Brick House in Brick Garden by Jan Proksa

Houses
This is a front view of the house with red brick exterior walls, large glass doors and a red brick walkway.

Studio: Jan Proksa
Author: Jan Proksa, principal architect
Website: www.janproksa.com

Project location: Prušánky
Project country: Czech Republic

Completion year: 2016
Usable Floor Area: 55 m²

Photographer: BoysPlayNice, www.boysplaynice.com
Collaborator: Structural engineer: Daniel Lemák

  • This is the main entrance of the house with red brick walls surrounding large glass sliding doors.
  • This is a corner of the house with corner glass walls that contrast with the red brick exterior walls.
  • This is an outdoor kitchen with a red brick structure and a large concrete counter.
  • Next to the concrete walkways of the house is a small grass lawn with a single tree in the middle.
  • This is a side of the house showcasing the simple design and elegant red brick exterior walls.
  • This is a side entrance of the house with a walkway leading to the interiors.
  • This is a close look at the exterior wall with a close look at the red brick formations of the wall.
  • This is a side of the house with a graveled garden and has a small tree in the middle.
  • This is a side of the house with a corner glass wall that contrasts the red brick exteriors.
  • This is a close look at the large glass wall of the house with a view of the interiors and a small entryway on the side.
  • Inside the large glass wall is the kitchen with large built-in wooden structures.
  • This is another look at the kitchen showcasing the large built-in cabinetry structure on the side.
  • This is a close look at the hallway on the far side of the kitchen with white structures on the sides and concrete ceiling.
  • This is a look at the hallway with the large wall divider hidden behind the wall to create an opening archway.
  • This is the view of the hallway with the large wall structure closed to divide the room.
  • This is the bathroom and powder room behind the large sliding wall structure.
  • The bathroom has simple white walls, a gray floating vanity and a toilet on the far side.
  • This is a close look at one of the house's wall fixtures that match with the walls.
  • This is a close look at the one of the house's wall fixtures that stand out.
  • This is a view of the rooftop garden and open area showcasing a simple landscaping.
  • This is a view of the small tree of the house from the vantage of the rooftop area.
  • This is a view of the house at a nighttime period to showcase the glow of the interior as seen through the glass walls.
  • This is a view of the front of the house showcasing the main glass doors glowing with interior lights.

Traditional villages in the Southern Moravia region of the Czech Republic are characterized by their distinctive urban planning. The streets are lined with L-shaped row houses neighboring each other on narrow rectangular plots, each with its own long and narrow backyard. A single multi-generational family home typically consists of three parts: the street-facing house inhabited by parents with their children, a home for the grandparents bordering on a courtyard, and the remaining lot to the rear of the property which was traditionally used for small-scale farming.

In general, the front-facing houses are more spacious and feature more elaborate construction techniques. The façade, for example, the house’s public presentation to the neighborhood, is plastered and colored in light natural tones. The rear buildings, however, typically remain unplastered, as such a solution was an unnecessary expense.

The use of exposed brick architecture for the rear buildings was a simple, durable, and cost-effective solution that nonetheless radiated familiarity and warmth.

I decided to respect this tradition in my plans, using bricks for the construction in the rear of the property.

The building is long and narrow, conforming to the historical shape of the lot. However, I departed from tradition on one point, in terms of structural planning: whereas a typical house would be one elongated L-shaped structure, I decided to detach the existing front-facing house from the new addition. Both houses thus retain their individual identity.

The flat roof further emphasizes the simple elegance of the new structure. It evokes and celebrates the perpendicularity of the property as if the façade itself were an additional property-line fence. The exposed-brick façade, spilling over into an exposed-brick courtyard, also defines the boundary of the backyard garden.

The single-floor floor plan is very simple and functional. The main room features an open kitchen and a large table, abutting in a non-frame sliding window with views of the garden. Adjacent, there is a bedroom with a narrow bathroom.

With this construction, it was my aim to create a modest yet fully-functional living space that reflects and respects its surroundings.

Source: Linka News

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