Architects: Lama Arhitectura
Area: 225 m²
Year: 2015
Photography: Radu Malașincu
Architects In Charge: Dan Enache, Calin Radu
Engineers: CONSPRO Development
Interactive Design: Andrei Tudor
City: Bucharest
Country: Romania
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About Studio
Lama Architecture was born from our passion for sincere and quality architecture. With different ways of thinking but a shared vision, we are always trying to find the most natural approach toward the context and the design theme, whether it’s architecture or interior design.
We believe in niches and people that are passionate about what they do, in the freedom of expression and the experimental, in the power of a team, and in the normality of careful thinking.
After a careful analysis of the client requirements, the design theme, the program, the site, and the context of the future design object, we focus on finding an expressive and easy-to-identify logo. We believe that a good concept and an accurate analysis may quickly generate the identity of an architectural object and this can be ideally represented by a symbol.
For us, the logo is similar to the musical note: one may often recognize a masterpiece from only a few notes. Similarities between Architecture and Music are astonishing… Musical notes represent the matter out of which the architectural object takes shape: stone, wood, metal, concrete, brick or just ground, glass, and sometimes ice…
With only a handful of materials, architecture finds abundant resources and shapes. Space vibrates in a different manner, depending on the way it was generated and the material it consists of: it is either calm or agitated, warm or cold, soft or heavy, playful or sober.
The project could be considered daring because of its site proportions, a long but very narrow strip of land (7.5 X 40 M) with a blind wall on one side. The house was built for a family of 4 to protect its members and meet their needs as best as possible. Due to the shape of the site and its surroundings, the house resulted as a long and 4.5 narrow shape, attached to the neighbor’s blind wall.
The facades and the layout of the house were built according to their position towards the public or private areas of its surroundings and the cardinal points. The facades and the layout of the house had different approaches, given the orientation towards the public or private areas of the surroundings and the cardinal points. The best example would be the southern facade, molded to work as a sun trap.
The house was built so that it would have a small front yard that provides entrance from the street, as well as a larger private backyard. The access point inside the house is signaled by a burnt wooden box, the vestibule, attached to the white main volume of the house, thus creating a visual contrast. This project was built with consideration towards the main principles of passive housing.
The southern facade opens large windows towards the private family backyard, without forgetting to shield itself from the sun. It uses passive shading creating a funnel-shaped facade and a pergola. The main material used for the backyard facade is burnt wood.
The image created is harmoniously integrated with the protected intimate garden, due to its organic reference and induced warmth. The facades facing the street (North) and the neighbor on the left (East), due to the nearing position providing little privacy, are more opaque and sober. On all of the facades, the windows are larger at the bottom and smaller at the top, as to capture the right amount of light for each space.
The layout of the house uses the same principle as the facades, considering the position of the space toward public or private outlook, and the amount of received natural light. This is why towards the backyard (South) you will find primary functional areas such as the living room, the master bedroom, and the children’s bedroom, whilst, towards the street (North), the kitchen, bathrooms, and the second-floor terrace are positioned.
This layout was primarily considered to have a functional structure. The basement contains a hobby room, a utility room, and storage space. The ground floor provides outside access via the vestibule, to the living area and the kitchen, and a downstairs cloakroom.
On the first floor, you will find the master bedroom with dressing space, the family bathroom, and a small bedroom for the family’s 2-year-old baby. The second floor provides the third bedroom, a library, a bathroom, a storage closet, and a private terrace.
For the exterior design, we used PU foam with a white decorative finish, burnt pinewood, white painted steel frames for the openings, and triple-glazed windows with timber frames. The performant triple-glazed windows and the PU thermal foam together with the cellulose attic insulation create a thermal protection that is twice as efficient as the commonly used insulation means.
A sustainable ventilation system was integrated, consisting of air tubes buried at the level of the building’s foundation. Regarding the interior design, the walls were covered in protection mortar died white, and the oak floor has a natural color. The living room ceiling purposely left the exposed concrete, visible.
Travertine plates were used for the access hallway and inside the bathrooms. The staircase’s structure was built out of steel and kept a natural lacquered appearance. Most of the furniture for the project was custom-made.