The architecture studio based in Bratislava, PLURAL, has designed this single-family house, baptized Villa Bôrik, located in a suburban area surrounded by homogeneous houses and separated by gardens in the town of Žilina, a city in northwestern Slovakia, about 200 kilometres from the capital, Bratislava.

The project is characterized by an interesting game of abstractions and a rational vision of space, generating a volume similar to that of the surrounding houses, although it hides a third of the program on an underground floor.
PLURAL has designed the house in plan with a square shape that unfolds on three levels (one of them below ground), joined together by a spiral staircase located at one of the outer ends of the house, to improve the organization of the whole.

The access level is characterized by a diaphanous and open floor plan while the second is divided into rooms, located in the corners and with the bathrooms in the centre. The basement floor has been designed as a multipurpose and multipurpose space, with a sauna and a technical room.

Other specific elements of the villa, which complement its basic cubic volume, are the western “utility” façade forming a filter between the street and the interior and the triangular roof marking the entrance to the house on its northern side.

The search for natural light is common on all floors, on the upper floors through a skylight, large windows and service areas. The basement floor receives light from the patio to the south of the house.


Villa Bôrik by PLURAL. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.


Villa Bôrik by PLURAL. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
 

Description of project by PLURAL

The surroundings of the villa is characterized by a relatively homogeneous structure of solitary houses at more or less regular intervals. Plots of the individual houses have gardens, which together form a continuous garden landscape. The proposed family house respects this typical intermittent development and occupies the site of the original house. At the same time, it tries to correspond in volume with the surrounding buildings by hiding about a third of its program in an underground floor.

The house itself is three-storey high, consisting of two above-ground and one underground floor, with each floor representing a formally different spatial organization. The characteristic spiral staircase connecting all three floors of the house is located outside the square floor plan of the central part of the house, which allows for free handling of the layout of each floor. Other specific elements of the villa, which complement its basic cubic volume, are the western “utility” façade forming a filter between the street and the interior and the triangular roof marking the entrance to the house on its northern side.

The ground floor (common part) is conceived as an open plan, one continuous space in which the elements of furniture are freely distributed. It makes full use of the potential of the east-west orientation of the plot and illuminates the entire floor from these two sides, capturing different light atmospheres throughout the day. Plan libre allows for different ways and configurations of ground floor use. The western additional “utility” façade in this case forms a filter of privacy into the street in the form of an enclosed front garden and storage spaces.

The second floor (private rooms part) is strictly divided, with rooms in the corners, between which there are bathrooms, accessible from two adjoining rooms. The central service area with entrances to each room is illuminated by a skylight. The western “utility” façade on this floor connects the rooms oriented to the west, provides them with appropriate privacy from the street and in its southern part also allows contact with the eastern morning light.

The underground floor (additional part) is illuminated through the patio below ground level on the south side of the house and includes a multi-purpose studio space, a sauna and the technical room. It is independently accessible from the exterior, by exterior stairs directly from the garden.

The supporting system of the building consists of a system of monolithic reinforced concrete structures. The two opposite perimeter walls to the south and north support the second floor, the ceilings and partitions of which form one continuous spatial beam. The bracing of the structure is ensured by a vertical staircase tube.

More information

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Architects
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PLURAL (Jančok, Michal Janák, Zuzana Kovaľová, Ruslan Dimov).
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Collaborators
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Landscape design.- Michal Marcinov.
Structural design.- Katarína Kyselová.
Steel constructions.- Samuel Šimonovič.
General contractor.- Ideálne domy s.r.o.
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Client
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Private.
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Area
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260 sqm.
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Budget
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Total investment cost including interior and exterior: 0,85 M EUR.
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Dates
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2021.
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Location
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Žilina, Slovakia.
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Photography
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PLURAL proposes architecture with special emphasis on its social and cultural relevance. Operating in national and international contexts the office, established in 2009, it is led by two partners: Martin Jančok and Michal Janák. The scope of the studio's work ranges from exhibitions and interior design, through individual and collective housing, buildings for culture, transformation and restoration of architectural heritage, renewal of public spaces, to larger scale city planning. PLURAL works mainly for public clients and cultural institutions including the Slovak National Gallery, New Synagogue Žilina or Kunsthalle Bratislava.
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Published on: September 1, 2022
Cite: "Abstraction as a symbol of modernity. Villa Bôrik by PLURAL" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/abstraction-a-symbol-modernity-villa-borik-plural> ISSN 1139-6415
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