BIRDHOUSE
YCL Studio
LEAD ARCHITECTS
Tomas Umbrasas, Aidas Barzda, Tautvydas Vileikis
MANUFACTURERS
Brolis Timber, Sumeda
PHOTOGRAPHS
Norbert Tukaj
YEAR
2022
LOCATION
Vilnius, Lithuania
CATEGORY
Houses
Text description provided by the architects.
The house with the round window is in a dense block of private houses in Vilnius. 182 square meters, a two-story house with a small garage volume, which is an identical shape scaled to the appropriate size to fit one car.
The key wish of the clients was to have a big common space not divided by stairs in any way. So we chose to move the stairs out of the main perimeter of the house.
This idea creates an interesting shape that looks different as you walk around the house. The north part of the house with the stairs has just one round window. It reminds us of a newly built birdhouse that waits for its dwellers.
Mirrored details across the house were an illusion to reflect the always-changing surroundings, but not a lot, just a little bit. New houses, new people, sun, day, and night, just a glimpse of the surroundings that are reflected in the rainy look of mirrored details. In the dark thermowood façade mirrored details to create a little bit of color that changes and makes it different with a small chat or dialog with the surroundings.
The garage volume created a private separation from the neighboring plot, but at the same time, it was not attractive to have a volume in a private yard. So we mirrored it and, through illusion, extended the yard into the parallel world. It worked, it looks nice, and the clients love it.
The interior structure is divided into floors. The first floor has a living area, a guest bathroom, a utility room, and a guest-work room.
The second floor has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a void to the first floor. The south facade has a rhythmical window pattern so that the monolithic and laconic shape of a birdhouse can remain as strong as possible.
A hanging terrace roof that corresponds to the overall composition of shapes makes an outdoor family space more inviting even when it rains.
The laconic shape of the newly built house is well visible in a very colorful surrounding, easy to identify as a contemporary structure, and creates a new path of new architecture in an older block of private houses.
