House with sublease

Project idea

The goal of the project was to create a large family home that would be original yet blend in with the surrounding buildings and architecture. The house is located in northern Slovakia, specifically in the Orava region. For Orava architecture, characteristic features include a gabled roof and the use of wood and concrete. The family home, named “House with sublease,” preserves these elements. It is a two-story building with attached spaces for long-term rental—a separate residential unit. To maintain privacy for both families, the rental portion of the house has its own entrance and terrace. When viewed from the road, the house appears angular, with sharp corners, but from the garden, it takes on a softer appearance—all corners of the house are rounded.

Project description

The main idea behind the entire house design was to create a spacious living space for a family with three children. The house consists of two longitudinal floors. The entire lower floor forms the social part of the house, which is very spacious and open to the garden through large windows. It is directly connected to the western and southern terraces. On the southwest side, a longitudinal garage is attached to the social area, with its mass significantly protruding compared to the social part. Behind the garage, there is a concealed space that serves as a private veranda. The entire upper floor comprises the nighttime part of the house, which extends westward compared to the lower floor, achieving partial terrace overlap. By positioning the upper floor, the veranda behind the garage is also covered. To create even more pleasant family moments in the evening, a loggia was added on the southern side of the upper floor. Extending the loggia floor into the garden provides space for benches, seating, or loungers, from where one can enjoy sunset views. On the southwest side, a sublease—two-story residential unit with its separate terrace—is attached to the house.

The house facade is differentiated based on the function of individual spaces. The walls of the floors are masonry, covered with light exterior plaster, and adorned with natural materials typical of the environment—wooden slats. The color of the slats for the rental part differs from the rest of the house, but only in terms of wood type, emphasizing the concept of separation and independence. However, since they are still slats, the house appears as a cohesive whole. The protruding mass from the longitudinal line of the house (garage, terrace, and loggia) is made of monolithic concrete.

Technical information

The load-bearing structure consists of external and internal load-bearing walls made of Porotherm ceramic blocks with thicknesses of 300 mm and 200 mm, placed on foundation strips and externally insulated with a 150 mm Isover contact insulation system. Internal dividing partitions with a thickness of 100 mm are made of Porotherm bricks. The lintels above windows and door openings are made from prefabricated Porotherm components, while wider windows (over 3000 mm) have reinforced concrete lintels.

The foundation slab is made of plain concrete and insulated with 80 mm extruded polystyrene to reduce housing costs according to standards. The ceiling structure is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab with a thickness of 250 mm. The roof construction consists of load-bearing wooden elements (rafters) supplemented with Isover puren perfect AL insulation of 160 mm. The garage is made of monolithic reinforced concrete without insulation. The terrace floor is also monolithic concrete with anti-slip grooves. The final interior finish will be lime-cement with a white coating. Sanitary areas such as the bathroom and toilet will be tiled up to the ceiling.

Heating is separately addressed for the family part of the house and the maisonette, using heat pumps and an electric boiler located in the technical room of both residential units. The heat pumps, along with the boiler, heat water in an accumulation tank also situated in the technical room. The heating water from the accumulation tank warms the water in the boiler and flows through radiators on the first floor, as well as providing underfloor heating on the second floor. Heat losses due to ventilation are covered by recuperation units.

The drainage of the sloping roof is ensured by rain gutters and downspouts, which are directed away from the property through an underground drainage system.