A single-family home decorated with old bricks is the dream of many people. In the town of Dobříš in the Czech Republic, architect Michal Karnet rebuilt old buildings to create a fully functional home for a family. The house, built in an old barn, combines history with the present.
The choice of the plot of land was no accident. The investor couple decided to buy the land with the old stone barn, which is adjacent to their grandmother’s garden. They wanted to live close to the senior citizen and allow their children to frequently visit their grandmother through a secret passage in the fence. After buying the plot, they considered whether to preserve the old buildings. However, they did not want to make a reconstruction of the barn, so they built their dream house inside. The brick walls thus became the surround for the new building.
The investors entrusted the Karnet architekti studio with the design of the house. A prefabricated timber house was placed inside the barn. Its layout was adapted to the original building and the large openings. The old barn from the early 20th century has now become part of a story where the old intertwines with the new.
Associated with the construction of the house was the need to restore the brick and stone shell. The stone walls are without foundations, so they were stabilised with a concrete overlay. The old roof was removed and the original vents were restored. Due to its poor condition, the internal vertical reinforcing wall had to be replaced by a steel structure bending over the passage in the northern section. A new foundation slab was placed inside the building with sufficient clearance to keep the stone walls intact.
The barn divides the plot into two halves, creating two gardens with different characteristics, whether in terms of privacy or the time of day when direct sunlight falls on them. Each half offers a different use, whether for relaxation or practical purposes, which proved crucial to the layout of the inserted timber structure.
Thanks to the house’s exposure to different sides of the world, the interior is bright. Morning rays fall through the east-facing windows into the children’s rooms and the upstairs bedroom, which also includes two bathrooms and a study combined with a guest room and a small gym. A large terrace has been created above the upstairs passage. The common living area has been connected to the kitchen and dining area, allowing the family to stay in constant contact. There is also a technical bathroom on the ground floor. In total, the usable area of the house is 287 square metres.
project: karnet architekti, karnet.archi
photos: Petr Polák, petrpolakstudio.cz
Read also: Single-family house | Metamorphosis | Brick | Modernism | Loft style in interiors| whiteMAD on Instagram
