Monika Prostředníková - Family Houses in Prague 6

3rd year of FA ČVUT (atelier of Ján Stempel)

The plot is located in a residential area in Dejvice, Prague 6. It is a quiet area that is elevated above the city, offering beautiful views, for example of the Hradčany or Petřín.
The building responds to the original greenery, which is unique, and attempts to disrupt it as little as possible: to minimize the impact on the soil, the structure is placed on "legs."
It is a wooden structure with a steel load-bearing skeleton assembled from "boxes" measuring 7 x 7 x 3.4 meters. These are intended to represent a seemingly fragmented mass that is interconnected internally. This creates diverse spaces that ultimately come together to form three family houses.
The boxes are rotated to ensure good lighting and to provide beautiful views of the aforementioned landmarks of Prague.
The facades with openings, except for the northern ones, are covered with movable sunshades. These also give the building coherence, primarily due to the regular grid, without disrupting the original idea of the building.
The houses are meant to appear natural within the forest, as if they have belonged there forever, just like the trees that are even a hundred years old.
The proposed structures, with their height and number of floors, respect the character of the surrounding development, which consists of detached family houses and terraced houses. They thus meet the requirements of heritage protection.
The house is part of several villas of the same character. It is designed for a family of four with the possibility of accommodating guests.
The plot is located on the outskirts of central Prague. It is adjacent to the street Na Karlovce, from which there is an access road that also connects to all utility networks.
The plot is privately owned by the founder – currently it is undeveloped, but it is overgrown with very high-quality trees. The land is of great value.

Layout
The proposed structures are two or three stories tall and are functionally divided by floor into day and night zones. The residential rooms face the south, while the bathrooms and other service areas are on the north side. The staircase connecting the two floors is either inside the house or designated to the outside on the northern facade.
The main entrance leads over a 1.5 m wide footbridge into the vestibule. In the family houses, there is an entry hall, a ventilated technical room for storing small garden equipment or a bicycle, a toilet, a ventilated pantry, a dining room with a kitchenette, a living room, a guest room, two children's rooms, and the parents' bedroom; the guest room, bedroom, and children's rooms each have their own bathrooms.
Most of the living rooms are complemented by spacious balconies.

Structural solution
The basic structure is formed by a steel skeleton, which is based on reinforced concrete footings. The steel structure supports the entire ground floor and the second floor, while the roof is supported by wooden walls. The top floor is constructed as a classic wooden structure. The walls are self-supporting and made of wood; the load-bearing horizontal structures consist of columns measuring 50 x 150 mm. The building does not touch the ground at all, thus there is no need for a foundation. The roofing is made of titanium-zinc sheet metal.