An idyllic location and orientation give the house its spectacular form: the result is an elegant black accordion.
Above the Krka Valley in Slovenia towers an elegant detached family house that is anything but ordinary. The interrupted ridge axis gives the most spectacular view down into the valley and efficiently brings daylight flooding into the glass central section. The resulting house stretches out like an accordion.
After their children had moved out, the couple did not want to stay in the city flat any longer and looked for a place in the country. They found the perfect spot a little above the village of Kostanjevica na Krki, a tiny place in the picturesque Krka Valley of southeastern Slovenia.
With the help of architect Mika Cimolini, they built a private family home that became a star of local media due to its extraordinary shape: the “Accordion House” received highest praise on TV and in print.
The design is based on two symmetrical, but differently oriented house sections connected by an intermediate glass component. It connects the wings of the house together like the bellows of an accordion connects the two ends of the instrument.
The central room was designed as a focal point for socialising. It contains the kitchen, dining room and living room, while the bedrooms and bathrooms are located in the wings.
“We started the project by generating a volume study and a three-dimensional terrain model”, explains Mika Cimolini. The wooden supporting structure was then built according to this model, insulated with rock wool and secondary layers of wood fibre, and sealed with a membrane and a vapour-permeable sealant. Finally, the house was covered with a ventilated façade of matte black roof tiles.
“The challenge was to create a uniform envelope for the house to give both the roof and the exterior wall an identical layered structure”, says the architect. Tondach Plan 30 was chosen for the purpose. This is a modern straight-lined roof tile with a simple and subtle effect. It lends the house an elegant and coherent character that blends harmoniously into the landscape despite, or perhaps even because of, its unorthodox shape.
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