden and the distant mountains.

The inclined site became an opportunity rather than a constraint, allowing the house to develop vertically and accommodate a flexible two-storey layout for a family. The interior is conceived as an open-plan, adaptable living environment, extending naturally towards a generous private garden.

The architectural language draws from the simplicity of the Japanese shed roof, reinterpreted through a broad, layered roofscape. At its highest point, the roof is subtly cut and finished with a glazed element, bringing controlled daylight deep into the interior. The pronounced eaves extend beyond the building envelope, becoming an architectural device that mediates between the house and the street.

This edge continues into the street-facing façade, gradually transforming into the perimeter fence and defining the main entrance to the house. Rather than creating a hard boundary, the façade becomes a habitable threshold.

The deep roof overhang acts almost like a protective brim, creating a sheltered place along the street. A bench is integrated directly into the façade, offering a place for a passer-by to pause, sit and observe. In this way, the house subtly participates in the everyday life of the street without compromising the privacy of its inhabitants.

From the outside, the house remains quiet and restrained. From within, it opens towards light, landscape, flexibility and family life.

A house that turns its back to the noise, while remaining gently connected to the life around it.

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Meaningful spaces are experienced rather than simply seen. Informed by nature, vernacular knowledge and the senses, architecture can shape how we feel, behave and experience the world around us.