Client
Private
Type
Private House / Restoration / Extension
Size
295 sqm / S+P+M
The main pattern is that of a construction that, being posed on a long narrow parcel, refuses to adopt the logic of a side-to side terrain occupation and becomes an element in a continuous front. Due to the lot’s dimension and the recess, the interior results in a succession of spaces that must be passed through in order to reach the bottom of the house. With the growth of needs new additions are being built within the lot and, at one point, the construction is partially heightened with new floors or replaced.
The rehabilitation consisted in construction of an extension that was positioned in the place of the room volume (that of the annexes being demolished). The extension follows the old plan using the existing basement. Meanwhile the old house loses its ceiling above the ground floor in order to gain space.
At the ground floor the succession of communicating spaces follows in a very transparent manner the idea of addition and linkage.
The spectacular interior space contrasts with a stern exterior. In fact the tension between the contemporary plastic tendency and the desire to keep and create a home atmosphere, can be felt through out the entire project.
The architects avoid the excess in effects and the „transition’s” too exuberant looks, in order to reach very stern aesthetical approaches. But the intervention
does not demonstrate its autonomy from the existing building that did not posses enough visual strength to sustain such a confrontation. In a very subtle way the two layers are contaminating one another. . Meanwhile the modern spaces and elements invade the old house. The white painting at the exterior and interior help unify the ensemble.
The fences’ wooden grates follow no traditional form. The initial wish was that of separating the court from a very circulated street in semi-transparent way. The element has been repeated along the other limits in order to be transformed in a balcony-pergola on the rear side. The forms are new but the material makes the link with the wooden carpentry and roof structure. The grates simply reinterpret the old Bucharest theme of transparent fences and in the balcony’s case they accentuate the spatial interlinking within the court.