Economical two-storey cottage with a total area of 260 m2 under a semicircular roof. Calm home for three generations in the Latvian town Saldus.
It is the opinion that in the West it is not customary to live a large family, uniting adult children and elderly parents. Each one is supposed to have a separate house and not allow even the closest people to their privacy. It is not quite so. Many many, on the contrary, seek to assemble several generations under one roof. Just a house in this case is arranged in such a way that everyone has its personal territory
It is about such a house and will be speech. Let us comfortably accommodate as many as three generations of one family, from a very elderly grandfather to three of his grandchildren. After her, this is not a generic castle somewhere in Scotland, but only a small cottage in the Latvian town of Saldus, no one suffers from grief. The owner, a professional builder, who knew from the very beginning, what kind of house he needed. This simultaneously facilitated and complicated the task of the architect. The main problem was to accommodate in a small size of a cottage of 6 insolated bedrooms, a spacious living room with a fireplace, a kitchen, 2side and several utility rooms. Moreover, all the bedrooms were required to separate from the living room and the kitchen so that each family member would have a separate living space. Increase the area of the house did not allow the size of the site. In addition, the owner did not want to have too expensive the building. In general, it was necessary to architectural solution that allows you to use the entire volume of construction and maximize the use of all available areas.
The duple roof is rejected before the design. In his opinion, she looks today somewhat old-fashioned, and an indispensable attitude in this case was completely nothing to do. Therefore, the architect was to come up with a roof not just a fashionable, but also a multifunctional, increasing useful space of the house. By applying the principle of the Golden section, Aldis made it semicircular. The presence of such an architectural form immediately gave the building a modern appearance and provided great planning advantages.
As a result, there was an opportunity to place on the second floor there are 4Polenny rooms. Full in the sense that they all have normal height - 3m (it is even more than on the first floor, where the ceilings are 2.7 m) and straight, and not inclined walls, along which any furniture can be placed. Considering that the second floor is located in the second floor and one overall playing room, these planning details are very important. In addition, semicircular ceilings bring the children's element in the interior of the game, encourage their work that in itself is not bad.
If you look at the house outside, it is easy to see that the roof is much higher from the courtyard than from the street. The last part of the building is a bedroom and a dressing room of grandparents, a kitchen with a storage room, as well as an entrance under a canopy for cars. The roof raised from the opposite side creates the impression that the whole house is revealed towards the garden. This comes here the glazed part of the building - a huge five-meter window and symmetrical glass doors in the living room and a bathroom with a bedroom.
Do I need to say that panoramic glazing, in addition to beauty, has given and additional problems? The house required well to insulate so that it does not become too cold or energy-intensive. For this, firstly, not ordinary glass, but a triple glass with one-sided thermal conductivity (i.e., absorbing solar rays and reflective internal heat) are chosen. Secondly, high attention was paid directly to the heat insulation of the walls. The building is built from clay-concrete blocks (thickness20cm), and the outside is covered with wood. Between them are laid a layer of mineral wool (18cm). Such a "sandwich", according to the owners, perfectly retains in the premises heat even in winter. However, the Baltic cold is less severe than, for example, near Moscow. Yves-third, on the ground floor there were warm floors with automatic temperature adjustment. In a word, admire the winter garden without getting up from the chair, the pleasure is not cheap, although, with a competent approach, costs can be minimized.
The work was supervised by the owner himself, which made it necessary to reduce them and speed them up. The cottage was built very quickly: 18th was solemnly laid the foundation, and the Christmas of the same year they coped already in the finished house. The purchase of building materials was also engaged in the owner, probably therefore almost all of them are local. Designer was invited to design interiors. Furniture and colorful resolution of the premises he pushed together with the owners and architect. At first glance, after the first glance, it seems that there are no designer finds in the house, it is not. There is no strife, design for design, but everything is thought out literally to the smallest detail.
Unassicious rectangular shape, cast from concrete right in place and decorated with oak panels, this fireplace is decorated at the same time both floors at home and garden. How? The fact is that the floor of the lines of the second floor does not reach the glass wall, and forms a peculiar closed inner terrace. It can be admired for both the garden, and being located below the fireplace. Aesley fire is burned in the evening, the glass border between the house and the street is practically not visible. Ohel'es sitting in the living room of the first floor it seems that it burns not a fireplace, but a fire in the old garden. The hosts say that this is an unusually beautiful and peaceful spectacle. The chimney made from the "stainless steel" specifically began to close the decorative box. A brilliant tube pierces the whole house through (it is visible on the roof) and is a kind of rod of a small building.
In the finishing of Ierrians of the second floor, pine dominates. Staircase, walls and children's furniture - everything is made of it. By the way, the furniture in the rooms of children is very small, only the most needed: big tables along the windows, beds and built-in wardrobes. The main decoration of one of these premises is the unusual Swedish walls worked out by the local joiner all of the same pine. However, as Aldis told us, children's rooms in Latvia are very often decorated with such ladies.
One wall in the lobby of the second floor is left intense-free blocks, of which the house was built, just covered with varnish. Interestingly, this idea is transferred from a preliminary, not approved by the Customer of the project. Wtt version one of the walls should start right from the garden path and pass through the entire building in its original form. But it seemed to the owners too radical for a simple family house. Avot leave one wall of the hall without finishing, they agreed. The outset of such unlike the textures as the "live" pine and the "dead" clay block, gave an impressive result. Lamps illuminating the hall and the staircase are chosen from the calculation that the glare on the walls will be made by an additional interior design. Indeed, in the evening it seems that the stone walls mysteriously glow from the inside.
A few words about the outdoor cottage decoration. No decorations, except glass wall, is not here. For the sheat, unprocessed pine boards are used, as if "from under the saw". Natural roughness of the tree appears even through the paint and gives the house softness, "fluffiness" and warmth.
This effect has repeatedly enhances the color of the walls. The familiar gray-yellow gamma is chosen in Latvia not only as a tribute to tradition. Gray is echoing with the material roofed in gray metal. Ageny, as Aldis put it, "" designed to fill the lack of the Sun, characteristic of the Baltic weather. "
The plot on which the construction is worth, deserves a separate conversation. It has a trapezoid form expanding in a 1: 4 ratio. Most of the area occupies the old apple garden, loved by all the inhabitants of the house. Therefore, the building needed to be placed in such a way as to preserve the garden in immunity and at the same time give the site a modern look. Thinking, the cottage was not put on the place of the previous house (the nasal part of the site, close to the street), but a little deep in depth, and not in one line with neighboring buildings. Such a decision allowed the "drowning" house in the garden. The garden remained practically intact. There are no paved tracks and thoughtful planning, all overgrown with grass and as if random colors. Small glade is equipped for sports. Such "wild" gardens are extremely fashionable today in Europe, but in this case everything happened by itself, beyond all the trends and trends of landscape design.
And already tribute to fashion gives a small front courtyard with a stredized lawn, neat paving slabs and an abundance of flowers. Such a parisader, according to the hostess, makes a cottage similar to a modern villa and allows you to experiment as much as you like with new landscape design. Astar garden remains unchanged- somehow "improve" his appearance is just a hand not rises.
The main impression of this house with a garden is a calm beauty. The local residents are able to enjoy completely simple things and phenomena and strive to delight their pleasure and relatives. They are able to exist in harmony with the world and people, without invoking in someone else's life, but not cooling off from her. Probably, it should be the house that I don't want to leave. "We hope," say the owners - that our children, even becoming adults, will always be happy to come here. There is enough space at all. Agde can still be as good as in the parent house with windows in the old apple orchard? "