Kopaonik Mountain Home
location: Kopaonik | size:120m2 | status:complete
The Mountain Home at Kopaonik ski resource in Serbia is erected on the small plot sandwiched in-between two other buildings. Interestingly, two adjacent homes were designed and constructed independently but almost concurrently, with comparable budgets and according to similar requirements of their users. The proximity of neighbouring buildings is contrasted by the presence of the vast and empty space on the western edge of the plot. In response, the building is entirely oriented toward clearance. Its form is defined by the roof which provides a shield from the neighbours and frames far-reaching view across the slopes of the hilly landscape. The design intent was to create a house without external walls in reference to the traditional mountain home typology of the region whereby the dominant portion of the building’s envelope belongs to the roof rather than the walls. A family of possible solutions has been studied to determine the optimal envelope which consists solely of the roof surface with the aperture in the form of the glass facade protected with timber louvres. The building is split into two identical but mirrored halves, belonging to two separate units organized vertically across three levels. A massive wall positioned centrally in the interior provides for lateral stability of the entire timber structure. Another prominent feature of the house is the communal terrace conceived as a front platform resting on two oversize girders cantilevering above the landscape.
The building is located at the rim of the national park, and within the largest ski resource in the country. The planning code in this area is stringent and meant to preserve nature from unrestrained growth and stimulate the development of the rural ambience. The code stipulates the following: building height, relative occupancy of the lot, degree of inclination for the roof planes and the choice of several materials for the external finishing. Looking for the incentive to start the project, we came across the traditional mountain homes scattered in the region, recognizable for their timber structure and characteristic roof geometry geared to provide usable attic space with no excessive volume. Traditionally, mountain homes in the Kopaonik region are built around the same formula with a characteristic roof geometry. This project follows the same idea; roof planes are dominant while external walls are omitted altogether. The front facade is the glass screen-oriented toward a hilly landscape. Existing planning code and client’s preferences are translated into the design rules for relational modelling resulting in a number of possible configurations.
In the search for the perfect roof form, a design protocol is set to accommodate changing values of its key parameters, taken as a combination of planning regulations and clients preferences. Use the green slider to view a series of models, regarded as a sequence of possible solutions varying in their shape but sharing the same characteristics.
The structural concept places significance on the dividing wall to get lateral stability. The entire body is made of a visible timber structure, and laid on the concrete foundation. The building is sunk into the landscape, with the terrace platform resting on two massive girders cantilevering up to four meters.
credits///design: 4of7///Krisitna Arsic, Djordje Stojanovic, Vladimir Pavlovic and Milutin Cerovic ///structural design: Zikica Tekic ///photo: Ana Kostic