Black Wooden Country House With Modern Interiors

Located in the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar, this house by Croatian architect Tomislav Soldo is a hillside country home with inviting modern interiors. The sloped terrain with its panoramic view overlooking the nearby forest and mountainscape, together with the position of the existing terrace, have been the only determining elements in the process of designing this project.

With the gross floor area of 100 sqm, the house consists of a small storage in the basement, a living room with an open kitchen and bathroom unit on the ground floor, and a sleeping area on the mezzanine level. An open space plan created a spatial flow between indoors and outdoors, and the entire structure is perceived as a single volume greatly reflecting the surrounding nature from every point, whereas the kitchen and bathroom form a small box-like core within. The kitchen is minimalist, done in white and light-colored wood, and the kitchen island is covered with cement just like the floor, to make it super durable. My favorite spot here is a modern hearth with candles and some firewood next to it, it’s such a cozy space. I love the light-filled spacious look of the interior, the modern and simple décor that makes the spaces cozy and inviting.

Apart from the concrete basement and foundations, the house is entirely made of aerated concrete blocks which significantly accelerate construction at the given location. The thirty centimeters thick exterior walls, made with the same material, meet all building physics requirements with no additional thermal insulation needed. In terms of unwanted overheating during summer and heat loss in winter time, a ventilated façade made of Siberian larch cladding helps alleviate those problems. The pitched roof, the compact layout design and the usage of wood in the façade cladding are the only distinctive functional elements of the region accepted and implemented into the design.