It’s a House. It’s a Hill?

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Project Details:

Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Architect: RO_AR / @ro_ar_architects

Footprint: 2,800 square feet

General Contractor: Bursik Holding

Landscape Architect: Flera

Structural Engineer: STATIKA Olomouc

Building Services Engineer: Projekce TZB Prokeš

Photographer: Viola Hertelová

From the Architect: "The home is located on the border of two different worlds: the urban and the natural. From the northwestern side of the site is a wedge of bio-corridor stretching along the Dalejský Brook. The corridor is enhanced by the distinctive exposure of the Hlubočepské Rocks.

"Urban space surrounds the site on the south and east sides. It is a chaotic and random development, often adversely affecting the value of the projected terrain. The form and spatial layout of the house are a direct response to this context.

"The design seeks to extend the natural context into the interior of the site and the interiors. On the other hand, the house is then separated from the ‘urban world’ for which it becomes an abstract body that, through its form and scale corresponds to the surrounding rocks in the background.

"At the same time, the form of the building addresses the need for proper illumination of the rooms by natural light, the question of the problem of the ‘narrow’ entrance and the problematic location of the neighboring building on the southern boundary of the site.

"In the first steps, we designed a building that was created by the method of land deformation. The terrain was to transition smoothly from the northwest side into an artificial hill into which the house was to be placed. From the southeast side, the ‘hill’ was to be undercut, which would allow the creation of an entrance patio under the building, created in that part by a different rectangular geometry."