No limits

When design group Nolimat was commissioned to build a weekend house, the client imposed no constraints other than requesting, according to Nolimat co-founder Pavel Hladík, "a proper sporting facility and a cool place to be." The client appreciated Hladík and Nolimat co-founder Filip Dubský's drive to put a spin on the traditional Czech cottage. "Why even think about the traditional way of design? Why don't we do something else?"  Hladík recalls asking himself.

"Something else" is certainly a fair description of the home. Another is award-winning, having recently garnered one of the country's most prestigious architectural awards, the Architecture Grand Prix.

Located in the east Bohemian countryside in the small village of Rudoltice, the home is characterized by its compactness, its wood facade and the varying sizes and placement of its windows and openings. This compactness and variability, along with grill-like partitions similar to those found on storefronts, reflects the concept of the home as an openable and closable container.

Hladík says the concept speaks to the home's function as a weekend house, an idea that he appreciates.

"Ultimately, I like the idea that, if you use something, you use it 100 percent, and, if you don't use it, you just close it."

The 148-square meter home may look like a cube at first glance, but it is actually a trapezoid with a sloping roofline. There is a custom-built tennis court in the front - the proper sporting facility - and curiously sized windows along with plenty of glass and natural light satisfy the client's need for hip design.

"It reflects the atrium type of houses that are already in the area," Hladík says. "It was [our] interpretation of morphing the space into a container that should contain something that was already within the area."

Behind the wall, the house's lower level comprises a living area with a state of the art kitchen (also designed by Nolimat) and a room housing an indoor swimming pool. The second level, which is opened to the first via a gallery, has three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Nolimat also custom-designed the home's interior. The main spaces are filled with sofas, which, along with wardrobes, terrace furniture and a large table, express the home's function as a place of leisure.

"The home is full of places to rest. The idea is, if there is a party, everyone has a place to rest, and everyone can stay overnight," Hladík says.

Other customized features can be found both within the house and outdoors. In the kitchen, Nolimat designed a device to cool beer from barrels, making it possible to have beer from a tap. Throughout the house there is a unique lighting system, which, taking advantage of Dubský's expertise as a lighting specialist, allows residents to switch between different modes including intimate, ordinary use and party mode.

Along with these custom-designed features and the home's open/closed container concept, it is a unique solar analysis conducted through advanced software programs that both Hladík and Dubský agree made their weekend home stand out among the 22 other entries in the Family Home category of the 2009 Grand Prix award.  

"The house's partitions, openings and position were determined by existing and proposed structures on the site. [These included] trees, the tennis court and the parking space," Hladík explains. "The sunlight analysis helped to fine-tune the exact position of these elements."

To Hladík's satisfaction, sunlight is distributed almost uniformly throughout the home, preventing overheating. To remedy the one problem area near the interior glass facade, Nolimat designed a curtain with a special pattern that follows the solar analysis. "The pattern is more dense in specific areas to shade the interior of the house," Hladík explains.

Using advanced computational techniques is a main focus for Nolimat. Formed in 2006, the group creates architecture and product designs for both private clients as well as commercial companies and conducts research exploring the use of these computational techniques with various materials and production processes.

Technical innovation aside, Hladík says the central idea behind the weekend house was to be creative and break with the pack. "When I see Las Vegas, for example, and when I see newly built cottages in the Krkonoše Mountains, I think it is the same," he said. "If they can build an Eiffel Tower, why not, we can build a new cottage. We can build anything."

Joann Plocková can be reached at
features@praguepost.com