Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti

XXS house . Ljubljana

Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti . photos: © Matevž Paternoster

WeXtra-eXtra-Small House is located in a specific part of the centre of Ljubljana. The neighbourhood called Krakovo has a structure of a historical village, which was in the Middle Ages supplying the nearby monastery with fresh food and is today highly protected historical area.

The basic dimensions of the new house were already defined by law according to the volume of the pre-existing house, hundred years ago working as a service building of a traditional house next-door. The task was to integrate all residential functions in an extra small volume to suit the needs of a couple living in countryside for their new urban holiday-home. Since the house faces north, it was a challenge to bring the direct and in-direct sunlight to the living spaces in the ground floor. The heritage protection rules allow light shafts on the roofs, but in this case we turned them towards the sky. This major alternation of the volume opend up completly new attic space suitable
for use. A huge wall size slide window opens up the space to the intimate atrium and allows for indirect lighting. The selection of the façade materials and detailing established the desired service appearance of the house. The concept of raw materials stretches from exterior to interior – using fibre cement panels in their primer mode for the roof and yard façade and ‘raw concrete’, terrazzo, plywood, iron, felt for the indoor. The total area of 43m2 ultimately names the house –XXS.

ex-service shed to an urban holiday-home
location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
project date: 2002 – 2004
completion date: 2004
area: 43 m2
type: residential
source: commission
client: private
photos: Matevž Paternoster
project team: Aljoša Dekleva, Tina Gregorič

awards:
Silver Plate, European Architecture Award Luigi Cosenza 2004