These two Croatian homes signify the concise architectural approaches of the 2 companions of Zagreb agency Njirić+ arhitekti. Founding companion Hrvoje Njirić arrange the studio in 2001 and was subsequently joined by Iskra Filipović. Each have just lately accomplished their very own residences, with every one set on a really totally different website and subsequently representing the agency’s diversified typological and theoretical strategy.
Aerial view of the Double-Villa Bukovac
(Picture credit score: Danijel Krznaric)
Double-Villa Bukovac: a Croatian home that redraws suburban guidelines
Hrvoje Njirić’s Double-Villa Bukovac was shortlisted for this yr’s EU Mies Awards. Described by the architects as a ‘dialogue with Zagreb’s City Grasp Plan,’ it’s in reality extra of a critique.
Intentionally formed to diverge from the numerous guidelines and laws set out within the metropolis’s Common City Growth Plan of the Metropolis of Zagreb, Njirić calls the home a ‘imaginative and prescient of reimagining the inexperienced foothills of Zagreb for a lower-density residential typology.’ In abstract, the architects state that they favour ‘smaller volumes, decrease constructions, a gentler footprint and bigger plots with a minimal space of 1200 sqm.’
Aerial view of the Double-Villa Bukovac
(Picture credit score: Danijel Krznaric)
In a approach, that is an argument for preserving the town’s suburban character, utilizing idiosyncratic and decidedly non-suburban varieties, to offer one thing of a ‘case examine that proposes a brand new type of city decency for the town.’ The home really incorporates two connected dwellings, intentionally undercutting the allowable most constructed house (600 sqm for a 1,200 sqm lot) in favour of a complete of 180 sqm.
Avenue façade of the Double-Villa
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
Backyard façade of the Double-Villa
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
The Double-Villa Bukovac additionally goes out, moderately than up, with a linear plan designed for multigenerational dwelling association consisting of a single construction spanning two adjoining tons. The general public-facing avenue façade on the northwest is near the street, maximizing the quantity of obtainable open house behind the homes.
In public, the homes current an austere façade of perforated brick, while the personal rear to the southeast is glazed, open and shared, with views in direction of the town.
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
Double-Villa Bukovac embodies myriad architectural influences, previous and new, from Palladio (who impressed the 2 elements’ ‘disciplined symmetry’) to the Eames Home and Studio. Even Thomas Jefferson’s work on the College of Virginia will get a nod for influencing ‘the connection to the terrain and the classical rhythm of the façades,’ whereas a barely extra up to date supply was the American Case Examine Home programme.
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
All of those and extra could be detected within the twin mirrored structured, with materiality that turns into lighter additional up the construction, a love of unconventional supplies (these bricks, the usage of cable tray mesh on the façade, billowing ribbons of curtains) and a subterranean storage that additionally serves as a personal artwork gallery and ‘occasion venue’. The orientation of the glazed façade minimizes winter vitality calls for, whereas passive shading comes into play in the summertime.
Iskra Filipović and Hrvoje Njirić
(Picture credit score: njiric+ arhitekti)
Zagreb Home Extension: A vertically prolonged metropolis home
The brand new addition sits atop an current constructing
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
In distinction, Iskra Filipović’s residence at 140 Petrova Avenue reuses an unique construction and provides a layer of recent lodging. A rejoinder to Zagreb’s present wave of redevelopments, Petrova 140 ‘was conceived as a approach of making further dwelling house whereas retaining and dealing with as a lot of the present construction as potential.’
The brand new ground options dramatic interiors
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
The outstanding website sits on historically residential avenue that has been considerably redeveloped lately. By including a brand new, distinct quantity with twin sawtooth roofs, the architects have opted to protect the realm’s unique character, together with its mature timber, as a approach of supplementing and never erasing a longtime identification.
The addition incorporates a small roof terrace
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
For that cause, distinction and contradiction are introduced into play. The metal-clad addition is clearly distinct from the constructing under, but in scale and use it stays persistently home – ‘totally different architectural languages sharing the identical tackle,’ in response to the studio.
The brand new addition is fabricated from light-weight prefabricated metal construction to keep away from including any further stress on the unique constructing. It was additionally cheaper and faster to construct, qualities that the architects have determined to stress and never conceal.
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
Inside, there’s a welcome uplift to the character of the room because of the high-pitched ceilings, whereas new openings had been aligned to predefined views and light-weight paths to make sure daylight reached into the center of the condominium.
Simply because the Double-Villa Bukovac challenges the accepted approach of constructing new homes within the suburban context, Petrova 140 is a riposte to unthinking redevelopment. Building price and cultural reminiscence are each given equal play, including one other layer to the altering lifetime of the town.
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
Inside at Double-Villa Bukovac
(Picture credit score: Bosnic+Dorotic)
