The Czech family house sits on a site close to the banks of the Vltava River in the village of Dvorce, just outside Prague. Aoc Architekti’s Green House replaces a family villa located on the plot, which has been in the client’s family for several generations, offering views across the river to the baroque Church of St Philip and Jacob in nearby Zlíchov. It’s an area of spaciously arranged villas with gardens that sprawl down the hillside to the river valley.
A Czech family house thrives through colour and light
The original structure was built in the 1960s and needed to be completely rebuilt. Aoc, founded in 2017 by Ondřej Císler and Filip Rašek, was tasked with transforming the plot with a new house that not only improved its environmental performance and better integrated it into the steep surrounding gardens, but made the most of the views from the site.
‘We work carefully with different forms of light – intense skylight, or soft light diffused behind the semi-transparent façade or contrasted against twilight,’ the architects says. ‘This approach affects the sophisticated composition of the façade openings.’ New windows, in particular, a large west-facing opening to the main living space on the second floor, transform the interior and its relationship to the surroundings.
The upper floor contains the main lounge and study area alongside the principal bedroom and blue tiled bathroom. It is effectively a self-contained space, thanks to a concealed mini kitchen. Elevated ceilings and exposed wooden beams unify the space. On the first floor, a living room, dining and kitchen form an L-shape around a utility core, with a green tiled bathroom and storage. A large deck leads off the dining space, intersecting with the sloping garden at its southernmost point.
All floors are united with a stair tower clad in translucent panels for the uppermost run, and lined with oak below, complete with a crafted handrail.
The concrete stair core is left exposed, with a sculptural light fitting giving off an uncanny glow from within after dark.
The ground floor houses a self-contained studio apartment, with a separate terrace and its own entrance.
Throughout the house, custom-made furniture has been installed, including solid wood tables on steel frames, with accommodation made for the client’s key pieces.
Externally, the window placement offers up a series of abstract, atonal façades, with the green render and minimal detailing evoking interwar Czech modernism.
The green façade not only gives the house its name, but better integrates it with the surrounding, naturally planted gardens, which also include a small vineyard.
Inside and out, the architects note that they have used ‘noble materials in their natural state, applying their colours and textures, while ensuring practicality and maximum comfort in an elegantly refined living environment’.
